Happy Halloween, and welcome to Gymnastics Insider!
The world championships concluded last week (full results at The Gymternet) with two days of event finals.
The main story of this worlds is Skye Blakely, who was the most successful gymnast of the competition with four medals: gold (AA), silver (team) and bronze (vault, bars).
Help shape what’s next for The IX Sports! Take our short reader survey:
I was surprised to re-learn that this was her fourth world championships, because up until now, Blakely has been a U.S. team member who is clearly very talented, but had yet to make a real international splash on her own. In 2022 and 2023, she helped Team USA win world gold medals, but fell on beam at least once in each competition. In 2025, she placed fourth in the bars final. She was too injured to try for the 2020 or the 2024 Olympics.
Finally, this year, she underperformed at nationals and wasn’t on many fans’ shortlists for the worlds team, including mine.
How did she make it work this time? I wish I knew so I could apply the same strategy to my own life. From what Blakely wrote on Instagram, it seems that she simply decided to continue pushing forward through her many obstacles and to trust the process. “I never gave in,” she wrote. “Stay in the fight!” Thank you, Skye. I will.
Second in the medal count was Claire Pease, who won three: a gold on floor and silvers in the team and vault finals. As I wrote in my preview, we know Pease was gunning for an all-around medal, if not the gold. But I hope she’s satisfied with her results here. It was her first world championships, and as long as she can keep her ankles healthy, she’s capable of meeting her goals.
Kaylia Nemour has a somewhat similar story. I had her on my list of athletes to beat for the all-around. We know she can do it if she hits. She still earned gold medals on bars and beam, an incredible accomplishment. We knew she was talented on beam, but I don’t think anyone predicted that she would win the event outright.
I did think that China would have walked away with more hardware, but their bars rotation in qualifications and the errors in the beam final held them back. Their team gold was well earned and should give them a lot of confidence moving into the second half of the quad. Zhang Qingying is still the best beam worker in the world, she just wasn’t on that day (more on that below), and Ke Qinqin’s bronze in the all-around is an amazing result.
And of course, there’s the absence of Russia’s top players. I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I don’t think we should avoid that elephant in the room. Angelina Melnikova & Co. could have done very well here, and that means these results come with a glaring asterisk. The fact that the team finished third in qualifications and Lyudmila Roshchina won a silver medal tells you a lot about how much depth this team has, and how much talent was left at home.
Rep The IX Sports at your next game!
Shop the logo collection or special “Women’s Sports are Front Page News” collection now on Shopify.
Vault
- Andrade (14.466)
- Pease (14.233)
- Blakely (14.166)
Rebeca Andrade did exactly what we knew she would: a gorgeous DTY (14.400, with a 9.4 in execution) and a Lopez into the clouds for a 14.133 to give her the title by over two tenths. Well done.
Pease’s Cheng had great distance and probably the best form we’ve seen from her yet. She could have bested Andrade here, but she landed her DTY out of bounds, which cost her .3. Blakely’s DTY was beautiful in the air; she just had a slide back on the landing (14.100). Her Lopez had incredible height and distance, and again just had a hop on the landing.
Yeo Seojeong kicked off the final with an incredible Rudi for a 14.600. Unfortunately, she put her hands down on her DTY and finished seventh.
Bars
- Nemour (15.333)
- Kevric (14.833)
- Blakely (14.600)
Nemour hit and made all her connections, easily winning the gold by half a point. She “just” did a double layout as a dismount, but it didn’t matter, as she still got a 7.0 difficulty score and the next highest was Helen Kevric’s 6.4. Nemour is reminiscent of peak Biles, as she’s only competing against herself here.
Kevric beat her qualification score to take second here. She had a late pirouette with her inbar full, and she missed another handstand on the high bar. She stuck her full in cold.
Blakely was great, with beautiful handstands and just some minor flexed feet and a step on her landing to take third. She looked thrilled. Her execution was a tad lower than Kevric’s which surprised me as I spotted more errors in the latter’s routine. Kevric’s difficulty still tops Blakely’s by two tenths.
Both beat Nemour in execution, but as long as Nemour stays on the bars, her D score means she’ll always float to the top.
Beam
- Nemour (14.566)
- Zhang Q (14.566)
- Saraiva (14.300)
For me, this was the biggest upset in a final at this competition. Going in, nobody had the advantage like Zhang and Qiu Qiyuan, and the gold should have gone to one of them, if all had gone well. Qiu qualified in second with a 14.966, and that was over half a point ahead of the third-place qualifier, Flavia Saraiva.
Nemour was phenomenal in the final, looking so poised and confident in herself, and showing the world that attending all the world cups is probably good practice. She did have one break in her leap series, and her leaps don’t have the split positions I would like to see in a top beamer. She landed her double pike with her chest down and the tiniest of hops. The gold was well deserved.
Zhang’s basics were all there, including the incredible form on every element, like her ring positions. But she had the most random balance check after her bhs stepout, and missed her connection to a jump. Then, she missed another connection in her next series and had a large step back on her landing. A 14.566 tied her with Nemour, but she took second on the tiebreak.
Saraiva had the routine we’ve all been waiting for from her. She was absolutely brilliant, especially in her leaps, and just had a lean forward after her side somi. Her chest was way down on the dismount and she had a small step there, but the routine overall was great for a 14.300 and the bronze medal.
Elena Colas did very well, with just minor errors to take fourth with a 14.100. I was impressed with Colas’ performance overall at these worlds; she also competed in the bars final, where she placed fourth with a great routine. She’s still brand new on the international scene but nearly made the podium multiple times. It’ll be exciting to see her continue to improve from here.
Qiu’s routine started with the perfection we’ve come to expect from her, but then she nearly came off on her switch half. She got back on track and while she had a couple of missed connections, she finished the routine with a big step on her double pike. She ended up in seventh.
Blakely had a leg up on her standing full, and another on her front pike. It was technically a hit for a 13.633, but these errors and other nervous wobbles kept her in sixth.
Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women’s Sports Daily
We are excited to announce the launch of TWO new podcasts for all the women’s sports fans out there looking for a daily dose of women’s sports news and analysis. Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to subscribe!
Floor
- Pease (13.866)
- Esponda (13.566)
- Prat (13.466)
Pease won this final hands down with a great performance; the rest of the field was tight. Pease came in with the highest difficulty (6.1) and greatly improved on her qualifications performance to finish in first. She still has that short landing on her Moors, but it’s looking much better. Her double double just had a small step on the landing, as did her combination pass and her 2.5. For the most part, she kept control of her landings throughout and this, along with a superior difficulty score, put her ahead of the pack.
Reese Esponda had a hit routine as well, but lack of control on her landings and missed split positions held her back. She did a double double with just a small hop back, a whip into double layout, front somersault into a double tuck, which she bounced out of, and she hopped back on her double tuck. It wasn’t as strong as qualifications but good for second.
Maïana Prat came in clutch to win a bronze medal. She started with an excellent double L turn, then a 1.5 to double tuck, which she fought to keep inbounds. Her routine was very well executed for a well earned third. She tied with Abigail Martin but won based on her E score.
If you want a true play-by-play of every routine in these finals, I recommend you head to The Balance Beam Situation.
More news
Becky Downie had another shoulder surgery.
Simone Biles showed up at worlds and handed out the floor medals.
Five at the IX: Chellsie Memmel
Chellsie Memmel spoke to the media about Team USA’s worlds performance.
‘Rare Gems’ is out now!
Howard Megdal, founder and editor of The IX Basketball and The IX Sports, wrote this deeply reported book. “Rare Gems” follows four connected generations of women’s basketball pioneers, from Elvera “Peps” Neuman to Cheryl Reeve and from Lindsay Whalen to Sylvia Fowles and Paige Bueckers.
If you enjoy Megdal’s coverage of women’s basketball every Wednesday at The IX Sports, you will love “Rare Gems: How Four Generations of Women Paved the Way for the WNBA.”
Soccer: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer
Tennis: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer
Basketball: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The IX Sports
Softball: Maren Angus-Coombs, @Maren-Angus, The IX Sports
Golf: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX Sports
Hockey: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden
Gymnastics: Jessica Taylor Price, @jesstaylorprice, Freelance Writer
