Simone Biles among the nominees for Laureus World Comeback of the Year following 2023 exploits

American gymnast Simone Biles was recently nominated for the 2024 Laureus World Comeback of the Year award.

Biles is among other Olympic champions and celebrated sports personalities, including Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Sebastien Haller, Siya Kolisi, Jamal Murray, and Marketa Vondrousova.

The awards organization shared the names of the nominees for the award on X (formerly Twitter), writing:

"The Nominees for the 2024 Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award are: @Simone_Biles @HallerSeb @JohnsonThompson @SiyaKolisi @BeMore27 #MarketaVondrousova #Laureus24"

Laureus highlighted Biles, 26, as the first woman to land the Yurchenko double pike vault in competition. They wrote:

"@Simone Biles returned to competition after two years in 2023 and won four gold medals at the World Championships, including a record sixth all-around title.

The post continued:

"She became the first woman to land the Yurchenko double pike vault in competition, won a historic eighth US national title and is nominated for the #Laureus24 World Comeback of the Year Award.

The 25th Laureus World Sports Awards will be held on April 22 in Madrid. According to Laureus official portal, the awardee is determined by a vote by the 69 members of the Laureus World Sports Academy.

When Simone Biles made history landing Yurchenko double pike vault

At the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastic Championships in Belgium, Biles made history by becoming the first woman to land a Yurchenko double pike vault internationally. The move was subsequently renamed the "Biles II".

NBC Olympics & Paralympics shared a video of the gymnast performing the feat on social media, writing:

"Simone has done it!! Simone Biles is the first female gymnast to perform the Yurchenko double pike on vault internationally and the skill is now officially called the 'Biles II'."

In the video, the most decorated American gymnast of all time can be seen sprinting down the runway, making a round-off onto a springboard, and performing a back handspring onto the vaulting table. Biles finished the routine off with two double flips.

Laurent Landi, Biles coach, had described the difficulty of the move in 2021 on CBS News segment 60 Minutes. She said:

"What's scary (is), people can get hurt. You do a short landing, it can hurt your ankles. It's very dangerous vault."

Biles also reflected on the feat in an Instagram post, stating that the World Championships would always hold a special place in her heart. She said:

"The first time I got a skill named after me was in this arena & 10 years later I got my 5th skill named. I'm speechless..."