Fresh off her first gymnastics win in years, Simone Biles is “heading in the right direction” — and it could be Paris!
The four-time Olympic gold medalist, who handily won the U.S. Classic over the weekend with a five-point margin, is eying her future goals, which may include the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“We’re still in the working steps. My main goal was this and then championships,” Biles, 26, told NBC Sports after the competition, which was the last qualifying meet before the national championships later this month.
Biles continued, “And then after that we’ll look on to worlds and then we’ll see. But so far it’s heading in the right direction. But I still have to work on myself. I’m still going to do my therapy, I’m going to put myself first.”
Simone Biles Celebrates Win at U.S. Classic Following Her Gymnastics Return: ‘Tears of Joy’
Biles began the competition with a solid uneven bars routine, which earned her a score of 14. She then competed on beam, finishing with a score of 14.800 after one error made in landing her full-twisting flip. Her floor routine went perfectly afterward, earning her a score of 14.9.
Biles finished with a score of 15.4 for vault after she landed her Yurchenko double pike, putting her top of the scoring board in the championships.
Stacy Revere/Getty Images
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Nowhere in her performance did she show signs of having the dreaded “twisties,” which were to blame for her curtailed appearance at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
But last week in a “Let’s Chat” Q&A on her Instagram Story, the iconic gymnast shared that the uneven bars have “always” been the hardest event for her to come back to after a break.
Now that she’s training again, Biles said that she had to overcome an initial fear of “twisting” after a fan asked what her “hardest event to come back to” was this time around.
“It’s always bars … mentally and physically but this go around BABY!!! Twisting on any event,” she wrote, adding: “IYKYK.”
Simone Biles Says She Was ‘Petrified’ to Return to ‘Twisting on Any Event’ After 2020 Olympics
On Sunday, following her performance, Biles shared that she was both grateful for her fans’ support, and shocked by the outcome.
“It means the world because after everything that transpired in Tokyo, I worked on myself a lot,” Biles said following her win, per BBC. “I still do therapy weekly and it has just been so exciting to come out here and have the confidence I had before.”
“Everything has fallen into place. I feel really good about where I am now mentally and physically,” she continued. “I still think there are some things to work on in my routine but, for the first meet back, I would say it went pretty well. I’m very shocked and surprised.”
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Source: HIS Education