Simone Biles came to the 2024 Paris Games looking to do what no other women's gymnast had done before: She wanted to land a Yurchenko double pike vault at the Olympics.
The Team USA star did just that during the individual all-around competition Thursday.
Biles, 27, began her competition on the vault along with top contenders Suni Lee and Rebeca Andrade. The latter pulled off a strong vault that scored a 15.100, putting the pressure on Biles to land her maneuver.
Biles succeeded, eliciting a rousing applause from those on hand in Paris and earning high marks from the judges.
Here's what to know about Biles' vault score in the individual competition.
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Simone Biles vault score today
Biles scored a 15.766 on her vault at the 2024 Olympics individual all-around competition. That was 0.666 points higher than Andrade's mark.
The Brazilian was expected to be Biles' top competition on the apparatus, so that margin could prove key to Biles' chances in the all-around competition.
Biles performed her double pike vault during the first rotation of the all-around final Thursday. She was saving it after opting to perform a safer Cheng vault during the team final Tuesday.
Biles got a strong running start before beginning her flip onto the springboard. She got plenty of air — as always — and managed to flip twice in the air while in a pike position.
Biles didn't quite stick the landing, taking a big step back after hitting the ground. Still, she stayed upright, becoming the first gymnast to complete the skill in a major international competition.
Below is a look at her vault, courtesy of the NBC Olympics and Paralympics' X account (formerly Twitter).
Cleared for takeoff. 🫡
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 1, 2024
Simone Biles gets her day started on vault. #ParisOlympics
📺 NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/qOtAzKDP3P
Biles became the first woman to land the Yurchenko double pike at the 2023 World Championships, which earned her the right to put her own name on the move: the Biles II.
LIVE: Follow women's gymnastics action as Biles, Lee go for all-around gold
What is the Yurchenko double pike?
The Yurchenko double pike is a variation of a vault created and executed by Natalia Vladimirovna Yurchenko. She and coach Vladislav Rastorotsky designed a new way to move onto the vaulting table that involved performing a round-off onto the springboard and a back handspring to launch into the air.
From there, the gymnast performs a somersault — also known as a "salto" — while airborne. This is where the variation of the maneuver surfaces, as gymnasts can perform whatever they are comfortable landing, from a single tuck to Biles' double pike.
The double pike involves two somersaults in the air while in a pike position, a straight-legged position during which gymnasts also place their legs straight out in front. Gymnasts hold their legs together during this move and keep their backs straight and keep their eyes looking forward, per Synergy Gymnastics.
Rotating from a pike position is slower than doing so from a tuck, per Synergy Gymnastics. That's part of what makes it difficult to land any sort of double pike skill, especially from a Yurchenko entry.
But Biles is likely the greatest gymnast of all time, so it isn't a surprise that she figured out how to perfect the difficult skill and land it at the 2024 Olympics.
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What is the highest possible score in gymnastics?
Gymnastics used to use a scoring system that relied on the perfect 10 to assess performances. However, in recent years, the sport has moved toward a system that evaluates a routine's execution (E score) and difficulty (D score). Those are combined to create a number that typically falls between 12 and 16.
Biles' routine came with a maximum value of 16.400, as her D score for the Yurchenko double pike was 6.400. E scores are always out of 10, so that's how the 16.400 number was reached.
That said, there are more difficult maneuvers across gymnastics, some with a maximum D score of 7.000. Because the D scores are subjective, there is no true cap on how high a gymnast can score; but presently, Biles' 16.400 mark is among the highest possible scores a female gymnast can have.
