Simone Biles ‘ecstatic’ after victory in vault completes Paris gold hat-trick

An “ecstatic” Simone Biles won her seventh Olympic gold medal and third of this Games in the women’s vault.

The American was all smiles after landing a Yurchenko double pike, known as the Biles II, on her first vault, taking only a small step back and scoring a massive 15.700.

Her second vault was scored at 14.900, giving her an overall mark of 15.300 and leaving her well clear of Brazil’s Rebecca Andrade in silver, while another American, Jade Carey, took bronze.

“I put in a lot of work to be able to perform that vault (the Yurchenko double pike) well. I’m excited I got to show that here during finals today.”

Biles was welcomed into Bercy Arena with huge cheers and shrugged off a tumble on the Yurchenko in practice, performing it almost flawlessly when it really counted.

The 27-year-old has also won gold here in the team and all-around competitions and could yet surpass her tally of four golds from Rio.

It has been a triumphant return to the Olympic stage for Biles, who was one of the biggest stories of the Tokyo Games when, as favourite to win multiple golds, she pulled out of most events after suffering from ‘the twisties’, where a gymnast loses sense of where they are in the air.

She faced high-profile criticism in some quarters and has been working with a therapist in Paris.

“The negative comments are painful up to a certain point,” she said. “They hurt but I’m still in therapy working on all that, to make sure my mental health is well. But they (the critics) are really quiet now, so that’s strange.

“After all these years of putting the mental work in, it’s paid off. I’m super excited to be on this stage again.

“Once we’re out here, the floor is our stage. It feels so freeing for us because we’re in our element, we’re having fun, we’re doing what we love to do.”

Biles will conclude her campaign on Monday when she goes in the beam and floor finals.