World Gymnastics Championships: Jake Jarman wins GB's first vault title & Simone Biles claims double gold

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Media caption,

Jake Jarman wins GB's first vault title at World Gymnastics Championships

Jake Jarman won Britain's first world vault title on the same day Simone Biles secured another two gold medals at the World Gymnastics Championships.

European champion Jarman, 21, clinched gold with an overall score of 15.050 in Antwerp.

"It's doesn't feel real yet. I just can't believe it," he said.

Biles, 26, won the beam and floor on Sunday, her 22nd and 23rd world titles, after achieving team and all-around success earlier in the competition.

On the final day of the championships, American Biles enhanced her record as the most decorated gymnast in history with a routine that earned her a score of 14.8 on the beam, enough to finish ahead of China's Zhou Yaqin and Brazilian Rebeca Andrade.

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Biles wins 22nd world title with beam gold

Biles then won a high-class floor final, making just one small mistake on her way to 14.633 points, comfortably ahead of the Brazilian pair of Andrade and Flavia Saraiva, who took silver and bronze.

Britain's Alice Kinsella was eighth after replacing injured team-mate Jessica Gadirova in the final.

The twin victories pushed Biles' overall medal tally at world and Olympic level to 37, with her latest four golds coming in her first international competition since taking two years out of the sport to work on her mental health after a troubled Tokyo Olympics.

Biles, who now has 23 World Championship golds, told BBC Sport: "I'm very proud, especially after the year I had after Tokyo, coming back and just being comfortable and confident in my routines. I couldn't ask for more."

Media caption,

Simone Biles wins fourth gold of championships on floor

'It gives me a huge confidence boost'

Jarman, from Peterborough, finished ahead of American Khoi Young (14.849) in the men's vault final with Ukraine's Nazar Chepurnyi claiming bronze (14.766), while Britain's Harry Hepworth was seventh.

"I was definitely nervous competing, especially for that first vault," Jarman said. "As soon as I landed that first vault, instantly I shut all my emotions down."

The Briton was the only gymnast to attempt the high-difficulty Yonekura vault, perfectly landing it to gain a huge opening score of 15.4.

He added a strong second attempt of 14.7 to seal victory by 0.201 points.

The vault helped Jarman secure a first individual medal at world level and further showcases his potential ahead of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Last year he claimed four golds at the Commonwealth Games, took European gold in vault and was also a world bronze medallist in the team event.

Jarman added: "I'm just super proud to be able to perform the way I did under that stress and pressure. It gives me a huge confidence boost, especially leading up to next year.

"[The Yonekura vault] has been years in the making," added Jarman. "The first time I did it was in 2017, and that was in a foam pit. I have been building it since then and it has been really hard.

"It's a very precise piece to have to get right. If you are slightly off on the take-off it will send you off, so it's down to a fraction of a second with the timing.

"For me, it can be quite a nerve-wracking vault, so to be able to do it I was over the moon."

Before Jarman's success, Britain's women's and men's teams had both missed out on medals in Antwerp, while Gadirova was ruled out with injury and Max Whitlock came off the apparatus during his pommel horse final.

Elsewhere, Japan's Daiki Hashimoto added gold in the horizontal bar final to his men's all-around title, while Germany's Lukas Dauser won the men's parallel bars.

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