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Simone Biles lands two history-making moves, earns record-tying sixth national title

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ABC News

Simone Biles made history this weekend, becoming the first female gymnast to land two new moves in competition.  She easily earned herself her sixth title at the 2019 U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Kansas City, Missouri.

Between preliminaries on Friday and finals Sunday, Biles made history three times over with two new moves and a record-tying all-around win. First, on Friday, she cleanly completed a double-double dismount–a double twist and double somersault– on balance beam.

Also Friday, she attempted a triple-double in floor — but just barely missed a clean finish.

She returned to competition Sunday raring to get it right, and she did, becoming the first woman to cleanly complete the triple-twist, double-flip move in her first pass on floor, and beamed with her accomplishment.

Biles sailed to a first-place finish and is now tied with Clara Schroth Lomady for most national titles — a record that was set in the 1950s.

And it wasn’t just the all-around. Biles also got first place in individual events for vault, balance beam and floor. She finished third in uneven bars.

“I’m really happy with the beam dismount and how it’s come along, because if you had asked me after [U.S. Classic] if I was going to complete it, I would’ve said no,” Biles told Team USA at the competition of the beam move. 

If Biles successfully completes the floor and/or beam feat at an international meet, the skill will be named after her. The floor triple-double would be called the Biles II, as she already has one floor trick named after her. Her next chance to do so would come at the world championships in Germany in October.

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