ANTWERP, Belgium — Led by Simone Biles, the U.S. women won a record seventh consecutive team title at the gymnastics world championships Wednesday night.
The American team of Biles, Shilese Jones, Skye Blakely and Leanne Wong combined for a total of 167.729 points to edge Brazil and France.
The U.S. team won by a margin of 2.199 points as the final proved to be a closer contest than anticipated after the Americans put up a dominant performance in qualifying.
The U.S. women have won gold in the team event at every world championship that included a team competition since 2011. Their victory in Antwerp broke a tie with the Chinese men for the longest streak of consecutive team titles and made Biles the most decorated female gymnast in history.
Biles now has 26 world championship medals, 20 of them gold, to go with her seven Olympic medals, including the 2016 Olympic title. Her 33 combined medals at the sport’s two biggest events are one more than what Larisa Latynina of the Soviet Union achieved.
The U.S. team overcame an early scare as Joscelyn Roberson was forced out of the event even before it started after she seemed to hurt an ankle while warming up at the vault. She was helped off the mat and replaced by Wong.
Jones then kicked off the competition…
