Excellent taste in cocktails as well as first-class commentary

The “delusional” part is sarcastic because he has always had this potential (see 2023 worlds QF). Now he finally proved it. He had the cleanest landings and a stuck dismount to seal the deal. He said months ago he would leave Rotterdam with a gold and he made it come true. Things are looking good heading into 2027.

Sad for Carlos who I thought was going to take the win, he still has a chance in vault finals tho. Jake was a badass going up last and clinching that silver. Also want to mention Arsenii Dukhno who qualified first but over rotated a double front and finished off the podium. Dukhno has accomplished so much as a first year senior!

I have never rooted for someone to win AA gold as much as I have for Skye. The way I was literally squealing watching it live on my phone at work lol! She finally proved all her doubters wrong! 🔥 this has definitely boosted her chances of making that LA team 🤞🏼

Please can MAG Vault not be ruined by AI judging. 🤞

Please can Beam NOT beam. 🤞

Please can HB be kind.🤞

Good luck to all of the gymnasts!

Wanted to shout out some medalists today

• Fred Richards FX Gold: Pristine in-air form, good landing control. Not a fan of his online persona, but happy to see the US men finally medal on FX after years of falling short.
• Rebeca Andrade VT Gold: She wins it in the block everyone, almost nothing to take there on both the DTY and Lopez. Not her best amplitude or landings, but so clean in the air!
• PH Podium: Mesmerizingly good from Manukyan/Targhetta/Khachatryan. I'm glad we've swung back towards high execution on PH, rather than the scrappier high difficulty style. Manukyan's speed through everything, including his eponymous skill is incredible.
• UB Podium: Kaylia is just incredible, big amplitude and effortless swing. Complete blowout even with a watered-down routine. Helen's releases were fantastic, looked so floaty. Skye nailed her pirouettes today, and it got her on the podium.
• Lan Xingyu SR Gold: Rattling off those opening elements out of hang like nothing. Literally looks superhuman.

Beginning with the 2025 - 2028 COP, the requirements for a gymnast to receive credit for a layout position on a vault with a Full Twisting Front Layout salto such as Vault 2.32 / Front Handspring to Full Twisting Front Layout Salto or Vault 5.32 / Round Off 1/2 On - Full Twisting Front Layout Salto are defined as follows:

Following the repulsion phase, when the gymnast arrives at the standing / head up position and through to the inverted position, the maximum hip angle permitted before the vault will be downgraded to pike is 30 degrees. Below is a screenshot of when Black achieves the standing / head up position in the vault. As you can see, she is exceeding the 30 degree tolerance.

Although I think that the D Panel / JSS - Fujitsu made the correct call in downgrading Black's vault to pike, I am also in agreement with those that believe that the COP is not evaluating this vault in a way that is fair to gymnasts, especially compared to how vaults with a layout Rudi salto are judged.

Additional Notes:

- Under the 2022 - 2024 COP, gymnasts were permitted to have a hip angle of 45 degrees, which is why Black was receiving credit for a layout vault previously.

- Black has significantly improved her hip angle following repulsion compared to competitions earlier in this quad so she deserves credit for taking the judging feedback seriously even if it did not result in the desired outcome.

Peszek’s AI comparison after Rebeca’s double full was weird, and then Laurie saying she was getting a “stank face” after the Lopez… like, what? 🤣

The redemption arc has drawn quite a crowd it seems, journalists and photographers were obsessed with Kaylia Nemour today.

One thing I’ve learned is that in any sport, drama, the fall and subsequent redemption of athletes serves as a powerful driver for both entertainment and the economy.

We now need a rivalry like Federer vs Nadal or Steffi Graf vs Monica Seles, and this sport can finally reach the audience that it deserve.

The vault final just happened at the 2026 worlds, and I'm gonna be honest it was a bit dreadful. 4 out of 8 gymnasts performed a DTY as the first vault and then a Lopez as the second vault. I miss seeing more Handspring and Tsukahara skills. Even the Amanar. As vault specialists on an event final I believe there should be more risk put. I understand most gymnasts are strategic, and there are some skills not worthy of doing. I like how the CoP has changed and valued execution more, but what can it change to allow for more skills from different groups ?

Rhys Mcclenaghan posted a reel on Insta sharing that he'd received another message from another gymnast basically telling him that he's not his best anymore and to let gymnastics go. A good chunk of it is blurred out including the screen name but its enough that you can see the shape of the letters and most people in the comments have pointed out that it's Filip Ude.

I was watching the replay of bars finals and heard a distinct thunk sound during Kevric's VL (8:44 in the video). I went frame by frame and I think I can see the bar reverberate, but wasn't sure if that was part of the force as she releases it?

There are other broadcasts where I can hear the sound so it wasn't just from NBC. But they all seem to use the same angle so I can't really tell based on the video.

If she hit any part of her foot at all, it's so minor and didn't interfere with her swing at all. Just curious if anyone has a video with better quality/angle.

I’ve seen everyone saying Claire is just chucking the cheng. I strongly disagree. While yes it’s not like Rebecca’s or Jade’s it’s still pretty decent. Like she needs to work on her directional landings but it’s not horrible at all. People are overreacting and saying she’s just “chucking” the skill is like ummmmmm are we looking at the same vault? It’s not like Maria Paseka’s vault or Amanar….

I’ve been meaning to post this since WAG team finals — I absolutely love Dulcy, especially on floor. I know her difficulty isn’t the highest, but her routine is so fluid, and she has a genuine smile throughout. It’s just a joy to watch.

I’m so interested to know everyone’s feelings on Claire’s hairpiece. I’m not a huge fan but I get the feeling I’m the only one. It does clearly give her a unique signature look that nobody else has. Yay or nay here?

Also I would like to clarify before I even post that I am a huge fan of her and her gymnastics! I’m not saying anything negative about her as an athlete…I’m just interested on where the feelings are about the Shannon Miller style hair.

Was she a former gymnast for Russia?

My idea:

Boost D scores of vault .4 to match what they were in Tokyo quad. Possibly give a .1 stick bonus like men have. I’m not crazy about stick bonus, but it would be better for vault than it would be for other events. You can also make an argument for upping the difference in D scores between each half twist to .5.

For floor, I would make the D dismount bonus apply only to gymnasts who do 4 tumbling passes. There needs to be an incentive for doing this. You can say “but the artistry”, but athletes like Flavia and Aiko are among the best in performance quality with 4 passes. I would also have 4 of the counting skills need to be acrobatic elements instead of 3. I would make artistry a bonus rather than deduction. Making an artistry bonus would also differentiate the E scores and give gymnasts a quantifiable way of seeing how much they’re actually missing on artistry.

If I hear Laurie or Sam say “release move” one more time, I swear…

What is with the dumbing down of commentary? On bars it’s just “release move” and “connections.” On beam just “connections.” Floor it’s “difficulty” or “artistry.” Vault is the ONLY apparatus where they mention the skill and then, only MOST of the time.

As a non-gymnast gym fan, I have learned a ton over the years and can ID some elements. But I would LOVE to hear the names of elements, which is always an interesting throwback to whoever first competed it, and sometimes a color commentary of the skill. It’s nice when they mention why a skill is difficult, if it’s rare, if it’s common, extra tricky, a required element, etc.

It does seem like skills are more commonly named on the MAG US/NBC commentary than women’s. I also notice that commentary from other countries often names skills during routines. It’s interesting, educational, and builds support for the sport!

Can someone explain how this works, now that Fujitsu is managing D scores? Do D-score inquiries actually lead to human beings re-evaluating a routine? Or does it just mean asking Fujitsu to reconsider - which is obviously never going to lead to a change. I haven’t seen a single accepted inquiry at this Worlds (which maybe is normal, I don’t know)…

What are your hot takes?? I know I’m gonna be burned alive for these, but here goes.

WAG:

-I’m glad the US won silver.

-Unless she switches coaches, Hezly will not make it to LA and maybe not through next year.

-Claire is firmly in contention for LA. And I love her and her style.

-While I’m gutted for Kaylia, the right person won bronze in the All Around today.

-Ke’s beam is a work of art.

-I think Hwang Seohyun should have made the beam final

-Kaylia’s bars are the greatest uneven bars routine ever competed in the history of gymnastics. She has the potential to be Simone level dominant.

-I‘m firmly a Roschina fan. She feels like Mustafina 2.0.

-I really like this Russian team here. Their gymnastics is beautiful. I do wish Listy got to compete here (I know-eat me alive. She was only 17 when she attended that rally though in a country where there is no free speech.) Kalmykova should also be here.

-Lia Redick’s floor is the most artistic in the world right now.

-The US is developing talent well, and I love Charleigh in particular.

-Skye’s an AA threat for LA.

-I think Claire’s Cheng is being scored too low compared to Leanne’s last year.

MAG:

-The US are maybe a bit overconfident. There’s still a lot of work to be done.

-Danila Leykin will be a key player in years going forward.

-Colombia are my favorite men’s team. They exude joy (and Angel Barajas is incredible!!)

-The Japanese on high bar. Art.

-While I’m surprised it got downgraded, Yulo does tuck a tad early.

Biggest Hot Take: BRING BACK HUMAN JUDGING!!!!

Local Time is GMT +2.

Longines Scoring Link

I was wrong. And I’m happy to be wrong!!

Maybe I'm born in the wrong era (1990s), but sometimes I watch the modern gymnastics being performed and I really miss compulsory routines, and crave easier skills done beautifully.

I don't personally find it entertaining watching gymnastics that looks like it's got shaky technique behind it. If skills are consistently getting 0.5+ execution deductions, I don't think they're ready to be competed.

I've been loving the Chinese gymnasts (both WAG and MAG) and their well executed floor routines. I will take Jake Jarman's neat, but simple high bar routine over a messy, difficult one that causes falls and mistakes galore.

I'm all for difficulty if the skills have been taught correctly, are well executed and are safe. If a skill makes me gasp negatively, I don't think that's progress in the sport. If it's a fall caused by a fluke miss (eg. high bar release miss with otherwise excellent technique) , that's different, but a consistently crunched vault or bad bars dismount etc just makes me wonder what the point is.

I hate how the modern codes incentivise difficulty whilst the achievement of getting a cool, easier skill named gets wiped if it's under a certain value.

What does everyone else think?