By Celina Yin
At the GK U.S. Classic on May 22, 2021 in Indianapolis, legendary gymnast Simone Biles landed the difficult Yurchenko double pike, a move only performed by men in history. Biles became the first woman to complete the vault move.
The Yurchenko double pike's sequence was first a roundoff onto the springboard, then a back handspring onto the vault, then a piked double backflip into the air and to the floor. Biles landed the moves with near perfection, even though she stumbled a bit. “I was just thinking, 'Do it like training. Don't try to like overdo anything,'" Biles said after the terrific stunt, "because I have a tendency as soon as I raise my hand to kind of overpower things, and I did a little bit, but at least I was on my feet." The New York Time said that the Yurchenko was "considered so perilous and challenging that no other woman has attempted it in competition, and it is unlikely that any woman in the world is even training to give it a try." That is because the gymnast must launch herself high enough to have time to do two backflips in the pike position.
Biles is 24 years old, and a four-time gold medalist in the Olympics. She successfully stood her ground in her GK U.S. Classic all-around title in her first competition in more than a year and a half. Biles plans to do the Yurchenko double pike at the Tokyo Olympics this summer. Simone Biles is a legendary gymnast.