The 2024 Paris Olympics kick off tomorrow and Simone Biles looks battle-ready! Needless to say, she is targeting to be the gymnastics alpha, but not before she fends off her Brazilian counterpart, Rebeca Andrade. And gymnastics fanatics know that with these two, it will be a tussle for vault supremacy! Who will be titled the vault maven is not far away from being unveiled. But, both of them certainly look at fighting trim!

What makes us say that? Well, the visuals straight from Paris show that Biles is locked and loaded, polishing her signature move- the Yurchenko Double Pike! And for gymnastics fanatics, it is a sight for sore eyes! But will that be enough for her to seal the deal as Andrade pulls off an acrobat-like Triple Twisting Yurchenko? Who will reign supreme?

Simone Biles set to bring it home with Biles II?

A video uploaded on 25th July, by USA Gymnastics, shows Simone Biles from the podium training session in Paris. Wherein, she is seen nailing the move named after her, the Yurchenko Double Pike (YDP). Aka Biles II, this move involves Biles taking a speedy run up, before she does a handspring onto the vault and flips in the air twice, with her hands holding the back of her knees. As she executes the move to perfection, she looks in great shape to bag a 6.4 difficulty score on the Paris mats.

While USA Gym calls it ‘unreal,’ so does the most of the world. Why so? Well, allotted a mighty score by the International Gymnastics Federation, the YDP is an intricate vault maneuver. One mistake, and the attempt can land the gymnast straight on their head. In her Nextflix series, Simone Biles Rising, she remarks, how its “Just scary. Every time you do it, you are scared.” Therefore, it requires not just practice, but unflinching courage. However, on attaining perfection, the score can help Biles be a cut above the rest.

Moreover, why is perfecting this so important? Well, at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Biles had won the all-around title, surpassing Andrade. But you she lost the vault spot to the Brazilian. Guess what, it was the YDP that made all the difference. Biles had apparently sat down while executing this, which costed her the vault spot. But this time around, Andrade is not waiting on Biles to make slip ups. She is coming in firing on all cylinders, with her Triple Twisting Yurchenko attempt!

Rebeca Andrade set to de-throne Biles with a historic move

You heard that. Rebeca Andrade is practicing to full off the Triple Twisting Yurchenko in Paris, as displayed in a video that surfaced on the 8th of July. What looked liked an ambitious Andrade, with her new unfazed mindset, pulled off the move, which too has a back-handspring start on the vault, but soon intensifies into three twists, with her hands near the chest.

Now while a double-twisting Yurchenko on the vault is a pointer, the triple-twisting version provides a 5.8 in difficulty. This means that if Andrade executes it beyond reproach, she could land very close to Biles’ vault anticipated scores. What’s more? With Andrade adding her Cheng to the show, that might help her spice the scores up further.

But interestingly, can Andrade pull of this never-done before act? Indeed, no woman gymnast has been entirely successful in completing this marvel of a move in an international event. Although North Korean Hong Un-jong attempted it in Rio, her efforts unfortunately went in vain. Thus, do you think the YDP, that Biles first tried in 2021, can be those six or seven seconds of a difference that gives her the lead against Andrade?