Category: vault

Jake’s Yonekura Vault

Amazing.

Kasamatsu + 2 1/2 twist.

It was VERY consistent at Men’s Gymnastics World Championships 2026 Rotterdam.

Click PLAY or watch it on Instagram.

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.

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Fujitsu devaluing Body Position

Gymnasts like Ellie Black and Carlos Yulo were EXPECTING credit for the normal performance of their vaults.

Does FIG World Gymnastics need to change the required percentage of flight?

You certainly need to bend your knees for landing.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

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.

Vault World Champion Artur Davtyan

Medal for Norway! First ever at a World Championships.

Jake couldn’t believe it. Artur stuck BOTH his high difficulty Vaults. Magic.

  1. Artur Davtyan, Armenia, 14.850
  2. Jake Jarman, Great Britain, 14.650
  3. Sebastian Sponevik, Norway, 14.366
  4. Nazar Chepurnyi, Ukraine, 14.350
    – Arseniy Dukhno, Russia, 14.350
  5. Harry Hepworth, Great Britain, 14.066
  6. Carlos Yulo, Philippines, 13.833
  7. Kawakami Shohei, Japan, 13.333

Full results.

Simone is here. Big smile seeing Kawakami Shohei try her Yurchenko Double Pike.

Artur is from Armenia. They host European Championships April 27 to May 2, 2027 in Yerevan.

Most Vault Finals 10-years-ago or so were super dangerous. Top guys gambled on chucking harder vaults, praying they would land on their feet. NOW the landing is so critical to rank, it’s much safer. FIG MTC got it right.

Summing-up Apparatus Finals – day 1

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.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch more highlights on YouTube.

Pundits

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.

Vault World Champion Rebeca Andrade

All hail.

Rebeca did it again. One of the very best Vaulters of all time.

(Simone is here. Perhaps watching Rebeca will inspire a return to training for the Olympics. 😀)

  1. Rebeca Andrade, Brazil, 14.466
  2. Claire Pease, United States, 14.233
  3. Skye Blakely, United States, 14.166
  4. Lia-Monica Fontaine, Canada, 14.083
  5. Ellie Black, Canada, 13.966
  6. Victoria Mata, Mexico, 13.933
  7. Yeo Seojeong, South Korea, 13.716
  8. Abigail Martin, Great Britain, 13.716

Full results.

A fantastic Final.

The big surprise to many was Victoria showing a superb Cheng. Her second vault was only Yurchenko 1/1 but WAIT ’til next year.

Yeo Seojeong had a fantastic Cheng, as well, but fell on her Yurchenko 2/1 twist.

Lia-Monica is a great vaulter. I thought Ellie was even better — but judges / Fujitsu devalued her Handspring Front Layout 1/1 to pike. Any gymnast, anywhere, would call that a Layout. The software should be changed.

It’s particularly unfair because Cheng can’t be devalued to Pike. ALL the Handspring twist vaults need be evaluated equally.

Note that the top 6 are all from the Americas.

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.