GYMCASTIC LIVE IN ROTTERDAM: IN-PERSON SOLD OUT, VIRTUAL TICKETS STILL AVAILABLESaturday, Oct. 24, 7:00 pm CEST (10:00 am PT) — Live at Worlds with Dutch Olympians Bart Deurloo and Eythora Thorsdottir. The room is full, but you can watch live from anywhere or catch the replay with a virtual ticket.GET VIRTUAL TICKETSNEW YORK CITY · Friday, Dec. 4, 7:00 pm ET (4:00 pm PT) — With special guest Katelyn Ohashi. Get NYC ticketsDiscount codes are available on the ticket purchase pages, including Club member discounts.Hezly Rivera (USA) is out, Dulcy Caylor (USA) is in, and Skye Blakely (USA) had the day of her life. Our sleep-deprived reactions from inside Rotterdam Ahoy after day one of women’s qualification at the 2026 World Championships: Team USA leads with no falls but a lower ceiling than at home, Italy is one floor hit from something special, Japan counted three misses, and Mexico beat Belgium and Romania. Plus robot judging downgrades Carlos Yulo (PHI)‘s vault, Manila Esposito (ITA)‘s perfect-execution beam, and Sabrina Voinea (ROU)‘s raven. This is our live post-qualification Q&A show.
Rotterdam World Championships Coverage is brought to you by Sand and Sea Travel. Use code GYMCASTICWORLDS.
Here’s how to ask questions live.
AD-FREE EXTENDED CLUB MEMBER PODCAST
Add Club bonus and ad-free episodes to your favorite podcast player (instructions here). Tip: After logging in, refresh this page and the extended player will appear below ⬇️. Not a member? Join here.
EVERYONE BONUS PODCAST
CHAPTERS
Full Club episode. The free preview runs through 26:11.
00:00 Welcome to Rotterdam
01:17 Breaking news: Hezly Rivera out, Dulcy Caylor in, and the stay-at-home alternate
07:44 Robot judging: Carlos Yulo and Frederick Richard
11:12 Team USA leads after day one
13:44 Skye Blakely leads the all-around; Claire Pease and the Cheng
16:36 Mexico beats Belgium and Romania
19:22 Opportunities for comedy and best moments of the day
24:28 Club bonus begins
25:32 Behind the scenes: Cécile Landi’s photos of Laurent
27:29 Fact Checker update and the gymnastics community
28:58 Subdivision 1 in depth: Fujitsu, floor scoring and Team USA event by event
41:57 Germany, and Cécile on NCAA vs. elite handstands
45:20 Japan, and Aiko Sugihara’s “it’s me”
48:23 Australia’s tough bars rotation
53:57 Italy: one D-score away
57:13 Marta Pihan-Kulesza
58:18 Men’s qualification recap
1:02:05 Behind the scenes: the Gymnasts for Change boat party
1:03:54 Letters: event final chances, live scores, MAG vs. WAG salto direction, Kaylia Nemour
1:12:25 Fact Checker heads home and goodbye
HEADLINES
- Breaking news: Hezly Rivera (USA) withdrew, and Dulcy Caylor (USA) came in on beam and hit one of the best routines we’ve seen from her. Why Jade Carey (USA) wasn’t flown in, and why Reese Esponda (USA) did bars.
- Skye Blakely (USA) leads the all-around at 55.465 with the top U.S. scores on bars, beam and floor. Claire Pease (USA) is second, and her Cheng counted.
- Team USA leads with no falls at 164, ahead of Italy and Japan, but counted two 12s on floor. Should Dulcy Caylor be a team-final floor option?
- Robot judging: Carlos Yulo (PHI) downgraded on vault, layouts going piked, Charleigh Bullock (USA)‘s tucked Van Leeuwen, and why the computer should print receipts.
- Germany’s beam with Emma Malewski (GER), Helen Kevric (GER) leading bars, Japan’s rough day with Misa Nishiyama (JPN) and Aiko Sugihara (JPN), and Australia’s bars with Kate McDonald (AUS) and Breanna Scott (AUS)‘s beam.
- Italy: Manila Esposito (ITA), Alice D’Amato (ITA), Giulia Perotti (ITA) and Sofia Tonelli (ITA), one D-score from a world title.
- Mexico beats Belgium and Romania, and Cécile Landi on NCAA vs. elite.
- Best moments: Sabrina Voinea (ROU)‘s raven, Scott Bregman’s Gymnastipedia and Marta Pihan-Kulesza (POL).
- Men’s qualification: Japan first, Colombia makes the team final, and the U.S. in fifth.
- Letters: Skye’s event-final chances, live scores, MAG vs. WAG salto direction, and Kaylia Nemour (ALG)‘s energy.
TODAY IN ROTTERDAM
Women’s qualification, day one. Rotterdam time first, then Pacific time. Every session in your time zone is on Worlds HQ.
- Subdivision 1, 16:00 (7:00 a.m. PT): USA, Germany, Romania and individuals
- Subdivision 2, 17:50 (8:50 a.m. PT): Japan, Australia, Belgium and individuals
- Subdivision 3, 19:40 (10:40 a.m. PT): Italy, Mexico and individuals
Painted GymCastic Rotterdam$22
GymCastic Rotterdam$22See the newest designs →UP NEXT
Tomorrow: women’s qualification day two, live from Rotterdam.
WORLDS COVERAGE
- 2026 World Championships Headquarters: all 18 sessions in your time zone, every qualified team and gymnast, medal lines and how to watch
- Behind The Scenes: Nemour, BRA, CHN, GB, RUS, CAN, FRA, NED – Podium Training
- 2026 World Championships: Women’s Podium Training, Day One
- Photo Gallery: 2026 World Championships – Podium Training, October 14
- 2026 Worlds Preview Part 2: Andrade, Melnikova & China’s Beam Powerhouse
- 2026 Worlds Preview Part 1: Team USA, Kaylia Nemour & Japan’s Medal Threat
SUPPORT OUR WORK
- Club Gym Nerd: Join Club Gym Nerd for daily reports from Rotterdam, ad-free podcasts, weekly live Q&A Behind The Scenes episodes, our complete members-only archive, games, the forum and live-show discounts.
- Worlds Coverage Bundle: Three months of Club Gym Nerd for $14.99, one payment, no auto-renewal.
- Shop GymCastic: Shop merch.
GYMCASTIC TOOLS, GAMES AND RESOURCES
- *NEW* ROTTERDAM WORLDS ROSTER TRACKER
- Find out who’s competing in the 2026 World Championships — search WAG and MAG by name or country, find out how they qualified and link to their score rankings. Updated daily.
- GymCastic tools:
- LA 2028 Roster Lab — Now with auto-fill highest-scoring team, team comparisons and updated roster briefs.
- Elite Score Explorer — U.S. Championships scores are in, plus new charting options and the vault bonus toggle.
- International Gymnastics Calendar
- GymCastic Games
- GymCastic Newsletters
- The Balance Beam Situation: Spencer Barnes’ GIF Code of Points
- Gymnastics History: Gymnastics history and Code of Points archive from Uncle Tim
- Resistance Resources
- Gymnasts for Change Reception in Rotterdam
Cover art and photographs © GymCastic / Steve Cooper. All rights reserved.
I’ll get streaming, dragging my partner kicking and screaming again to worlds (plus Commonwealth, Europeans…), and we have to go out Saturday night unfortunately
Hi
How is Fact Checker doing?
Fujitsu is responsible for one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in the UK. If yiu google Fujitsu and the post office scandal and you’ll see what I mean!
Who would you use on beam in the U.S. team finals lineup?
Missed the beginning of the livestream, so maybe you already answered this, but what events do you think Dulcy will do in TF?
I can’t get it to work. I hit podcast and it takes me there but it won’t start. If I try to start it, it sends me back to the page where you can choose “podcast” “gymcastic” and “club content” or something like that.
Hi Stacey. Were you able to get it to work?