Rotterdam, Netherlands – Japan ended a 60-year drought with a bronze medal in the women’s team competition at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships on Wednesday. Japan finished ahead of France to complete the podium behind China and the United States. Japan also punched its ticket to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics with the result.
The Japanese took the men’s team title on Tuesday, pipping Russia and China. China denied the United States women an eighth consecutive team title as Qiu Qiyuan secured a dramatic victory with the final routine. The U.S. last failed to win gold in the event when it was beaten by Russia at the 2010 championships, but was left to count the cost of several errors on the balance beam in Rotterdam.
Qiu needed to score more than 12.600 points in the closing floor routine to give her country gold and did just enough with 12.833. China, which also led the way in qualifying, finished with a total of 165.764 points, edging out the Americans by 0.233 overall. Japan was a further 1.468 points behind.
U.S. superstar Simone Biles, a 23-time world champion, including five times in the team competition, is taking a break from the sport and has not competed since the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she won three gold medals. The reigning champion took a healthy lead at the halfway stage, helped by strong vault and uneven bars routines by Skye Blakely, the only gymnast on the team who was part of the quintet who won the nation’s seventh consecutive title in 2023. But 18-year-old Caylor Dulcy stumbled on the beam, scoring just 12.333, as the Americans were outscored by more than four points on the apparatus by their rivals.
Zhang Qingying, who topped beam qualifying, in particular made them pay with a sparkling performance which earned her 15.066 points. The Chinese were put under pressure on the floor, but Qiu held her nerve to secure their first women’s team world crown since 2006. The championships continue in the Netherlands on Thursday as Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto defends his men’s all-around title, with a big challenge expected from his compatriot and Olympic champion Shinnosuke Oka.
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