REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Simone Biles' new Yurchenko double pike vault features a back handspring onto the vault and two full piked backflips on the dismount.
- Simone Biles has proven time and time again that she is light-years ahead of her gymnastics contemporaries.
- Heading into the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, the 22-year-old appears ready not only to once again dominate the competition but to do so in unprecedented fashion.
- In a video posted to her Twitter account on Monday, Biles completes a Yurchenko double-pike vault into a foam pit.
- The impressive move - which involves a roundoff into the springboard, a back handspring onto the vault, and a piked double backflip on the dismount - has never been attempted by a woman in international competition.
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Simone Biles has long been in a league of her own, but it looks like she'll be pulling out all the stops for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
The 22-year-old, who won four gold medals and a bronze at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, posted a video of herself that indicates that she's ready not only to once again dominate the competition but to do so in unprecedented fashion.
The clip - which Biles posted on her Twitter with the caption "2020 👀👀👀?" - shows Biles completing a Yurchenko double pike vault before tumbling into a foam pit.
When the clip is slowed down, it's easier to grasp the magnitude of the feat.
The impressive move - named in part for Russian gymnast Natalia Yurchenko - involves a roundoff into the springboard, a back handspring onto the vault, and a piked double backflip on the dismount. According to Blythe Lawrence of Rocker Gymnastics, a Yurchenko double-flipping vault has never even been attempted before by a woman in international competition.
And from the looks of it, Biles could take the move to solid ground whenever she wants - her feet were the first part of her body to contact the foam pit after two full rotations in the air.
Fans will get a better taste of what Biles is bringing to the mats this time around when she competes at the US Olympic Team Trials in St. Louis June 25-28. Until then, we'll have to settle for more jaw-dropping videos posted to social media.
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2020 👀👀👀 ? pic.twitter.com/3QDjSOPYbH
- Simone Biles (@Simone_Biles) February 3, 2020