Quite a good day of Apparatus Finals. Pommels the most exciting. Bars too.
BIG controversy was FIG WTC wrongly devaluing Ellie Black’s Vault. There are several problems in the current Code with why and how they made that error. FIX them.
An even bigger issue came up the next day. In the final rotation of the All Around final in Rotterdam, Joe Fraser competed Floor and accidentally left out a non-value, relatively unimportant corner move. By the rules this should have been a 0.3 deduction. IF judges had taken that, Daniel Marinov would have been Bronze instead of Joe.
It can’t be changed. NOBODY noticed at the time. Judges are to blame, not athletes.
- Floor World Champion Fred Richard
- Vault World Champion Rebeca Andrade
- Pommel World Champion Hamlet Manukyan
- Bars World Champion Kaylia Nemour
- Rings World Champion Lan Xingyu
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Click PLAY or watch more highlights on YouTube.
Pundits
- 2026 Gymnastics Worlds: Rebeca Andrade wins vault gold in her return
- Richard, Andrade and Nemour among five champions on opening day of apparatus finals in Rotterdam
- theGymter.net LIVE blog
- Balance Beam Situation LIVE blog
- Gymnastics Now LIVE blog
Surprises
I had no idea Simone was coming. Uchimura surprised me on his arrival, as well.
Big Story
For me the biggest story at World Rotterdam was the Netherlands government denying visas to eligible gymnasts, including the defending World Champion. That won’t happen in China next year, I’m sure. But future World Championships host need to get some guarantee from their governments it won’t happen again.
