Gymnasts warm-up in the arena for Event Finals. This competition is LONG, of course, with only 1 routine at a time, so many go back to the training Gym to stay warmed-up.
I expected Deng to medal. Warm-ups were strong. But she ran over the horse and got a zero on her first vault. Judges wouldn’t let her do a second.
Schönmaier tried upgrading to Cheng — but lost 2.0 for using only 1 hand.
16-year-old Lia-Monica Fontaine is the breakout star on Vault. Tons of potential here. And very good in the AA, as well. She’s destined to be on the Canadian team for years to come.
Zoja Szekely did a good routine, but couldn’t land her dismount. I understand she was too injured from Vault the previous day. I admire her courage. But with 20 / 20 hindsight, she should have withdrawn and let the Reserve gymnast go.
This sets up Donnell for the coming quadrennial. USA can always use a top Ring man who can compete other apparatus, if needed. Along with Asher Hong, it would not be a weak event.
Zhang Boheng and Adem Asil are incredibly good at Rings for AA gymnasts.
Leanne Wong had an excellent meet. Many were doubting her Cheng Vault (including me) — and she proved the haters wrong. It was fairly good, putting her back in medal contention.
Gold was decided on the very last routine — Angelina on Floor. Fans will be criticizing the judges on that score for years to come. Did they get the Out of Bounds deduction wrong? Were the turns evaluated correctly?
Controversial.
Judging at Worlds was better than ever, I felt. But E-scores are too close together. A routine far superior in every way will only get, perhaps, 0.2 higher than the average routine.
Here are the fantastic gymnasts who qualified to the Finals. Congratulations.
Vault
1. Angelina Melnikova AIN 14.499 2. Deng Yalan CHN 14.250 3. Lia Monica Fontaine CAN 14.099 4. Karina Schönmaier GER 14.049 5. Anna Kalmykova AIN 13.916 6. Lisa Vaelen BEL 13.816 7. Charlize Mörz AUT 13.666 8. Joscelyn Roberson USA 13.599
No Simone. No Rebeca. I would say Vault is the weakest of the apparatus Finals in 2025.
Angelina Melnikova of AIN tells Inside Gymnastics that she is aiming for the LA Olympics Stay tuned to InsideGym for coverage from Jakarta!
Making the Final is the hard part. On the day, you go aggressively for your very best routine. HIT and good things can happen.
🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷Flavia Saraiva says winning gold on beam at the World Championships would be her biggest dream! She currently ranks first on the event after an exceptional routine that earned a 13.833!
Primeiro dia da qualificação feminina do Mundial de Ginástica Artística tem maior nota para Kaylia Nemour e japonesa Sugihara Aiko liderando no individual geralhttps://t.co/hzGKy1dAML
HIGHLIGHT for sure was Kaylia’s Bars. Unbelievable good again. The best who ever lived AND super consistent.
Kaylia fell on Yurchenko Double Twist and had a weird fall on Beam.
Stil — I could see Kaylia being World AA Champion 2025. It’s possible.
Japan is awesome, as usual. But had falls today.
Nakamura’s DEF on Bars is incredible. That skill should be valued higher.
Ellie Black leads Beam. This is her 9th Worlds? Or maybe 19th. 😀
What a pleasure to see Ellie Black of Canada competing at the World Championships! She earned a 13.466 on both bars and beam and currently ranks first on beam!
I love the first World Championships of the quadrennial. It’s fun to see all the new Worlds competitors and start speculating on which will qualify for L.A. Olympics 2028.
The BIG story of Podium is AIN 1 (Russia). I’m predicting they win the most medals of any nation. They look great. And have much to prove after being banned for so many months.
Personally, I support banning dictator-for-life Putin’s nation. His war killed over 1 million people already. BUT since Russia was allowed to compete Jakarta, fans can enjoy some excellent Gymnastics.
Second biggest story is Kaylia Nemour. Our Bars Olympic champ is an AA podium contender. A Worlds medal for Algeria would be a huge accomplishment in our sport.
USA is just another of the top teams here in 2025. Trying to qualify to apparatus finals in order to get a chance at a medal.
The U.S. have won at least one gold at every Worlds since 2006, and the All-Around champion has been an American in all but two of those years.
Some good skills and difficulty from around the world. Disappointingly few have excellent execution, however. This means the Code rewards difficulty more than quality. Too bad. It’s less impressive to watch for the general public. And we risk more serious injuries.
Impressive skill ➙ Def from Haruka Nakamura. Respect. Not easy on Bars. AND Piked Deltchev. AND Bhardwaj. … I’d say hers is the most difficult routine, irrespective of D-score.
The Japanese gymnasts in this Bars line-up all have high, floaty Paks with good form. As good as anyone in the competition.
Ellie Black won’t do the AA here. She’s pacing herself, wanting to continue to her 5th Olympics in L.A. 2028.
Hwang Seohyun from South Korea is the smallest competitor, I believe. Born 2009. She won Asian Championships on Beam. You can see why.
South Korea is the top team that deserves more attention online. They’ve been under-appreciated for years.
It feels like women’s Gymnastics is getting more like MAG in that there’s more parity. USA is not so dominant without Simone. I hope this trend continues.
Ruby Evans is a legit Vault medal contender. I won’t be surprised if she tries Amanar in the Final.
Looking at power for tumbling and vault, I’d say Joscelyn Roberson is #1
I vote for a bonus 0.1 for any gymnast who can keep legs together on Maloney Bars skills. 😀
Many are complaining about execution of Cheng vaults here. I’d agree. Many are terrible. The code is obviously valuing them too high compared with alternative Vaults. That should be fixed by WTC. E-score evaluation on all vaults should be fixed, as well. Perhaps doubling the current deductions.
Flavia balked on one Floor tumbling line. She was fine. Laughed it off. But at the time it looked like an Achilles injury on take-off.
AIN (Russia) is back. Lyudmila Roshchina and Angelina Melnikova both warm-up piked (in-bar) Stalders first Touch Bars. Both definitely medal contenders. Super Bars aside from the awful bent knee Giant over the low bar before dismount. Anne-Leen Thorburn from Namibia is rotating with them. Great experience for her.
Russia looks great on Beam, as well as Bars. Finalist(s) if they hit. Falls in Podium, however.
I’m happy to see CAMEROON at Worlds. But gymnasts who can just barely Kip should not be on Bars. A minimal level should be required.
Russia super clean and powerful tumbling, as well. It looks to me like the many, many months out of international competition have not resulted in the anticipated problems. No rust.
REALLY like Angelina’s Floor. Age-25 now.
I haven’t seen much of China. Zhou Yaqin and Zhang Qingying (the all-arounder this week) are doing Beam. Vault specialist Deng Yalan is a contender. Great Bars, as usual.