Watching Simone Biles in slow motion is a thing of magic

Editor's note: This article was originally published on June 7, 2021. It has since been updated.

If you are amazed by Simone Biles (and honestly, who is not?), then prepare to be shocked speechless. In a clip that has gone viral since it was first posted, the world-class gymnast can be seen performing her set in ultra-slow motion, and it has stunned viewers. The slow-motion footage of one of her moves on the floor captures Biles as she appears to essentially be defying gravity. In real-time at the United States Gymnastics Championships on Friday, Biles flipped into the air as if her body were somehow separate from the rules of gravity that binds rest of us. Timothy Burke, a Twitter user, shared the slow-mo video last weekend, Huffington Post reports.

The reigning Olympic and world champion closed out the first night of the US Gymnastics Championships on top at number one, but not before she fascinated us all with a stellar set on the floor. Burke's video of the performance has been viewed more than 700,000 views since it was first posted on Saturday. He claimed it was "a better version" of another video that he slowed down of Biles at the 2019 championships. The older clip, posted in August 2019, has been viewed over 9.5 million times.

Since Burke's first video, he has been working on more cutting-edge technology to better capture movements in slow motion. "In that time I have worked on developing better, GPU-accelerated neural net processes to slow down video, and this was a test of that," he explained in an interview with the news outlet. "The new video was slowed down 16 times, and then ironically sped up two times because Twitter could not handle the resulting high-speed frame rate." Evidently, the social media network has to step its game up. In the meantime, Twitter users rained down the high praise.

One user commented, "She's superhuman." Another added, "They need to find her a place in the [Marvel Comics Universe]. As herself." "Don't wanna start any arguments, but we might be witnessing the best athlete any of us have ever seen," one person posted. "My goodness." Notably, Kyle Jahner, a reporter with Bloomberg Law, wrote, "I know the floor has [a] spring to it, but damn.... She could literally jump into a basketball hoop feet first."

Biles recently claimed her seventh US gymnastics title with stunning ease. To those who watched Burke's clip, it comes as no surprise. The 24-year-old will now be prepping to take on the upcoming Olympics in Tokyo, despite the challenges the Coronavirus pandemic has posed. After becoming the first woman gymnast to nail the Yurchenko double-pike vault at the US Classic last month, she perhaps will think of the global competition as a cakewalk. Nonetheless, fans remain excited to see what she has up her leotard sleeves.