As Simone Biles, 24, prepares for the grand finale of her gymnastics career at the Tokyo Olympics, she’s testing her limits at every turn — or backflip. In a practice session for the U.S. Classic, Simone nailed a Yurchenko double pike not once but twice. If she lands the notoriously-difficult move in Saturday’s Classic, she will become the first-ever woman to land it in competition. (Casual.)
Named for Soviet gymnast Natalia Yurchenko, the Yurchenko vault includes a round-off onto the board, then a back handspring or back handspring with a full twist onto the table, and a flip off of the table. A Yurchenko double pike adds a second flip. It is especially dangerous because it requires a gymnast to pick up an incredible amount of speed while approaching the vault and clear the vault mid-back-handspring. From the vault, the gymnast does a double flip while keeping her legs straight.
Simone shows exactly how it’s done in the Twitter clips below.
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