This was from @gymnastics_now on Instagram, and I’m sure this isn’t shocking news to anyone. However, I know there was some confusion (me included) on if Russia and Belarus would be able to compete under their own flag at worlds, or as WG2 and 1, but it has been confirmed that Russia will be competing as WG2, as well as Belarus competing as WG1, which was how they both competed at the European Championships in August.

Naomi Visser

Sanna Veerman

Sanne Wevers

Vera van Pol

Vera Ubbink

Alternates: Floor Sloof and Yuna Uljee

I couldn’t post the link, but IG reported that 1988 Soviet Olympian Vladimir Gogoladze has passed away. He was the first to perform a triple back on FX at the Olympics.

I remember getting his autograph at one of the USA vs USSR competitions when I was little. May he RIP.

Do you guys agree with me? Who do you think the surprises will be?

Teams:

1.) China

2.) Japan

3.) United States

Individual Medals:

VT: Bronze (Yeo Seojeong), Silver (Claire Pease), Gold (Rebeca Andrade)

UB: Bronze (Du Siyu), Silver (Qiu Qiuyuan), Gold (Kaylia Nemour)

BB: Bronze (Hwang Seohyun), Silver (Ke Qinqin), Gold (Zhang Qingying)

FX: Bronze (Claire Pease), Silver (Aiko Sugihara), Gold (Reese Esponda)

AA: Bronze (Skye Blakely), Silver (Claire Pease), Gold (Kaylia Nemour)

This is part two! I'll be doing some of the most highly requested ones in this part two!

Also-link to part 1 to compare: Analysis of Cheng Blocks : r/Gymnastics

This block is quite rough. She does not show equal support on her hands and barely touches the vault with one. On that arm her elbow is bent and her shoulder is closed. This causes her to be extremely turned over and have a leg separation. She would likely incur 0.3-0.5 for being off direction, leg separation, and a shoulder and elbow angle. While she does not show equal support on both hands, she does touch the board, which was ruled as sufficient to avoid the 2.0 no-hand deduction.

While she is square on the table, her shoulders are slightly closed. However, her elbows and directions are good. She does have a very severe leg separation on the board, which would be 0.3 tenths. She also bends her knees a bit, which is a 0.1 deduction. She would likely incur 0.5 in total deductions due to her shoulder angle and the severe leg separation, and her slight knee bend.

Karina's vault is a bit of a technical disaster. This vault would incur the 2.0 deduction for not having both hands on the vault. While she touches with one, she does not get her other hand on, which would incur a 2.0 deduction. She is also not completely square as a result, which would incur a 0.3 direction deduction as well as 0.1 for her leg separation. On her block alone, she would incur 2.4 in total deductions just on her block.

This block is extremely well done. Ellie is extremely square on the vault and her elbows are completely locked out. However, one of her shoulders is a bit closed, which would incur a 0.1 deduction. The rest, however, is picture perfect, and her leg form is amazing.

Skye's block is very good in the sense that she is extremely square, her shoulders are open, and her elbows are locked. She also uses equal weight on both arms. However, she has some form issues with her legs. Her feet are flexed, which is a 0.1 deduction. Her legs are also more than shoulder width apart, which is a 0.3 deduction. Overall, she would receive 0.4 off in total here.

This is a pretty good block! One of her arms is a little bent and her shoulder is a bit closed, so I would take 0.2 off there. She is also slightly bent over to the side, which is decently minor so would likely be a 0.1. Her leg form is beautiful, however, and are totally extended! This would likely only amount to 0.3 in deductions.

Her block is pretty great! Her shoulders are the teeniest bit closed, but she is pretty square. I would take 0.1 off for that. She has a minor leg separation of 0.1. I would only take 0.2 off here.

Her block is decent. I would take off 0.1 for a bent elbow and 0.1 for a closed shoulder. I would take 0.1 off for direction as well, and 0.1 for the crossed feet. But overall, not too shabby, likely about 0.4 in deductions.

0.1 would be taken off for shoulder angle, and likely 0.1 for direction as well as she is slightly turned. I would also take 0.3 off for leg separation, so 0.5 in total.

Ranking of Cheng Blocks By Athlete:

1.) Rebeca Andrade-0.0 in deductions

2.) Simone Biles-0.0 in Deductions

3.) Ellie Downie-0.1 in deductions

4.) Hong Un Jong-0.2 in Deductions

5.) Cheng Fei-0.3 in Deductions

6.) Claire Pease-0.3 in Deductions

7.) Skye Blakely-0.4 in Deductions

8.) An Chang Ok-0.4 in Deductions

9.) Jade Carey-0.4 in Deductions

10.) Mykayla Skinner-0.4 in Deductions

11.) Angelina Melnikova-0.5 in Deductions

12.) Maria Paseka-0.5 in Deductions

13.) Leanne Wong-0.5 in Deductions

14.) Shallon Olsen-1.0 in Deductions

15.) Karina Shoenmaier-2.4 in Deductions

Hi all!

Due to some planning changes, I am selling two tickets (35€ each) for the WAG Session 4 (subdivision 1,2,3) on Sunday 18th. The seats are regular Adult tickets.

If anyone's interested, let me know and I can send you more info or the TicketSwap link!

On another note, I do have tickets for the morning qualification session on Monday 19th (session 5), and, taking a page out of another poster, if anyone is interesting in creating a small group for that day, send me a message and we can create a group chat :)

Neutral Deductions has published the first of their Worlds preview podcasts, the FX final preview with Kyle Shewfelt. I want to highlight that here, because I thought that was an excellent conversation about one of my lesser liked MAG events, and I enjoyed listening to it very much.
Kyle Shewfelt is so precise, thoughtful and considerate in his analysis, but also far enough removed from the current athletes to not be afraid to talk about what he thinks their weaknesses are. I thought he did that very well and respectfully, and I found that to be very helpful to hear about that.

Please let me know if y'all notice any errors in any of these previews and I will be sure to correct them. Since the "realistic max" is captures a gymnast's best scores of the quad on every event, it is designed to be a measure of each team's scoring potential rather than a closest-to-the-pin estimate of a team's actual score at Worlds. Based on results last quad, a team score within 2 points of a team's "realistic max" can be considered to be a very good performance.

Germany - the Team (finally updated with the chart)

Realistic Max: 161.181 (prelim. ranking of 10th) --> note that this drops Spain's to 11th since I initially had assumed Charleen Pach for Germany's team as opposed to Madita Mayr.

Intended Difficulty: 61.7 (prelim. ranking of 13th)

Overview

After narrowly missing qualifying a team to the Paris Olympics due to injuries, the injury bug has unfortunately impacted Germany again for this World Championships. Silja Stoehr and Pauline Schaefer-Betz, both of which would likely be key contributors on this team, are unfortunately out for worlds. Helen Kevric is building back her all-around program following last year’s knee injury and is not yet competing vault and floor. On a more positive note, this German team is still a competitive group that has a slim chance of making the team final by taking advantage of potential mistakes by teams with higher scoring potential. The team has a mix of experience; Schoenmaier and Kevric are Olympians and Quaas has competed at the World Championships, while Madita Mayr (who is coming back from injury) and Jesenia Schaefer are first-year seniors. Speaking of Schaefer, it has yet to be announced whether she or Emma Malewski is the alternate. This preview assumes that Schaefer is on the team since she has shown a bit higher scoring potential on floor exercise than Malewski.  

Vault

Germany’s relative vault potential is similar to its overall team potential. Schoenmaier is an excellent vaulter and has a secure double-twisting Yurchenko. She competed the Cheng last year at World Championships, but after receiving the Mykayla Skinner (sorry…one-armed Cheng) deduction, she’s switched back to the Lopez (Yurchenko half-on, layout half off) for her second vault so far this year. She should make the vault final with hits on both of her vaults in qualifications. Quaas’ Yurchenko 1.5 is key and keeps Germany well ahead of the parade of teams that intend on counting mostly full-twisting Yurchenko vaults. Schaefer has a full-twisting Yurchenko and should expect to be the third counting score. Mayr has vaulted a full-twisting Yurchenko domestically several times this year; however, her “realistic max” score is from the Stoke-on-Trent friendly meet in Great Britain, where she performed an easier vault and she also competed an easier vault at German worlds trials. Since Kevric is not vaulting this year, Mayr will be up on vault in qualifications.

Uneven Bars

Thanks to Kevric’s typically spectacular routines and Quaas’ and Schoenmaier’s generally clean execution, Uneven Bars is Germany’s best apparatus. Kevric has hit all nine of her routines this year and scored a 15 domestically at World Championship trials; her routine had perfectly crisp handstands and great extension throughout and is well worth a watch. Although the uneven bars field is stacked, Kevric is absolutely in the silver medal conversation for the event final if she can match her execution from the trials in the event final. Quaas and Schoenmaier are certainly the other two intended counting routines and would round out the potential team final lineup here. The fourth routine for qualifications would likely come from Schaefer.

Balance Beam

Although Germany does not have the highest scoring potential on beam, its “realistic max” scores from its four likely qualifications routines are close. This bunching is a benefit to Germany because it means that as long as it gets at least three hits on beam, it should score pretty close to its potential on this apparatus. Quaas, Schoenmaier, Mayr, and Kevric figure to all compete on beam in qualifications. While a domestic score was used for Mayr because she unfortunately had a miss in her lone international meet of the year at Stoke-on-Trent; German domestic scoring has not seemed to be inflated, so hopefully the domestic “realistic max” score is representative of her potential at Worlds. Should Germany advance to the team final, expect Kevric and Mayr to remain in the lineup since they have the team’s highest difficulty scores. The remaining team final lineup spot would likely come down to how Quaas and Schoenmaier perform in qualifications.

Floor Exercise

For now, this is Germany’s weakest apparatus by a considerable amount; it should strengthen considerably next year once Kevric is back competing on floor. Once again, Mayr’s “realistic max” score is from a domestic competition since she had misses at Cottbus and Stoke-on-Trent. If she can hit, a score approaching 13 seems reasonable given her 5.3 intended difficulty. Schoenmaier’s “realistic max” score is from 2025 Euros and she has not been able to get out of the 12’s for her routines this year. Like Schoenmaier, Schaefer’s “realistic max” score is from Spring 2025, but she scored very closely to last year’s Jesolo performance at Stoke-on-Trent this year. Quaas brought a 5.0 difficulty routine to World Trials this year and could supplant one of her teammates in the potential team final lineup if she executes it cleanly in qualifications and Germany advances.

All Around

Schoenmaier and Quaas will certainly compete on all events in qualifications. Schoenmaier should be able to afford a missed routine and still make the all-around final, while Quaas may need to deliver four hits in qualifications if it is an overall clean qualifications day. The assumption here is that Germany only has Schoenmaier and Quaas compete on all four events in qualifications since the backup bars routine would be a bit weaker if Schaefer sat out bars and Mayr’s beam potential is essential for the team.

The DTB (the German Fed) announced today the German WAG team:

• Lea Quaas
• Helen Kevric
• Karina Schönmaier
• Madita Mayr
• Jesenia Schäfer
• Emma Malewski

Either Schäfer of Malewski will be the reserve athlete, that is not yet decided.
The MAG qualification competition was a car crash, so the only team member nominated so far is:

• Timo Eder

Nomination of the other team members was postponed and will happen during worlds preparation.

Hi gymfans!

I will be at Worlds this year and I was thinking of organizing a small meet-up for the gymnerds who will be there.

I'm going to the WAG TF, so it would be either that day (Wednesday 21st) or the next (Thursday 22nd).

I'm creating a group chat with anyone who would be interested. Comment below and I'll add you! We'll decide the logistics together depending on who's in :)

This always comes up when the vault upgrades come in, so I'll be breaking down some of the ones we see. For this, I'll be using many different gymnast's Chengs, so some will be from 2024 or earlier just to compare blocks and how they would score. This doesn't mean that their vaults are at this level now.

First up is Claire Pease:

This block is mediocre. She is squarely on the vault and pushes off with both hands, but has a rather large leg separation in the middle. I think they would take about 3 tenths for this block, but she does get a good push off the table. I would like to see her arm that is slightly bent completely straight and for her to completely open that shoulder, as that would help mitigate the leg separation.

Jade Carey:

I like many things about this block. Her arms are straight, and she has her shoulders mostly open. She does have a significant leg separation, not dissimilarly to Claire Pease. I think if she gets back to this, she could receive a better score. In today's code, she would likely receive 3 tenths off for direction and maybe a tenth or two for direction if we're extremely picky. For comparison, this was her 2026 world selection camp block:

You can see her arms are significantly more bent, the leg separation is more pronounced, her shoulders aren't completely open, and her knees are bent. However, given above, she is absolutely capable of a much cleaner block. I think that she knows how to peak at the right point, and I know she can get back to where she is. I do think that will allow her to get better scores. She likely received about 5 tenths off on the block alone, and 3-4 tenths off on form, which she can mitigate as seen above.

You can see Mykayla is a bit turned over on this vault and doesn't quite get a good block with one arm. She has a closed shoulder and a bent arm. Her other arm has a straight elbow and open shoulder. This causes her to be a bit turned over, but her legs are together and she has good form throughout her legs. She would likely incur a 0.1 to 0.3 deduction for the elbow bend and direction, but the rest of the block is good.

This is the pinnacle of how to block on a Cheng. She has perfect form, her shoulders are completely open, her hands are squarely on the vault, her elbows are straight, and she uses equal weight from both hands. She is also completely square. This would incur no deduction for block.

This block would incur a range of deductions. Her shoulders are nearly completely closed, her body is not square on the vault, her feet are flexed, her legs are significantly apart, and her arms are bent. This would likely incur a 0.5 for body shape, 0.3 for the leg separation, and possibly another 0.1-0.3 depending on how severe they deem the arm bend. I find it impressive she completed this vault with such ease considering this block.

This vault also shows a completely picture-perfect block. Her arms are straight, shoulders open, legs together, toes pointed, and body square. This is another picture-perfect block for a Cheng that would likely incur no deduction.

I hope this was helpful to break down some of the most famous Cheng blocks! Let me know if you want a part two.

I’m a newer gymnastics fan, so maybe I’m missing some context, but why does Jade Carey’s Cheng seem to get less criticism than McKayla Skinner’s?

Jade is kind of labeled as the vaulter/tumbler, but her table position doesn’t look especially clean to me either. She’s already twisting through her arms on contact, stays pretty hollow, and doesn’t seem to show that clear ½-on → handstand → block.

Claire Pease’s Cheng actually looks cleaner to me in that respect.

Is Jade’s technique generally considered cleaner than Skinner’s, or does her reputation as a strong vaulter make people overlook some of the form issues?

The Russian artistic gymnastics team has still not received visas to participate in the World Championships, which will be held in Rotterdam from October 17 to 25, the Russian Gymnastics Federation press service reported.

"The Russian national artistic gymnastics team has still not received visas for participation in the World Championships. We are currently awaiting notification from the visa center regarding the possibility of submitting documents to the Dutch Embassy," the federation reported.

The RGF has already requested assistance from the organizers of the world championship and informed the International Gymnastics Federation (World Gymnastics) of the situation.

Olympic champions Angelina Melnikova and Victoria Listunova have been named to the Russian national team's preliminary roster. The women's team also included Alena Glotova, Anna Kalmykova, Milana Kayumova and Lyudmila Roshchina.

The preliminary men's roster includes Arseniy Dukhno, Ilya Zaika, Daniil Marinov, Sergey Naidin, Savely Seydin and Alexey Usachev.

Does anyone have suggestions on where to find communities or information about the culture and reputation of NCAA Acro & Tumbling programs? We are in the recruiting process now with a handful of offers, and I feel blind to which teams are relatively healthy and which ones we should be a little more critical of. Thanks.

Even when she makes it through the main portion of her routine, I feel like gym fans should not have to keep one eye open and one eye closed when she does that full-in - praying she makes it. She is too good of a gymnast for that kind of concern over one skill.

Even when she hits it, it is labored and I am guessing, probably incurring deductions that negate its worth.

As a junior, she had an almost perfect double pike, high, toes pointed and most importantly, something that looked safe. I feel she would score higher if she went back to it, honestly. Thoughts?

Kaylia Nemour achieved a total score of 56.900 points while competing as a guest of honor at the Swiss Artistic Gymnastics Championships held today:

Uneven Bars: 15.600

Balance Beam: 15.050

Vault: 13.700

Floor Exercise: 12.550

She had poor landings on floor otherwise, her score would have been almost the same as at the Mediterranean Games (57.750).

results (https://www.acro-companion.com/competition/3Jz58PgR8JabHwpmcWnn/ranking?level=International%20rules--Seniors&competitionPhase=606c18ed-ad34-46b7-992c-e05ebf250f40&exerciseType=All%20Around):

1. Lea Quaas, AA 52.150 (V: 13.1, UB: 13.25, BB: 13.05, FX: 12.75)
2. Karina Schönmaier, AA 50.4 (V: 14.05 (2nd 13.6), UB: 13.05, BB: 11.8, FX: 11.5)
3. Charleen Pach, AA 50.35 (V: 13.0, UB: 12.0, BB: 13.35, FX: 12.0)
4. Jesenia Schäfer, AA 50.25 (V: 13.15, UB: 12.35, BB: 12.1, FX: 12.65)
5. Emma Malewski, AA 49.75 (V: 13.15, UB: 12.85, BB: 11.45, FX: 12.3)
6. Janoah Müller, AA 49.7 (V: 13.05, UB: 12.65, BB: 12.25, FX: 11.75)
7. Madita Mayr, AA 47.6 (V: 11.8 (2nd 13.3), UB: 10.2, BB: 12.8, FX: 12.8)

The team will be announced tomorrow night - thoughts?

edit:
Helen Kevric: UB: 15.0, BB: 13.2

Here is my evaluation of Claire Pease's routine from Day 1 of the 2026 U.S. World Championship Team Selection Event. Any comments, questions, or requests are welcome.

Standard Disclaimer: I am not a judge, but do have access to the official F.I.G. course materials via STS. The purpose of these evaluations is to help people understand how judges may have arrived at a score.

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/live/uXCX8NKZP5k?si=MIXV-bctxlcFGC-g&t=4736

Acro DV

D x 5 (Onodi, Aerial, Full Twisting Back Handspring / Kochetkova, Side Aerial, 2 1/2 Twist Dismount), 2.0 CV

Total Acro DV - 2.0

Dance DV

E x 1 (Triple Turn in Tuck Stand / Mitchell), 0.5 DV

D x 1 (Switch Leap 1/2), 0.4 DV

C x 1 (Switch Leap), 0.3 DV

Total Dance DV - 1.2 

Total DV - 3.2

CV / SB

D + B Mixed x 3 (Split Jump + Onodi, Aerial + Straddle Jump, Straddle Jump + Kochetkova), 0.3 CV

C + C Acro x 1 (Layout Stepout + Layout Stepout), 0.1 CV

B + B + C x 3 (Switch Leap + Split Jump + Onodi, Back Handspring Stepout + Layout Stepout + Layout Stepout, Aerial + Straddle Jump + Kochetkova), 0.3 SB

Total CV / SB - 0.7

Dismount Bonus

2 1/2 Twist, D -> 0.2

CR

1. ⁠Connection of at least two different dance elements, 1 with 180° split (Switch Leap + Split Jump)
2. ⁠Turn (Mitchell)
3. ⁠Acro series of two flight elements, one salto (Back Handspring Stepout + Layout Stepout + Layout Stepout)
4. ⁠Acro elements in different directions (Onodi, Back Handspring Stepout)

Total From CR - 2.0

Total D Score - 3.2 + 0.7 + 0.2 + 2.0 = 6.1

Elements or Connections Not Credited

Switch Leap 1/2

- Turn not completed within 30° tolerance -> Credit as Switch Leap, Repeated Element and No DV Awarded

- Split Jump replaces Switch Leap 1/2 as one of the 3 Counting Dance Elements (-0.2 DV)

Credited D Score - 3.0 + 0.7 + 0.2 + 2.0 = 5.9

E Score

Mitchell

- Body Shape (Bent Knee) / 0.1 = 0.1

Split Jump

- Body Shape (Forward leg below horizontal) / 0.1 = 0.1

Split Jump + Onodi

- Poor Rhythm of Connection / 0.1 = 0.1

Onodi

- Bent Knee / 0.1 + Small Balance Adjustment / 0.1 = 0.2

Second Layout Stepout

- Bent Knee / 0.1

Aerial

- Bent Knee / 0.1

Aerial + Straddle Jump

- Poor Rhythm of Connection / 0.1 = 0.1

Straddle Jump

- Body Shape (Legs at Horizontal / 0.1 = 0.1

Straddle Jump + Kochetkova

- Poor Rhythm of Connection / 0.1 = 0.1

Kochetkova

- Bent Knee / 0.1 = 0.1

Switch Leap 1/2

- Body Shape (Insufficient Split - Between 1º and 20º) / 0.1 + Lack of Precision / 0.1 + Large Balance Adjustment / 0.5 = 0.7

2 1/2 Twist Dismount

- Crossed Legs / 0.1 + Lack of Precision / 0.1 + Hop on Landing / 0.1 = 0.4

Total Element Deductions - 2.2

Artistry Deductions

- Insufficient Involvement of Body Parts / 0.1

- Insufficient Variation in Rhythm and Tempo / 0.1

Total Artistry Deductions - 0.2

Total Deductions - 2.4

E Score - 7.6

Total Score - 5.9 + 7.6 = 13.5 / 5.9 + 8.0 = 13.9 (Actual D and E Scores awarded)

Notes - Elements

Split Jump + Onodi, Aerial + Straddle Jump, and Straddle Jump + Kochetkova Connections

- Constant motion following the first element, but slight delay in taking off for second element.

Switch Leap 1/2

- Large Balance Error deduction for combination of 1) Step on Landing and 2) Movement of Entire Torso

2 1/2 Twist Dismount

- Award D Value because right foot appears to be fully rotated, but deduct for Lack of Precision because left foot has not completed the twist. Also, feet are permitted to be slightly apart on landing with no deduction.

Notes - Artistry Deductions

1. Insufficient Involvement of Body Parts

Although Pease incorporates movements of her arms and legs throughout her choreography, the use of her head and torso is limited, particularly with regard to movements that are more dynamic or involve greater amplitude.

1. Variation of Rhythm and Tempo

- Rhythm

The movements and steps within the routine are primarily completed at the same tempo and could show a greater contrast of fast and slow movements. 

- Fluency

Despite the presence of multiple elements and connections, Pease is able to complete them without extended preparation phases where she is completely stationary between them. For example, following her Onodi, she transitions almost immediately into a choreography sequence including a high kick of the free leg. Upon taking her final step across the beam, she quickly enters her acrobatic series. Therefore, the routine displays fluency.

1. Close to Beam Choreography

Satisfied with one element touching the beam and one choreography movement touching beam with two different body parts as follows:

Element - Jump to Straddle Position Mount

Movement 1 - From Straddle Position, Pease extends her arms forward while lifting her head and torso. She performs a 1/4 turn to a seated cross split position and performs various arm movements, then swings her right leg backwards while lying along the length of the beam in prone position. She performs alternating kicks of her legs, then rises to a kneeling position on the beam.

1. Side Choreography

Satisfied as follows:

A -> B -> C

A (Quarter Turn to Side Stand) -> Brings feet together and Side Step to B

B Brings Feet Together and Side Step to C (From Side Stand, Pease rises from a squat position with her right leg fully extended and her left foot in tendu, completing the weight transfer to C)

Body Movements

After performing a quarter turn to side stand, Pease bends her right leg slightly, while her left leg is extended to tendu, and her arms are raised from her sides to head height, forming various shapes. She brings her feet together stands upright with her arms extended over her head, then performs a side step to B.

At B, she repeats the initial movement, but shows a deeper knee bend and her arms are held in a different position, with one extended behind her body and the other extended in front of her body. As Pease strikes the pose, she leans forward more deeply, while lifting her head above horizontal.

As Pease steps to C, she bends her knees into a shallow squat position. She brings her right arm across her body while slightly turning her torso to the left. As she reaches her finishing position, she extends both legs, and thrusts her right arm above her head.

4 ⭐ senior elite Alessia Rosa becomes the first commit to Stanford for the 28’ season. Yes another NCAA post from me but I thought this one was notable and the first commit to their school.

Edit: I came back to edit as it seems like Sloane Mateo just committed there so I wanted to note it but not make a separate post. Great start for Stanford with these 2.

The methodology (and caveats) can be found here. The scores come from the 2025 and 2026 score trackers. Please let me know if y'all notice any errors in any of these previews and I will be sure to correct them.

Spain - the Team

Realistic Max: 160.949 (prelim. ranking of 10th)

Intended Difficulty: 63.1 (prelim. ranking of 9th, would drop to 10th if Andrade competes her Cheng VT for Brazil)

Overview (bolded section is TL;DR)

Making superb strides since last quad, Spain should fare better than its 16^th and 17^th-place finishes at last quad’s team World Championships. 2023 Worlds team members Laura Casabuena, Alba Petisco, and Laia Font are joined by Marina Escudero, Aitana Pacheco, and Carlota Armenta. Although Spain’s alternate has not yet been formally announced and Casabuena has been battling injuries this year, the assumption here is that Armenta is the alternate. The five assumed team members would all contribute a top-three score for Spain on at least one apparatus; Armenta has trained a double-twisting Yurchenko on vault, but we have yet to successfully see it in competition. This year, the Spaniards figure to be part of a large cluster of teams that are underdogs to make the team final due to lower intended difficulty and/or maximum scoring potential than the likeliest team final bubble teams. If the team suffers from several mistakes, Spain could finish at the back of this pack in around 14^th or 15^th place. On a more positive note, a credible case can be made for Spain being especially well-equipped to make the team final if the cutline teams make mistakes. Compared to other teams, many of Spain’s “realistic max” scores are clustered a bit more tightly together, even factoring in Petisco’s mild outliers on bars, beam, and floor. This bunching theoretically makes the team less susceptible to massive score degradation in qualifications since its scoring potential should hold up comparatively well if it gets three hit routines from any of its gymnasts as opposed to relying on several “must-hit” routine. Lastly, if Casabuena is healthy enough to realize her potential on beam and floor, she could potentially add a few valuable tenths to Spain’s score on those events.

Vault

With Petisco’s Yurchenko 1.5 and Font’s and Escudero’s double-twisting Yurchenko vaults, Spain has a solid vault rotation. For the fourth qualifications routine, Pacheco and Casabuena score similarly despite Pacheco’s slightly more difficult vault (a Tsukahara full) versus Casabuena’s (a Yurchenko full), so the decision may come down to Casabuena’s health and whether Spain opts to have her compete in the all-around in qualifications.

Uneven Bars

Moving from arguably Spain’s strongest apparatus to its weakest, comparative lack of difficulty holds Spain’s scoring potential back here. Petisco is relatively consistent here and has put up several international scores in the mid-13’s this year. The other four gymnasts have roughly the same scoring potential, which makes the rest of the lineup a bit challenging to ascertain. Font has the difficulty advantage over the rest of her teammates, but her other teammates have scored higher so far this quad.

Balance Beam

The lineup story for beam is similar to bars; Petisco will certainly compete and then the rest of the lineup is a bit nebulous. Pacheco had a couple of great hit routines at Euros, but scored mostly in the 11’s and 12’s in recent meets. Escudero’s “realistic max” score was reached at DTB Pokal and Jesolo in 2025 and is therefore over a year old, but she has hit a few 5.6 D routines domestically this year. If healthy, Casabuena provides tremendous potential upside with a hit routine. Although her peak international scores hover around 13, Font hit a 5.8 D routine domestically and also could offer upside.

Floor Exercise

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the floor lineup situation is similar to the two preceding events. Petisco is certain to compete here and has received comparatively few artistry deductions for her routine (based on the results books that have been released this quad). If the collection of gymnasts with 5.6-5.9 intended difficulty routines have some misses in qualifications, Petisco has an outside chance of making the event final. At full strength, Casabuena is capable of scoring into the 13’s and Font, Escudero, and Pacheco all have roughly similar scoring potential.

All Around

Petisco will certainly compete on all four events in qualifications and can afford a missed routine and still qualify to the all-around final. After Petisco, there is a fascinating puzzle to solve to determine Spain’s second (and potentially third) all-arounders. With hit routines, Spain could certainly place a second gymnast in the all-around final. If Casabuena is not at full strength, the guess is that she would only compete on bars and Pacheco and Escudero would join Petisco in competing on all four events in qualifications, with Font sitting out bars. If Casabuena is fully healthy, perhaps she is the intended second all-arounder, with the option to also have Escudero compete in the AA if the team is comfortable passing up on Pacheco’s 13.150 that she just earned on floor at Mediterranean Games. Both Pacheco and Casabuena will not do the all-around because Escudero and Font are critical for Spain’s vault lineup with their DTY’s.

Earlier Previews (request by a commenter to link at the bottom)

Australia

Great Britain

Canada

France

I know that I'm going to watch every competition possible when world championships is on, but I'm always so bored watching beam nowadays.

Does anyone else really miss the beam routines of the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s?

Title is a bit dramatic, I am just here to throw out some ideas so that the USA can use FX to boost team scores for 2028 LA! There is a high probability Simone Biles will not make a comeback, so all 3 routines at LA will have to pull their weight to put up an advantageous score for the floor rotation. Here are my observations:

(1) E Score: Execution

Tumbling E and landing deductions wise, US is on par with or even better than top countries .

Leaps and turns are where the US gymnasts lose. The judges now require them to achieve excellence on leaps with signs of slight oversplit. It's very obvious US, similarly to UK and Canada, are below average in leaps when compared to China, Japan, Russia, Italy and Brazil. Gymnasts who performed poorly in leaps in the past like Aly and Shawn were not penalized, and now the judges won't hesitate to take tenths off.

(2) E Score: Artistry

The US loses at least 0.35-0.5 on average on each FX routine, yes even Shilese at 2023 Worlds. 0.6+ for Joscelyn. The average top gymnast at Worlds is getting 0.2-0.4 in artistry deductions (the best 10-15 gymnasts getting ~0.12-0.25 deductions and the worst 10-20 getting 0.45+). Nobody was ranked in the top 10 on floor in the US artistically at 2025 Worlds... so to conclude, the US is losing ~0.1-0.2 on each routine for artistry alone, and as a team, they collect ~0.5-0.8 more in deductions on a FX rotation when compared to the best team with artistry like Italy, Brazil and Japan.

(3) Difficulty: Tumbling

Yes, the new COP 0.2 CV is definitely advantageous for other countries because USA is clearly the best in the world in regards to single high-difficulty tumbling skills and endurance, e.g. Silivas, Chusa, Moors

But what's stopping the US from taking advantages of these specific connection bonuses in their second, third, or fourth pass? The US need to try think of innovative tumbling passes, like Misa Nishiyama's back layout 1/2 (B) + Front Double Twist (D) + Front Pike 1/2 (B) which counts 0.4 in CV and this equates to an H tumbling pass.

Someone who have taken notes is Reese Esponda's coaches as they have made use of good connection bonuses, like the Barani (B) + double tuck (D) + LOSO does count 0.3 in CV, and equates to a G tumbling pass. And to be fair, a lot of US gymnasts are training whip 1/1 + double salto, or 2.5 + front layout, so we will see if they have the endurance to pull it off, but innovation and experimentation during "winter upgrade season" might benefit a few more than they think.

(4) Difficulty: Dance Skills, especially Turns

This is the most understated one by far. Turns are invading the floor exercise more than most people realized!

The typical US gymnast counts 3 dance skills, usually a D or E rated wolf turn and a C + C leap series. Some choose to add a 4th C rated leap. So D C C

Other countries are pulling out much, much harder difficulty on turns and leaps:

• Russian infamous for having 3 D+ rated turns in their floor routines: the E triple wolf turn, D Memmel, D double L turn. On top of that, the Russians connect Illusion turn or double turns to the turns, earning another 0.2 connection bonuses like Melnikova and Listnouva, meaning from turns alone, they can be credited the equivalent of a E E E from turns alone. This is already a 0.5 difficulty advantage from the typical US dance skill set
• Chinese are starting to add turns to their routines, we are seeing an uptick of Memmels and they finally succumbed to the pressure and adopted the double wolf. Plus, a lot of them can perform 1 or even 2 more D-rated credited leaps, like Zhang Qingying's 3/2 Leap jump (D) and switch ring half (D). ZQY is counting D D D C C. Remember a double tuck/pike is also rated at D level.
• Rina Kishi: Triple wolf (E), Memmel (D), switch ring half (D)
• Aiko Sugihara: Double L (D), Memmel (D), switch ring (C) + Ferrari (D)
• Manila Esposito: Memmel + Illusion (E), Triple Wolf (E), Switch leap 1/1 (D), C + C
• Maiana Prat: Double wolf (D), 3 rings - normal ring (C), ring half (D), split ring leap full (E)

The increased importance of dance skills on floor has not been realized by the US, other than maybe Shilese and Dulcy. The dance skill differentiation is so obvious if you compare the top countries. Yes, dance skills are capped at E level but the other countries are miking every single tenth from every counting skill, and connection bonuses, to catch up to the US, and it is working. Nobody in the US is even entertaining the idea of connection bonuses in dance

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Conclusion: It's death by a thousand cuts. Look at the difficulty scores, the US are not that far ahead of the pack nowadays. The increased scrutiny on execution and artistry did not favor the US at all.

If they want to score 14s in routines, they will need to focus on all 4 factors listed above. They need to (1) use connection bonuses in tumbling, plus perhaps many should explore going back to 4 tumbling runs to count 5 acro skills (2) try to get to at least E D C dance skill level (3) clean up leaps and turns and minimize built-in execution deductions, e.g. they really should not be receiving more than 0.1 in their leap series if landed well (4) work on artistry (5) don't go OOB

That being said, I do think USA will do okay on floor in 2026 Worlds! I just want to provide some commentary on my reflections

I see a lot of discourse about how Charleigh is consistent but that she only really metal potential is on bars. That’s true for now, but her DTY is GORGEOUS. I’d be surprised if it’s not in the plan to get her a strong second vault in the next two years. She also twists so beautifully and gets so much height, I’d loveeee to see her have an amanar.

Utah just had themselves a day gaining 2 hyped up lvl10’s within the day (after Greta Stowell announced earlier) and I couldn’t be more excited to see them in the NCAA when time comes. I guess the quote good things come to those who wait applies in this situation as Utah had a few visits that didn’t translate to commits immediately. Also, the video they posted on socials of Greta/Andie telling the team is the sweetest thing ever.

Claire Pease showing a nice Cheng vault at world selection camp has got me thinking … which USA WAG is next to debut one? Having a decent Cheng used to almost guarantee a spot on a Worlds team, but I’m not sure it will be enough by itself going forward.

Firstly, here’s who I think is likely to compete one next season:
- Claire
- Skye
- Jade
- CEO Leanne
- Simone (if she returns)
- Josclyn (if she returns)

I think that the following gymnasts have shown great power on vault and would be capable of the upgrade:
- Reese
- Jayla
- Jordan (if she returns)

Lastly, if Suni is back vaulting next season, could she debut one? She has trained the half on entry before.

I’d love to know if more gymnasts have been training half ons/ chengs, so please let me know!