Biles has won 19 gold medals at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, dating back to the all-around and floor exercise titles she won in Antwerp 10 years ago.

She is the most decorated athlete in the history of the event and has also won seven Olympic medals, but missed the World Championships for the last two years after taking a break from the sport following Tokyo 2020, where she withdrew from most events to focus on her mental health but helped the United States to team silver and won an individual balance beam bronze.

Biles is targeting a record seventh consecutive women's team title for the United States at the World Championships on Wednesday (October 4) at Antwerp Sportpaleis.

Competition is due to start with men's qualification tomorrow and on Sunday (October 1), with women's qualifiers to be held on Sunday and Monday (October 2).

The men's team final is set to award the first medals in Antwerp on Tuesday (October 3), followed by the women's team final on Wednesday.

Thursday (October 5) is set to feature the men's individual all-around final followed by the women's event the following day, before the World Championships concludes with apparatus finals on October 7 and 8.

Daiki Hashimoto of Japan is the reigning men's all-around Olympic and world champion, while Brazil's Rebeca Andrade won last year's women's all-around title in the British city of Liverpool.

Apparatus titles were won by six different men and four different women in Liverpool, with China's men joining America's women in earning team golds.

However, only floor exercise winner Jessica Gadirova of Britain is defending her title in the women's apparatus events, while three of the six reigning male champions in Ireland's Rhys McClenaghan on the pommel horse, Turkey's Adem Asil on the still rings and Armenia's Artur Davtyan on the vault are due to compete in Antwerp.

Russian and Belarusian athletes are set to remain absent, as the FIG's decision in July to readmit them as individual neutrals where they do not support the war in Ukraine and are not affiliated to the military came too late for them to qualify.

The top nine teams in qualifying are set to earn a place at the Paris 2024 Olympics, excluding China, Japan and Britain on the men's side and the US, Britain and Canada on the women's who qualified last year.

In the all-around, the top eight men and 14 women not representing a nation with a qualified team earn a quota place for their country at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

The top ranked eligible athlete in the apparatus finals whose nations have not already qualified for Paris 2024 will earn a quota place at next year's Olympics too.

FIG President and International Olympic Committee member Morinari Watanabe looked forward to the World Championships.

"It is a pleasure to be back in Antwerp for the 52^nd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships," the Japanese official said.

"With the Paris 2024 Olympic Games approaching and qualifications at stake, I look forward to watching the athletes show their best performances.

"I am sure that it will be thrilling."

Antwerp also held the inaugural FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in 1903, with this year marking the third time it has staged the event.