- Dulcy Caylor posted the highest all-around score for the U.S. during qualifying at the world gymnastics championships.
- The U.S. women had a difficult qualifying round, with several gymnasts making errors and missing event finals.
- Russian gymnasts, competing as neutral athletes, returned to international competition and looked formidable.
Keep an eye on Dulcy Caylor, gymnastics fans.
Caylor showed her win at the world team selection camp was no fluke, posting the United States’ highest all-around score during qualifying at the world gymnastics championships in Jakarta, Indonesia. She also qualified for the balance beam and floor exercise finals.
Caylor was the only U.S. woman to make more than one event final. Paris alternate Leanne Wong also will compete in the all-around final while fellow alternate Josc Roberson made the vault final. Skye Blakely, who missed the Paris Olympics with an injury, qualified for the uneven bars final.
The women’s all-around is Oct. 23 and the event finals are Oct. 24-25.
The world championships the year after a Summer Olympics do not include a team competition, so only individual events are being contested. Still, it’s often the first look at up-and-comers who could be in the mix for the next Games — in this case, the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
Here’s what we learned from qualifying at the world championships:
How U.S. women fared at gymnastics world championships
It was a rough go for the U.S. women in qualifying.
Wong, the all-around silver medalist at the 2021 worlds, balked on her first vault, keeping her out of the final. Blakely went over time on balance beam, and the 0.10 deduction dropped her to ninth, the first reserve position for the final. (Only eight gymnasts qualify for an event final.)
Wong and Roberson struggled on floor, and neither made the final.
“There were some very good pieces, but then there was rough,’ Chellsie Memmel, the technical lead for the U.S. women, told Olympics.com. ‘I didn’t feel like there was an attack of their events and their skills overall. There were still good things, but I have work to do.”
The bright spot was Caylor, who is competing at her first major international event.
Caylor came off uneven bars early in her routine, an error that could easily have sent a newcomer sideways. But she regrouped and finished strong, posting the third-highest score of the all-around qualifiers on balance beam and fourth-best on floor exercise.
Caylor also had the second-highest score on vault of the all-around qualifiers.
The Russians are back
The Russians — sorry, individual neutral athletes — looked formidable in their first major international competition since their country’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Angelina Melnikova, the all-around gold medalist at the 2021 world championships, led all gymnasts in qualifying despite coming off the balance beam. Her all-around score of 54.566 was almost a half-point ahead of Japan’s Aiko Sugihara.
Melnikova also qualified for the vault and uneven bars finals.
Liudmila Roshchina was seventh in all-around qualifying while Anna Kalmykova made the vault final. Leila Vasileva will compete in the uneven bars final.
Paris Olympians shine in qualifying
Many of the medalists from the Paris Olympics are not at worlds, either because they’re taking a break from competition or they’re injured. But Paris uneven bars champion Kaylia Nemour is here and she’s looking golden again.
The Algerian posted the highest score on bars in qualifying, a 15.533 that was almost a point ahead of Yang Fanyuwei of China. Nemour also qualified for the all-around and balance beam finals.
Also, Romania’s Sabrina Maneca-Voinea, who was caught up in the floor exercise medal mess in Paris, had the highest qualifying score on floor.
American Jordan Chiles initially finished fifth in the floor exercise final in Paris, her score of 13.666 putting her behind Maneca-Voinea and her Romanian teammate Ana Barbosu. (Barbosu and Maneca-Voinea had identical scores of 13.7, but Barbosu’s higher execution score gave her the tiebreak.) Chiles’ coach Cecile Landi appealed, arguing Chiles had not been given full credit for a tour jete, a leap.
A review panel agreed, and the 0.100 that was added to Chiles’ score put the American on the podium ahead of the Romanians.
The Romanians appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, finally settling on the timing of Chiles’ inquiry as their reason. CAS ruled in their favor, finding Chiles’ inquiry had been filed four seconds after the 60-second deadline. But that decision appears to have several flaws, and Chiles has appealed to the Swiss Federal Tribunal.
