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Simone Biles has won her 9th all-around national championship

Simone Biles performs floor exercises during the U.S. Gymnastics Championships on Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Julio Cortez/AP
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AP
Simone Biles performs floor exercises during the U.S. Gymnastics Championships on Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Simone Biles won her ninth U.S. all-around championship Sunday, bringing her total number of national titles to 32.

The all-around competition lasted two days, in which Biles scored a total of 119.75 points, with 60.45 points on Friday and 59.3 points on Sunday.

“Today, it’s just getting out here, getting comfortable and confident in my gymnastics, and hopefully going to Olympic trials and making that next step towards Paris,” Biles said Sunday. “So I couldn’t be more proud of how I’m doing this time in the year, and just gaining that confidence over and over, getting myself back in front of a crowd, and just doing what I do in practice.”

She also won gold in vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.

“I feel like most of the time, if I’m not stressing or have anxiety, I do feel like I’m having fun. So it’s good to have that and feel that again.”

Skye Blakely and Kayla DiCello placed silver and bronze in all-around, respectively.

With the win, Biles receives an automatic berth to the U.S. Olympic Team trials later in June, as does runner-up Blakely. Fourteen other gymnasts also are invited to the trials, to be held June 27-30 in Minneapolis.

Copyright 2024 NPR

Ayana Archie
[Copyright 2024 NPR]