Men’s Jakarta Worlds qualification day 1

Oct 19, 2025 we had SIX subdivisions of the best male gymnasts in the world. Two more subdivisions go Oct 20 — with a much better idea what they need to do to make the apparatus final? Triple back? Or go safe?

Leaders so far.

Since there is no team competition this time, gymnasts are looking to qualify to Apparatus and/or AA Finals. Some have a goal to improve their previous best ranking at Worlds.

Read the FIG summing-up of Day 1 Men’s competition:

Difficulty — and difficulties — take centre stage as curtain rises on World Championships in Jakarta

TheGymternet is trying a LIVE blog from the international video feed. 

Kensley Behel is posting to Twitter.  You MIGHT have to log in to X.com in order to see those public tweets.

A few notes I took over 12 hours of competition:

Worst news of the day was hearing Asher Hong injured in training on Floor. He had to withdraw.

There were more falls and mistakes than I expected. And it wasn’t always gambling on Triple Back. In fact, most of the Triples were quite safe. Some will keep that dismount even after FIG devalues Jan. 2026.

  • JAPAN in the 1st subdivision.
  • One audience concern with this Individual format for Worlds is that some apparatus are empty when none of the gymnasts in the group have decided to compete that event.
  • Judging was VERY SLOOOWWW to start.
  • Daiki Hashimoto looks good to win the AA at Worlds 2025. He’s easily leading the all-around qualification scores, despite errors.
  • I predicted the other Olympic champion, OKA Shinnosuke, to be top 2 AA — but he had many problems in the qualification round. Hopefully he can get it together in the Final.
  • Tarrab from Syria stuck Handspring Double Front on Vault.  Excellent gymnasts here from all over the world. 
  • All 3 Japanese gymnasts are using Liukin on H Bar. It’s the cool new skill to add for the top gymnasts.
  • Minami on Floor has awesome difficulty.  He could win the Floor final with better control.

Good news story for those following Donnell Whittenburg‘s long, long career is that he’s having his best Worlds ever. Many questioned whether he’s still got it at age-31. The answer is … YES.

LEGEND. And lesson in persistence.

  • Kameron Nelson competed his best Floor ever since he started including 2 Triples. Respect. His mom, coach and judge, is here cheering with us.
  • Caio Souza from Brazil is looking better than ever.
  • Fan favourite Milad Karimi looks great, as well.
  • Two teams I love to watch: Swiss men and Swedish women. Over the years those programs emphasize form, line, rhythm, artistry.
  • We already know Angel Barajas is a superstar at age-19. 4th AA with 80.664 after day 1.
  • Talking to some of the male gymnasts … They like the Floor in the competition arena and warm-up Gym. On podium. Dislike the same Floor in the training Gym, on concrete. It’s too hard.
  • I’m thrilled there are very few Rybalko skills on H Bar at Worlds. It’s nearly impossible to do those skills well.
  • Pommels Final is the most competitive with all the specialists here. Surprisingly, I’d say H Bar is the 2nd most competitive. Vault has been weak compared with previous Worlds.

who will win P Bars at Jakarta Worlds?

Everyone assumes they are fighting for silver behind G.O.A.T. Zou Jingyuan. But he didn’t look amazing in the training Gym.

Ferhat looks to be psyched and in great shape. Don’t count him out for podium.

Magnastics – 2025 World Championships Apparatus Preview 2- Vault, Parallel Bars, High Bar

Félix Dolci on adding Triple Pike

Félix Dolci explains how most of the guys approach Podium training.

And why he’s going to gamble on adding the Triple Pike dismount on H Bar.

Women’s Podium Training Jakarta Worlds

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.

Gymnastics Now has a Podium training page.

Here are some of my thoughts on WAG …

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.

FIG – ‘There were many moments when I thought I wouldn’t make it’: Notes from Saturday podium training at Jakarta Worlds

Random notes:

  • 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.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

  • Like previous international meets, I like the Korean spotting. A soft touch. Doing the absolute minimum possible.
  • Impressed with the tumbling of Kaia Tanskanen representing Finland. She’s improved & upgraded since the World Cup in Paris.
  • Our Olympic Bars champion, Kaylia Nemour, upgrading to YDT and hitting a fantastic Bar routine.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

  • 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.
  • VERY COOL. Weiler direct to Jaeger ➙ Thelma Adalsteinsdottir. Love it. VIDEO.
  • Celia Serber has terrific potential on Bars.
  • Romania still MUST WATCH for Beam. A fantastic history and legacy on this apparatus.
  • Twin sisters Nathalie and Emelie Westlund compete for Sweden
  • Best true Tkachev ➙ Kate McDonald VIDEO. What turnover!
  • Marta Pihan-Kulesza is back at Worlds. 38-years-young.
  • 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.

RELATED:

FIG – Notes from Friday podium training at Jakarta Worlds

FIG regrets Israel denied Worlds 2025

At the Press Conference Oct. 18, 2025, it was clear that both FIG President Watanabe and Secretary General Nicolas Buompane wanted Israel to compete Worlds.

In fact — if it was up to FIG — Russia and Belarus would not have been banned.

Their argument is that sport should be independent of politics.

However, FIG is not in control of many factors. WADA decisions. IOC decisions. And, in this case, the decision of the Indonesian government last minute to disallow individuals from Israel. We were told that the team HAD visas already — but they were cancelled.

Certainly, it’s unlikely Indonesia will be awarded another FIG competition anytime soon. That’s a bit of a shame since organizers in Jakarta are doing a fantastic job.

Russia at Jakarta Worlds

Many assumed AIN 1 (Russia) would have lost something over the many months they’ve been banned from international competition.

Not so.

Having just watched them in Podium training, I anticipate AIN 1 will win the most medals of any nation at Worlds 2025.

Fantastic gymnastics regardless of what you think of Putin’s war which has killed over a million people on both sides.

Of course these young women need to HIT in front of judges in the Qualification round to get to the apparatus finals. I think they will hit.

Photo from colotl

Gymnasts interviewed at Worlds

Here’s a refreshingly unscripted video with gymnasts of many different levels, all with different goals at the World Championships.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.