© John Cheng

ANTWERP, Belgium, Oct. 4, 2013 – Simone Biles of Spring, Texas/Bannon’s Gymnastix, Inc., and Kyla Ross of Aliso Viejo, Calif./Gym-Max, swept the top two spots in the women’s all-around finals at the 2013 World Gymnastics Championships at the Antwerp (Belgium) Sports Palace today. Biles won the all-around title with her 60.216 total, just ahead of teammate Ross, who tallied 59.332 points. This is just the third time in history that the USA has won the gold and silver all-around medals at the World Championships. Competition continues tomorrow with five U.S. gymnasts participating on the first day of individual event finals at 2:30 p.m.

"It hasn’t sunken in yet (that I am the World champion)," said Biles. "I am sure it will eventually, but we still have finals so we can’t get too excited about it yet. But I know what I have done is a huge accomplishment and I am very happy.

"(During the event) Kyla and I just talked about our routines, and we are best friends, and we thought, ‘Wow, this is Worlds!" I still can’t believe it," said Biles.

Ross also was awarded the Longines Prize for Elegance, which is given to the most elegant gymnast as determined by a voting jury. Kohei Uchimura was the men’s recipient.

"I think today was a really great competition, and I had a lot of fun out there, especially competing with Simone who is so much fun to have around," said Ross. "I had solid routines, and I was happy to end up strong on floor and to win the Longines Award for Elegance. It was such an honor, and to be on the stage with Kohei was amazing. It is really nice that people associate my gymnastics with elegance."

The U.S. took the top two all-around spots in 2005 when Chellsie Memmel and Nastia Liukin were the gold and silver medalists and in 2009 when Bridget Sloan and Rebecca Bross went one-two. Biles is the seventh U.S. woman to win the all-around title, joining Kim Zmeskal (1991), Shannon Miller (1993-94), Shawn Johnson (2007), Jordyn Wieber (2011), Sloan and Memmel.

In the first rotation, Ross delivered a clean double-twisting Yurchenko, earning a 15.366. Biles was next and her powerful Amanar, a two-and-a-half twisting Yurchenko vault, garnered a 15.850. On the uneven bars, Ross performed an in-bar stalder half pirouette to straddled Jaeger and dismounted with a double layout for a 15.100. Biles’ bars routine included a piked Tkatchev to Pak salto and a stuck full twisting double back that scored 14.700. Biles and Ross were one-two after two rotations.

On the balance beam, Biles was up first in the rotation. Her routine that featured a front aerial to split jump, tumbled a flip flop to layout step-out and dismount with two back handsprings to a full-twisting double back earned a 14.433. Going last in the rotation, Ross was nearly perfect on the balance beam, moving effortlessly through a switch ring leap. She dismounted with a tucked double back and scored a 14.533 to move into the lead.

In the final rotation on floor, Ross competed just before Biles. Her precise and elegant floor exercise included tumbling an Arabian double front to stag leap and a double tuck dismount, posting a 14.333. The last athlete on the floor, Biles performed a tucked double, double mount and a double layout half out, called the Biles, to the delight of the crowd. She scored a 15.233 and clinched the all-around title.

The remaining competition schedule, along with the U.S. athletes competing, is as follows.

  • Oct. 5, event finals, 8:30 a.m. ET: men’s floor exercise – Steven Legendre of Port Jefferson, N.Y./Team Hilton HHonors (University of Oklahoma), and Jake Dalton of Reno, Nev./Team Hilton HHonors (University of Oklahoma); still rings – Brandon Wynn of Voorhees, N.J./Team Hilton HHonors (Ohio State University); women’s vault – 2012 Olympic team gold-medalist McKayla Maroney of Long Beach, Calif./All Olympia Gymnastics Center, and Biles; and uneven bars – Ross and Biles.

  • Oct. 6, event finals, 8:30 a.m. ET: men’s vault – Legendre; parallel bars – John Orozco of the Bronx, N.Y./Team Hilton HHonors (U.S. Olympic Training Center), and Wynn; horizontal bar – Sam Mikulak of Newport Coast, Calif./University of Michigan; uneven bars – Ross and Biles; and women’s floor exercise – Biles and Ross.

Here’s a quick overview of the various ways to watch and follow the U.S. Team’s performances at the 2013 World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium. For more information on the World Championships, please go to usagymworlds.com.

  • Live webcast. UniversalSports.com will have a live webcast of the all-around and individual event finals from Antwerp, which will also be available at usagymworlds.com. For U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings time, the live webcasts are scheduled for: Oct. 3 –men’s all-around final, 2 p.m.; Oct. 4 – women’s all-around final, 2 p.m.; Oct. 5-6 – individual event finals, 8:30 a.m. (NOTE: Antwerp is 6 hours ahead of New York City; when it is noon in Antwerp, it is 6 a.m. in New York.) A live webstream of the qualification round is also available at USAGymWorlds.com.
  • Cable TV. Universal Sports will show all of the finals live on its cable network: Oct. 3 –men’s all-around final, 2 p.m.; Oct. 4 – women’s all-around final, 2 p.m.; Oct. 5-6 – individual event finals, 8:30 a.m. All times are Eastern. Universal Sports will also carry encore presentations of its World telecasts. Calling the action throughout the competition will be a team comprised of play-by-play announcer Steve Schlanger alongside analysts 1984 Olympic gold medalist Bart Connor, 1996 Olympic gold-medalist Amanda Borden, and Olympian Kip Simons. Be sure to check your local listings for times. Universal Sports Network is now available on Time Warner Cable, Cox, satellite providers DIRECTV and DISH and numerous regional cable and IPTV operators in markets across the country. To find Universal Sports Network in your area, go to http://universalsports.com/tv-listings/channel-finder/.
  • NBC. NBC will broadcast coverage of the World Championships from 2-4 p.m. ET on Oct. 12-13. The commentators are Al Trautwig, 1984 Olympic gold-medalist Tim Daggett and 2008 Olympic gold-medalist Nastia Liukin.
  • usagymworlds.com. USA Gymnastics will provide enhanced coverage from Belgium that will include results and photos from the competition, as well as interviews and the webcast. Fans can also follow the action on Facebook, facebook.com/USAGymnastics, and Twitter, @usagym or #FIG2013Antwerp.
  • Live scoring. The International Gymnastics Federation provides live scoring from its World Championships. For more information and access, go to antwerp2013.fig-gymnastics.com.