After a two-year hiatus, Simone Biles was named The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for her mat, vault and balance beam performance. Biles became the sixth woman to win the AP title three times with her remarkable comeback, which included a sixth global all-around gold medal and a record-tying eighth U.S. national championship. In the poll by a group of sports media experts, the 26-year-old seven-time Olympian was followed by Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark and World Cup champion Spanish soccer player Aitana Bonmati. Biles won the AP honor in 2016 and 2019. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Simone Biles (@simonebiles) In October, Biles became the first woman to land a Yurchenko double pike vault, a roundoff back handspring with two saltos in the piked position, at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastic Championships in Antwerp, Belgium. The vault, renamed The Biles II, is the most difficult jump in the women’s scoring code and had a difficulty score of 6.4...
