The U.S. women’s gymnastics team puts two historic streaks on the line at the World Championships

In a way, the World Gymnastics Championships which begin on Saturday mark the start of preparation for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

The competition includes the first global team competitions since the Paris Games. The team medalists will win the top spots at LA 2028 for their country.

In another way, the worlds will show where the Americans stand midway through the Olympic cycle after more than a decade of domination.

Americans have won the last seven team titles at the world championships dating back to 2011. At least one American woman has won an individual all-around medal in all 23 Olympic competitions or world championships since 2003.

Both of these sequences are expected to be contested in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where the team finals will take place on Tuesday (men) and Wednesday (women), the all-around next Thursday (men) and Friday (women) and the individual event finals will take place on Saturday and Sunday (all live on Peacock and NBCSN).

The World Gymnastics Championships will take place October 17-25 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Hezly Rivera withdraws from worlds

The roster of American women at the world championships originally included a gymnast with Olympic experience – Hezly Rivera, who was the youngest American in any sport in Paris at 16 years old.

But Rivera, the 2025 and 2026 U.S. all-around champion, withdrew for medical reasons on Saturday, two days after saying an injury to her left ankle had limited her in training.

The US roster for the last six worlds with a team event included Simone Biles five times. At the only worlds Biles missed in 2022, the Americans were still experienced with Jade Carey and Jordan Chiles each winning an Olympic medal the year before.

The United States has a veteran of the World Championships team events on that five-woman roster: Skye Blakely, who is competing at her fourth consecutive world championships. Three others – Claire Pease, Charleigh Bullock and Reese Esponda – are making their senior world championship debuts.

Dulcy Caylor, the alternate who replaced Rivera on the roster, competed in the 2025 Worlds, which included only individual events.

“There’s been some speculation that the U.S. team might not have the depth or the points advantages that we’ve had in the past and that maybe we’re not as strong,” Betty Okino, the 1992 Olympic bronze medalist and leader of the U.S. national team, said during the team selection competition last month. “I’m ready for these girls to end this conversation.”

A team of Russian gymnasts won the European title in August, but three leading Russian women were denied visas by Dutch authorities to enter the Netherlands for the world championships.

China, another traditional power, won the Asian Championships in June and the Asian Games in August.

“The world is getting stronger, for sure,” said Chellsie Memmel, a 2008 Olympic silver medalist and another leader of the U.S. team. “We’re still very confident. We have three strong flyers that we can showcase and go from there. There are other events that I would like to have a little more difficulty on, but the athletes work very hard to get there.”

A new all-around champion will be crowned

The top three finishers in the all-around at last month’s selection competition – Pease, Blakely and Bullock – have never competed in the all-around at a senior world championship.

A maximum of two gymnasts per country can compete in the all-around final out of 24 during qualifications.

“It’s new at this point, but it’s not new to them,” Memmel, the 2005 world all-around champion by 0.001 over Nastia Liukin, said Thursday. “They’ve all competed in several all-around competitions this year. This stage is just a little bit bigger. But when you talk to them in that sense, we’re just trying to say, ‘It’s just another competition.’ You are prepared for this.”

Biles has won the all-around in six of the last 10 worlds. When she was not there, other Americans stepped up: (Morgan Hurd, gold, 2017), Leanne Wong (silver, 2021 and 2025), Kayla DiCello (bronze, 2021) and Shilese Jones (silver, 2022).

None of the 2024 Olympic all-around medalists are in this year’s field, with Biles and Suni Lee missing and Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade not competing in all four events. Angelina Melnikova, the 2021 and 2025 all-around world champion, was one of the Russian gymnasts who was denied a visa.

“We have a very strong team and then some very strong individual athletes to present for both (all-around and individual finals),” Memmel said before Rivera bowed out. “So I’m excited to see what they do because I know what they’re capable of.”

Rebeca Andrade became Brazil’s most decorated Olympic athlete in Paris, then told her coach she needed a break.