© John Cheng

NANNING, China, Oct. 12, 2014 – Simone Biles of Spring, Texas/World Champions Centre, won both the balance beam and floor exercise gold medals on the final day of the 2014 World Championships at the Guangxi Sports Center Gymnasium in Nanning, China. Biles now boasts six career World gold medals, the most by a U.S. woman. The USA also brought home two additional medals today: Danell Leyva of Miami, Fla./Team Hilton HHonors (Universal Gymnastics), claimed the parallel bars silver medal, and Jake Dalton of Reno, Nev./Team Hilton HHonors (University of Oklahoma), earned the vault bronze. For the entire competition, the USA won 10 medals (four gold, two silver and four bronze). U.S. fans can watch coverage today on NBC Sports at 3 p.m. ET and Universal Sports Network at 8 p.m. ET.

With her 2014 medals, Biles tied Shannon Miller and Nastia Liukin with nine career medals, and only Alicia Sacramone has more with 10 total. Biles’ World medals are: gold – all-around (2013-14), balance beam, floor exercise (2013-14) and team; silver – vault (2013-14); and bronze – balance beam.

On beam, Biles began her routine with a well-controlled double squat turn. She flipped through a front aerial to sissone, a back handspring, layout step-out series, and two back handsprings to a stuck full-in dismount. She posted a 15.100 for the gold medal. Kyla Ross of Aliso Viejo, Calif./Gym-Max, earned a 13.866 on the beam after performing a routine that included a back handspring, layout step-out series and flawless switch ring leap. She dismounted with a round off to tucked double back and finished in sixth place. China’s Bai Yawen was second at 15.033, followed by Russia’s Aliya Mustafina in third (14.166).

 

In the floor exercise final, Biles performed her trademark tumbling: tuck double-double; double layout half out (the Biles); double layout; and tucked full-in. Her 15.333 yielded her second straight World floor exercise title. Opening with layout and tucked double-doubles, MyKayla Skinner of Gilbert, Ariz./Desert Lights, scored a 14.700 for her final performance at the Worlds and just missed the medal podium. Romania’s Larissa Iordache was second with 14.800, followed by Mustafina at 14.733.

On parallel bars, Leyva opened with an intricate sequence of peach and giant work that included a peach Diamidov, a peach full and a giant Diamidov-half. He stuck the double front dismount for a 15.933 and the silver medal. Donnell Whittenburg of Baltimore, Md./Team Hilton HHonors (U.S. Olympic Training Center), broke on a peach half but recovered to finish with a strong double front half out, scoring a 14.366 for seventh. Oleg Verniaiev of the Ukraine was first at 16.125, with Japan’s Ryohei Kato in third with 15.666.

Dalton’s first vault was a Kasamatsu double full for which he earned a 15.133. He came back with a front handspring Randi, a vault he competed for the first time during the qualification round in Nanning, and nearly stuck it. His 15.266 gave him a 15.199 average for the bronze. The vault title went to Ri Se Gwang of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at 15.416, and the Ukraine’s Igor Radivilov was second at 15.333.

Epke Zonderland of the Netherlands won the horizontal bar title at 16.225. Japan’s Kohei Uchimura was the silver medalist (15.725), and the bronze went to Croatia’s Marijo Moznik (15.000).