Biles in control at US Gymnastics C’ships; Fraser-Pryce rules Destiny

Looks like the rust is gone for Simone Biles. Well, almost. The reigning Olympic and world gymnastics champion put on a dazzling show at the U.S. Championships on Friday night, posting a score of 59.550 that makes her seventh national title a practical certainty.

The 24-year-old expressed a bit of frustration after miscues on balance beam and uneven bars during the US Classic two weeks ago, her first meet in more than 18 months. She certainly looked more polished with the Olympic Trials in three weeks and the Tokyo Games less than 50 days away.

Wearing a leotard with the outline of a goat - a nod to her status as the Greatest of All Time - on her right shoulder, Biles showcased why she’s in a class all her own, even on a night when she chose to keep her latest possibility-pushing innovation under wraps.

Biles wowed in Indianapolis last month when she became the first woman to complete a Yurchenko double-pike vault in competition. She landed it in practice Wednesday but opted to go with a pair of vaults with lower difficulty instead. She drilled her Cheng and took a pretty sizable step after landing her Amanar but still had little trouble posting the highest score - 15.800 - of the night.

Meanwhile, Jamaican sprint star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce became the second fastest woman in history on Saturday, clocking a world-leading 10.63 seconds (1.3m/sec) for the 100m at the olympic Destiny meeting in Kingston.

The 34-year-old reigning world and two-time olympic 100m champion obliterated the field at the National Stadium, finishing several metres clear of her closest rival.

Only late US sprinting star Florence Griffith-Joyner, who holds the world record of 10.49sec, has run faster.

Fraser-Pryce’s time smashed the previous 2021 world-leading time of 10.72sec set by Sha’Carri Richardson of the United States in March.

Fraser-Pryce had shared the Jamaican national record with Elaine Thompson-Herah at 10.70 seconds and she had a season’s best 10.84 seconds coming into the meet, organized by the Jamaica olympic Association and the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association.

After getting off to a bullet-like start, Fraser-Pryce ran away from the field to win by a massive margin, with Natasha Morrison a distant second in 10.95 seconds and Kashieka Cameron third on 11.39.

Fraser-Pryce, the 2008 and 2012 olympic 100m champion, was running her fourth 100m for the season and as surprised by her time as the small gathering at the stadium.

Agencies