American superstar Simone Biles has become the first gymnast to win 13 world championships gold medals after claiming her first vault world title at the ongoing world championships held in Doha, Qatar on Friday.
The 21-year-old American broke the all-time record set by Belarusian male gymnast Vitaly Scherbo in 1996.
Biles nailed both of her difficult vaults for the world title. Her two-vault average score of 15.366 topped second-place Shallon Olsen of Canada, who scored 14.516. Mexico's Alexa Moreno won bronze at 14.508.
Simone Biles during women's vault final at the 2018 Gymnastics World Championships, November 2, 2018. /VCG Photo
She then went on to win a silver in uneven bars, her first uneven bars medal in world's major events. Marking her as the first American to win world championship medals in every event – team, individual all-around and on all four apparatuses.
The vault gold marked Biles' third world title so far in Doha this week, with opportunities to win more golds before the competition wraps up on Saturday. Biles will go for titles in floor exercise and balance beam.
She now has 18 world championship medals overall, just two shy of the all-time record of 20, held by Russia's Svetlana Khorkina.