Category: floor (women)

improving Cartwheels

Great cartwheels lead to great Round-offs. And to great Yurchenkos.

Power Tumblers train cartwheel series, for example.

Here are some advanced Cartwheel drills.

Click PLAY or watch it on Instagram.

Locker Zee – street dancer

Choreography is improving on Floor.

But it’s important to watch some of the best dancers in the world to see just how far away Artistic gymnasts are from the best.

Locker Zee (Kim Min-ji) is a prominent South Korean street dancer, battle competitor, and choreographer.

She is widely recognized for her mastery of locking—a classic funk dance style characterized by sudden freezes (“locks”), rapid wrist rolls, distinct points, and high-energy footwork.

She finished second at the 2026 Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final in Zurich, Switzerland.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Suni Lee in 2027?

I don’t believe Simone or Suni Lee would make a comeback unless they were looking for Gold medals in the 2028 Olympics.

Obviously, either could contend for medals if and when back and in peak shape.

Simone could easily win Vault, for example.

Suni is astonishingly talented. I’d love to see her go for it.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

A.I. predicted World Champions

Summing-up Apparatus Finals – day 2

For once, a Beam Final was excellent.

Who could have predicted we’d one day have a World Beam & Bars Champion representing Algeria?

Men’s Vault very good. H Bar a bit of a disappointment as so many of the top guys fell.

Worlds 2027 Chengdu, China is already in the minds of the best gymnasts in the world. The OLYMPIC QUALIFYING Worlds. I’ve already booked my accommodation.

September 29 to October 8, 2027, World Championships is held during National Day Golden Week (October 1–7). That’s a big holiday. Transportation and accommodation will be busy.

Results

Click PLAY or watch Twists & Turns on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch more highlights on YouTube.

Pundits

Highlights

The biggest highlight was seeing Kaylia win Beam after clinching Bars the previous day. She credits her coach Nadia Massé.

  • USA went 1-2 with Claire Pease (13.866) and Reese Esponda (13.566) on Floor, an apparatus where nobody really knows what judges are looking for
  • Armenia’s Artur Davtyan made sure he’d win against a strong field by STICKING both his Vaults perfectly. Armenia hosts European Championships 2027. They have some Worlds medalists. 😀

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Surprises

  • Norway’s Sebastian Sponevik takes Bronze on Vault. Congratulations.
  • both amazing young H Bar men from Colombia fell. Look out L.A. Olympics. Colombia will qualify a full team and contend for medals.
  • Dukhno is known for his consistency and amazing landings, but had a bad day in Apparatus Finals
  • Daniel Marinov has been better for Putin’s dictatorship. In fact, it looks like a judging error in the AA Final left him in 4th place where he should have been Bronze

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 hosts need to get some guarantee from their governments it won’t happen again.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Floor World Champion Claire Pease

Beam was great. Floor excellent.

Judging on this apparatus is opaque to me. BUT they did get the podium right.

Maïana Prat is the full package. Excellent at everything. Took risks with her 1/2 turning leaps — but the judges seem to like them.

1. Claire Pease, United States, 13.866
2. Reese Esponda, United States, 13.566
3. Maïana Prat, France, 13.466
4. Abigail Martin, Great Britain, 13.466
5. Lia Redick, Canada, 13.300
6. Lia Monica Fontaine, Canada, 13.200
7. Lyudmila Roshchina, Russia, 13.100
8. Alice Kinsella, Great Britain, 12.966

Full results.

image

USA is still the team to beat on Floor. BUT Canada had the highest qualifying Team Score. GBR always good.

Summing-up Individual Gymnastics Championships Rotterdam – Skye Blakely wins.

  1. Skye Blakely, United States, 55.733
  2. Lyudmila Roshchina, Russia, 55.199
  3. Ke Qinqin, China, 55.032

Full results.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Pundits

Surprises

  • Kaylia, Claire, and Skye were the names most often listed as favourites
  • IF Kaylia stayed on Beam and Bars, she’d most like win. Especially if she competed Yurchenko Double Twist again.
  • first rotation, Kaylia took off for Vault with her feet partly on the foam safety collar — deciding at the instant not to twist. The correct decision. With credit only for Layout Yurchenko, it seemed her chances at a medal were gone. 1.666 lower than qualification. Better than a mat would be to simply increase the size of the Spring Board.
  • Claire had been quite consistent on Beam this season — but fell on Layout in Acro Series. Half the gymnasts fell on Beam, a disappointment.
  • Liudmila Roshchina finishing 2nd shouldn’t have been a surprise. She been one of the top Russians for a few years now. BUT just 3 days before the official start date of the competition, Roshchina’s visa was approved but those of Melnikova, Listunova, and Kalmykova denied.
  • In fact, despite the years denied international competition, Russia is just as strong as before in Men’s and Women’s Gymnastics. For the record, I support banning them so long as murdering dictator-for-life Putin continues his invasion of Ukraine.
  • Elena Colas continues to impress. It’s just a matter of time before she’s on an AA podium.
  • Despite the fall on Beam, I don’t think Flavia’s ever looked better.

Click PLAY or watch highlights on YouTube.

Highlights

NOT a great All-Around Final. Not as many highlights as hoped. Most gymnasts were better in qualification.

  • Ke Qinqin has a fairly safe Yurchenko Double Twist.
  • Ke Qinqin is my favourite Beamer. Use her as the ideal model. But fall on Double Tuck dismount. STILL scored 13.833.
  • new mom, Alice Kinsella, was the top British gymnast. Like Canada, GBR had plenty of problems on Beam.
  • Claire Pease has the best Pak. Floaty. Our future Video Analysis Computer execution judge could use that as the model for zero deduction.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Summing-up Rotterdam Worlds TEAM FINAL – China wins.

The Women’s Team Final 2026 was excellent this year — better than I expected. And far better than the Men’s Team Final.

Results.

Automatic qualification as teams to Olympics 2028 for the top three.

1. China – 165.764
2. USA – 165.531
3. Japan – 164.064

  1. France – 161.130
  2. Brazil – 159.730
  3. WG2 Russia – 159.394
  4. Italy – 158.129
  5. Canada – 158.096

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Pundit Analysis

Surprises

  • Fujitsu video analysis has coaches worried that skills credited in the past will suddenly be downgraded. I want computer video analysis integrated into the score as soon as possible. It’s really helped Trampoline.
  • Nobody watching Skye’s Beam worried that she wasn’t getting credit for her Switch Half and series. Credit to the judges, by exacting evaluation of the rules, it wasn’t rotated far enough. The best way to solve this problem would be to devalue Switch Half.
  • Roshchina missed her Dance Combo requirement on Beam. Didn’t seem to have a back-up planned for later in the routine.
  • Manila fell on Beam dismount. Impossible. I’m blocking that from my memory.

Highlights

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

  • China finally winning Gold was my highlight. I recall ALL the World Championships in the past where China won the Men’s Team — and the women were 4th. This time the ladies are Gold medalists on the flight home.
  • Japan so happy with the Bronze podium finish — fantastic.
  • Fujitsu Awards go to the Women’s Team of Japan, first team medal in 60 years. And the Men’s Team of host Netherlands.
  • Newcomer Coralie DEMERS (from Gymnix, Canada) swings like a dream on Bars.
  • Lia-Monica Fontaine from Canada is now age-17. Her 2nd World Championships. A future all-around star with tremendous potential on Floor and Vault.
  • Elena Colas, age 16, is already an AA podium contender. Imagine a scenario where she and Kaylia Nemour were both competing for France. … What could have been.
  • Pease has the best controlled Wolf turn on Beam. WTC should devalue those.
  • Rebeca back at Worlds. Wonderful for Brazil and everyone.
  • Claire Pease was terrific, scoring a competition high 56.099 if there was an AA during Team
  • Without Simone, there’s much more parity in the Team competition. In an exciting 3-up, 3-count Final, many more nations have a chance to medal. For Japan it’s been 60 years since their last podium finish.
  • Floor scores made more sense than in the qualification round. I’m still convinced that choreography was best ever in 2026. Nations like China and USA much more entertaining.
  • As a Canadian, I was pleased Ellie Black’s team qualified for the Final. Recall they qualified 8th four years ago, finishing 3rd in Team, qualifying to the Paris Olympics. That didn’t happen this year due to BEAM. (3 falls in qualifying, 2 falls in Team) But this might be Canada’s strongest team ever — when they stay on the skinny Floor.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

China are Women’s Gymnastics World Champions. Congratulations.

Full results.

Automatic qualification as teams to Olympics 2028 for the top three.

1. China – 165.764
2. USA – 165.531
3. Japan – 164.064

USA had a fall on Floor. China hit 12 / 12.

There was a controversial decision on Beam. Skye Blakely didn’t get credit for switch half due to insufficient twist. Lost 0.4 for the D part. AND lost combination requirement for the series for 0.5. She had a back-up series but didn’t do it, thinking the first one was fine.

I feel it’s good for the sport to have a new Team Champion. More competition = more excitement. Also, how soon can Shilese Jones get back. 🙂

It was an excellent and exciting Team Final this year.

Beam was the make or break apparatus, as always.

  1. France – 161.130
  2. Brazil – 159.730
  3. WG2 Russia – 159.394
  4. Italy – 158.129
  5. Canada – 158.096

Fujitsu Awards went to the Women’s Team of Japan, first team medal in 60 years. And the Men’s Team of host Netherlands.

Mai is Head Coach of the Japanese team.