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Blakely and Pease win world titles after China edges US gymnastics team

China beat the US women by 0.233 points in Rotterdam, but Skye Blakely and Claire Pease led an American haul of seven medals.

NewsJaws DeskEditorial desk

Published 26 Oct 2026, 22:41 GMT2 min read

Skye Blakely performs a floor exercise at the 2019 junior world championships in Győr, Hungary. — Skye Blakely competes in the floor exercise at the 2019 junior world championships in Győr, Hungary. File photo. Martin Rulsch , Wikimedia Commons — Martin Rulsch, Wikimedia Commons , CC BY-SA 4.0 — Martin Rulsch, Wikimedia Commons, 2019-06-30 1st FIG Artistic Gymnastics JWCH Women's Apparatus finals Floor exercise (Martin Rulsch) 180 (resized and converted to WebP). CC BY-SA 4.0.Image source Image licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

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Skye Blakely and Claire Pease won individual titles for the United States at the world gymnastics championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands, which ended October 25, 2026, after China edged the US women by 0.233 points for team gold, ESPN reported. The Americans finished the meet with seven women’s medals.

The championships ran from October 17 to 25 at Rotterdam Ahoy, according to the World Gymnastics event listing. ESPN reported that China’s victory ended a US run of women’s team titles dating to 2011.

How China won the women’s team final

The US women posted the highest scores on three of the four apparatus, but China gained more than four points on balance beam, ESPN reported. The narrow final margin followed a fall by Dulcy Caylor on her beam dismount, a disputed difficulty score for Blakely on the same apparatus and errors by Reese Esponda on floor after a late change to a tumbling pass. ESPN identified those moments as pivotal to the result.

Caylor had joined the US lineup after Hezly Rivera, the squad’s only member of the 2024 Olympic team, withdrew before qualification with a left ankle injury, according to ESPN.

Blakely and Pease lead US individual medals

Two days after the team final, Blakely won the all-around title. She also took bronze on vault and uneven bars, hitting all 14 of her routines during the championships, ESPN reported.

Blakely’s title followed injuries that had ended her Olympic trials campaigns in 2021 and 2024. An elbow injury interrupted the first; a ruptured Achilles tendon ended her bid three years later. She had meanwhile been part of US world championship team victories in 2022 and 2023, ESPN reported.

Pease won silver on vault and gold on floor. ESPN reported that she outscored US teammate Esponda by 0.300 points in the floor final despite stepping out of bounds on one pass; Esponda took silver. The American women’s seven medals were more than any other country’s women or men won at the meet, ESPN said.

In the men’s team competition, the US finished sixth, more than four points from the podium. Japan won gold, with Russia second and China third, according to ESPN.