Simone Biles breaks records with sixth world all-around gold

Oct. 6 (UPI) -- American Simone Biles won her sixth all-around world championship title Friday in Belgium, making her the most decorated gymnast in history.

The accomplishment came 10 years after she won her first all-around title, which also happened to take place at the same arena, the Sportpaleis in Antwerp.

Friday's gold medal makes her the first female gymnast to win six all-around world championships. The only other gymnast to win six world titles is Japanese male athlete Kōhei Uchimura.

Biles finished the all-around event with a score of 58.399. Brazilian Rebeca Andrade, the reigning all-around champion, finished second with 56.766 and American Shilese Jones nabbed bronze with a score of 56.332. The American women also won its record seventh-consecutive team gold Wednesday.

Biles' individual win was anchored by first-place finishes in the vault (15.100), balance beam (14.433) and floor exercise (14.533). She finished sixth in the uneven bars with a score of 14.333; Algerian Kaylia Nemour finished first in the event with 15.200.

On the vault, Biles chose not to perform the Yurchenko double pike -- recently named the Biles II -- and instead stuck the landing on a Cheng, the second-hardest vault. Though she didn't come in first in the uneven bars, she gave a clean performance. She had a couple fumbles on the balance beam and floor routine, but managed to eke out the first-places finishes by hitting all her skills, NBC News reported.

With Friday's gold, Biles now has 34 medals in world championship and Olympic competitions, meaning she's the winningest gymnast of all time. The results in the all-around means she qualifies to take home even more medals during all four individual event competitions Saturday and Sunday.

Biles looks to repeat her win in every individual event in 2018, when she became the first female to do so in 30 years.

Biles' record-setting finish Friday comes despite taking extended breaks after both the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games, and pulling out of multiple events in the latter.