Olympic star Biles leads Team USA at world championships

FILE – In this Aug. 19, 2018, file photo, Simone Biles competes on the floor exercise at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Boston. The four-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time world all-around champion headlines the six-woman group Team USA will send to the world championship later this month in Doha, Qatar. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)

INDIANAPOLIS — Olympic gymnastics champion Simone Biles is ready to take on the world again.

The four-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time world all-around champion headlines the six-woman group Team USA will send to the 2018 world championship in Doha, Qatar later this month.

The world championships are the first international meet for Biles since the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The 21-yeara-old took time off after winning five medals — including gold in the all-around, vault, floor exercise and team final — in Brazil. She returned to competition in July and captured a fourth US championship in August.

Biles will be joined by 2017 world all-around champion Morgan Hurd, 2017 US champion and 2016 Olympic alternate Ragan Smith, Riley McCusker, Grace McCallum and Kara Eaker.

The world championships serve as a qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The teams that finish in the top three in the team final will earn an automatic berth to the games. The U.S. has won every major international team competition since the 2011 world championships.