Simone Biles Broke High Jump World Record? Jumping Over NBA’s Tallest Victor Wembanyama, Gymnastics GOAT Soars in Track and Field

Think of some of the most common phrases you’ve heard, ones like “aging like fine wine” and “the sky is the limit.” Well, when it comes to Simone Biles, there couldn’t be better idioms to represent her. At the US Olympic Trials, the 27-year-old sealed a third Olympic team spot for herself and is set to become the oldest female US gymnast at the Games in the last 72 years. And as for the sky being the limit, Biles pulled off an almost unthinkable gravity-defying move.

Can you imagine someone who’s 4’8” jumping 12 feet in the air? That’s precisely what Simone Biles did while performing her floor exercise routine. Let’s go back to the 2019 US Gymnastics Championships. During her floor exercise routine, Biles became the first woman to land a triple-double in competition. NBC reporter Nick Zaccardi described it: “It was the epitome of what Simone Biles is – the height, the power, and the clean execution. There’s nobody else that can do that skill at all…” Well, except Simone Biles, because it looks like she executed it even more perfectly (if that’s possible) at last week’s trials.

And in doing so, she may have just added another record to her already glowing resume. The skill – performed with Taylor Swift’s…Ready For It? playing in the background – ended with a flawless landing without any stumble or unsteadiness. This exercise earned her the best score of the evening (14.725), but even more interesting was the height she achieved compared to other sports. Sportscenter shared a picture of Biles 12 feet in the air while executing the triple-double, comparing her jump to the tallest active NBA player, Victor Wembanyama. “SIMONE BILES TOOK FLIGHT 🤯” they wrote.

Notably, Wemby stands 7’4” tall, and Simone Biles’ jump exceeded that by more than 4 feet! In fact, the jump even surpassed the Frenchman’s standing reach, which is a mammoth 9’7”. As for Wemby’s vertical leap, it’s around 2’8”, which would allow him to reach a height of 10 feet. That’s still 2 feet less than the gymnast’s staggering jump in Minneapolis. Her leap even dwarfed some of the highest high jumps in history.

According to World Athletics, the current women’s high jump world record stands at 2.09 meters, as achieved by Stefka Kostadinova in 1987. How high was Simone Biles’ jump in comparison? 3.65 meters, more than 1.5 meters higher. Additionally, the World Indoor Championship record of 2.05 meters in the same division is similarly overshadowed. The world-leading high jump this season, at 2.04 meters, also falls short. But does this mean the 27-year-old has broken the high jump world record?

No, it does not. Two main factors separate the high jump and the somersault in gymnastics. The high jump’s steadfast rules clearly prohibit jumping with two feet on the ground and using a springboard. Both of these are used in gymnastics. Somersaults in gymnastics result from jumping with both feet, as the momentum comes from applying force on the mat with both feet. This force propels the gymnast into the air with significant effect. In contrast, in the high jump, the resultant force is not as high because the athlete pushes off from the ground with one foot, leading to a lower push-off.

Another factor is the presence of the mat. In gymnastics, the mats are far more flexible. In contrast, the high jump field is much stiffer. Consequently, the reactive force is less potent in the high jump than on the gymnastics mat. While Simone Biles’ 12-foot jump may not be the high jump record, it was extremely impressive, nonetheless.

Yes, the springboard has springs below it that aid the heights achieved, but they’re nowhere close to the bounce a trampoline would otherwise provide. And yes, gymnasts can produce a lot more momentum due to the jumps that preceded the skill, just as the run-up did for Biles during the triple-double. As for Biles, it’s primarily her strength-to-weight ratio that lets her jump more than twice her height. But while she may have reached the 10-foot mark before, the 12-foot jump was a first. That said, when it comes to Simone Biles and jumps, she’s gotten used to making history.

You can tell even Simone Biles impressed herself with that jump. While her smile after landing the skill perfectly was an indication, she reposted Sportcenter’s Instagram post on her story. In fact, NASA Marshall’s official X account even tweeted, “Perfect trajectory for launching to Paris! 🚀” And it was, indeed, the perfect launch for her third Olympic campaign, which she calls her “redemption tour.”

After withdrawing from the team final at the Tokyo Olympics due to the “twisties,” Biles took a long break from gymnastics to regain confidence in her abilities. Making her return to competition in 2023, she came back with a bang. At the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championship in Antwerp, the American became the first woman to execute a Yurchenko double pike in an international competition. She was set to do it at the Tokyo Olympics, but due to the “twisties,” she couldn’t.

But as she returned to competition last year, she got the perfect opportunity to make another skill her own. As she rehearsed it in Antwerp, the crowd went wild. She performed it again in the competition, and although she may not have stuck her landing, that marked the moment the Yurchenko double pike officially became the Biles II. She scored a staggering 15.266 for that vault.