World Gymnastics Championships 2019: Simone Biles wins gold in floor exercise final to seal her most-decorated status at Worlds
Simone Biles put a gold ribbon to wrap up the 2019 World Gymnastics Championships Sunday. The most decorated gymnast of all time won gold on the floor exercise final at Hanns-Martin Schleyer-Halle in Germany. Teammate Sunisa Lee clinched the silver medal and Angelina Melnikova of Russia won bronze.
Biles was the only medalist from last year to return in the event’s final apparatus at worlds. With her placed to go last, she got to know how high the bar was set before her performance. Biles' two mistakes during the all-around pushed her to finish the year strong and clinch her 25th medal at the Worlds, the most by any gymnast ever.
The first three competitors scored below 14 making it very easy for the first American gymnast to surpass them. Lee was up and made her routine very clean with exceptional tumbling combinations. She earned 14.133 becoming the highest scorer with half the competition done.
Melnikova used the 5.800 difficulty rating in her floor routine that had beautiful ballet components along with her tumbling passes that paid off. Scoring 14.066 moved her right behind Lee, giving her a shot at a medal.
Flavia Saraiva of Brazil had a good routine but chose to inquire of her score of 13.966. Saraiva felt that she was cut short, but the FIG judges didn't see any further need to adjust scoring. Brooklyn Moors of Canada stepped out once during her floor exercise routine. Despite her 8.400 execution score, the difficulty rating implemented didn’t help her reach a medal position. 13.600 put Moors into sixth with Biles assured of earning her last medal at Worlds this year.
Bringing some new elements, the 22-year-old committed a step out of bounds but finished strong with energetic tumbling combinations. The four-time champion of the apparatus was elated when the judges scored her a 15.133 to finish a point ahead of Lee. The victory gave her a fifth gold medal of the week.