The post-Olympic year World Championships have a way of producing surprises: Kayla William’s stunning vault victory in 2009 or Morgan Hurd’s all-around triumph in 2017 immediately come to mind.
With many athletes using the post-Olympic year as a chance to rest and recover from the grind of an Olympic Games, the following World Championships are often thinner in depth, creating the perfect opportunity for new athletes to emerge on the world stage. This year’s championships feel especially unpredictable for a few reasons.
First, many of the top all-around performers from this year are missing: Hezly Rivera, the U.S. national all-around champion; Manila Esposito, the reigning European all-around champion; and Alice D’Amato, one of the few gymnasts this year able to break into the 56-score range, will not be competing at Worlds. Without these top contenders, the door is wide open for a new, and perhaps unexpected, gymnast to make a run for a World title–much like Morgan Hurd’s victory in 2017.
Secondly, this meet marks the return of Russian athletes to major international competition for the first time in nearly four years. Most of these athletes have never been evaluated in an FIG competition nor have they had the experience of competing on such a large stage, so seeing how these athletes perform and rank in comparison to the rest of the world will be a huge question. Based on the nominative roster, what scores should fans watch out for? Which athletes have achieved the highest scores in the world?
WHO TO WATCH
All-Around
The highest all-around score recorded this year belongs to Anna Kalmykova with a 57.365 from the Russian Cup. Kalmykova is the only gymnast in 2025 to break the 57 mark and did so with at least a 14.0 on each event. While floor is arguably her standout apparatus, she doesn’t have a glaringly weak event. That balance of difficulty makes her a strong contender, though consistency remains a big problem for her. At Russian Nationals, she finished just under a 53.00, nearly a four-point drop from her season-high.
The next highest all-around score belongs to American, Leanne Wong, who posted a 56.100 at U.S. Nationals. Wong has clean form across all four events, helping her excel as an all-arounder. In the past Wong has struggled to distinguish herself on one apparatus, with most of her scores landing in the mid-to-high 13 range. Now, however, the reintroduction of her Cheng gives her the potential to rise above the rest of the field.
Contrasting with Wong, Kaylia Nemour from Algeria takes a different strategy to the all-around success. Nemour uses her strengths on bars and beam to offset comparatively weaker vault and floor scores. Whether Nemour can challenge for an all-around title is largely dependent upon her bars and beam performances. In her most recent all-around performance at Italian Championships, Nemour put up a 14.850 on bars and a 14.900 on beam. On the other hand, her vault and floor scores were each nearly two points lower.
Vault
The vault that nearly cemented Leanne Wong’s path to the World Championships was her stuck Cheng at U.S. Championships. Combined with a reliable Yurchenko double-full, it gives Wong the top vault average in the world. The big question remains as to how international judges will evaluate the Cheng. At last year’s Olympic Trials, Wong was initially given a -2.0 penalty after only touching the table with one hand, though an inquiry later overturned the penalty. Her recent vaults from the U.S. World selection camp are worryingly close to getting the same penalty. Seeing how that vault will get evaluated at an FIG competition will be critical to Wong’s chances for a vault title.
While Wong leads in difficulty, Karla Navas of Panama has the execution scores to contend with some of the top vaulters in the world. Her half-on, full-off and Yurchenko 1.5 are roughly 0.8 below Wong, but Navas’ clean execution scores can help her compensate for her lower difficulty.
One of the most exciting vaulters in the competition is China’s Deng Yalan. Last seen internationally in 2015, Deng will now make her World Championships debut 10 years later, where her vaults look better than ever. Deng competes a handspring Rudi and a Kasamatsu full, vaults with a combined difficulty to rival Leanne Wong.
Uneven Bars
Unless you’ve been trapped in Australian gymnastics jail and haven’t watched the sport recently, you should know that Kaylia Nemour is undoubtedly the favorite to win the uneven bars title. The reigning Olympic champion boasts a 6.9 difficulty score, the highest in the world. Nemour racks up difficulty not only by doing innovative release moves (the first major release in her routine is named after her), but also by connecting them in combination, where she accumulates over a point in difficulty from just connections.
Not far behind Nemour is Yang Fanyuwei, another innovative bar worker from China who got the full-twisting Jaeger named after her at the Antalya World Cup earlier this year. Yang performs her most difficult release moves in combination: the full-twisting Jaeger coming directly from an E-pirouette, and the Downie being connected into a Pak salto. While Yang’s difficulty is 0.2 behind Nemour, she still has the potential to show a 6.8 routine this year if she adds additional connections seen in training clips.
Another exciting routine to be on the watch for is Lyudmilla Roschina from AIN. Roschina has a jam-packed routine filled with a major five-skill opening connection, gaining her 0.5 in bonus. Roschina is another Russian AIN athlete who has never competed at an FIG competition, so seeing how her scores compare against the international field will be important to look out for.
Beam
Zhou Yaqin, the defending World and Olympic silver medalist on beam from China currently leads the World ranking with a 15.233; the only beam score to surpass the 15-mark this year. Zhou is able to build a difficult 6.8 D-score not only through high difficulty acrobatic elements like her front handspring to front tuck series and her triple-full dismount, but also by taking huge risks with tricky combinations like her side somi to two transverse full twisting side jumps, which sets her apart as one of the most daring beam workers in the field.
Zhang Qingying, another world-class beamer from China, is no stranger to a World Championships event final. Her 14.933 is the second-highest beam score in 2025 and matches Zhou’s 6.8 difficulty. What sets Zhang’s routine apart are her daring acrobatic elements that will leave you holding your breath like her round-off to two-foot layout, and her transverse back dive performed in combination from transverse dance elements.
While Kaylia Nemour is known for her bars, beam is also a fantastic event for her. Her 14.900 from Italian Championships is the third highest score this year. While that score should be taken with a grain of salt thanks to some domestic judging inflation, Nemour has consistently put up mid-to-high 14s on beam at other competitions this year.
One of the most exciting new seniors in 2025 is Hwang Seohyun from South Korea. Hwang burst onto the senior scene with a gold medal balance beam win at Asian Championships, defeating Zhou Yaqin. She takes big risks with her acrobatics, being one of the very few gymnasts in the world to compete a flic-flac to back-full in combination. Hwang put up a 14.733 beam routine from a recent domestic competition with a 6.9 D-score, the highest in the world. If Hwang can put her routine together for Worlds, she could be one of the favorites for a medal, but as we know too well, beam remains the most unpredictable of all.
Floor
Anna Kalmykova came into 2025 with some big D-score upgrades, most impressively being a full-twisting double layout that some people regarded as the best being done in the world right now. Her 14.500 from Russian Cup tops the leaderboard as the highest floor score this year.
Joscelyn Roberson’s 14.150 from U.S. Championships boasts the highest floor difficulty score in the world, a 6.5 built on sheer tumbling difficulty. Opening with a casual Moors, followed by a full-twisting double layout for her third pass, and finishing things off with a double layout for her third pass. To say this routine is exhausting would be an understatement, but it plays to her strengths, and so far, that strategy has been paying off.
If there was a prize for the smartest routine construction, it would go to Aiko Sugihara from Japan. Sugihara takes a very calculated approach to build difficulty. Her tumbling passes are comparatively easier next to Kalmykova and Roberson, but Sugihara maximizes her difficulty through connection bonuses incentivized by the Code of Points (CoP). Sugihara stands out from the rest of the world thanks to her meticulous attention to the CoP’s artistry checklist. Her routine demonstrates expressiveness with the music and creates moments that invite the audience not just to watch, but participate in her performance, using clean execution and engaging artistry to maximize her score.
Scores referenced from the Gymter.net’s Top Scores in 2025
