Executive Summary
The 2025 World Championships in Jakarta marked a transitional moment in women's gymnastics, with established champions asserting their dominance while a new generation made their mark. Angelina Melnikova captured her second world all-around title, demonstrating remarkable consistency four years after her first crown in 2021, while 18-year-old Algerian star Kaylia Nemour continued her meteoric rise following her Paris Olympic gold medal.
Qualifications
The qualification round established early narratives that would persist throughout the competition. Melnikova topped qualifying with 54.566, showcasing her veteran composure across all four events. Notably, Nemour posted the highest single difficulty score of the entire championships (7.1) on uneven bars as well as the highest AA D score (23.2), while Sugihara's 9.3 execution on floor represented the highest E score of the competition.
The American contingent saw Leanne Wong qualify ninth to the all-around final after an uncharacteristic vault error where she balked on her first attempt, scoring just 11.733 instead of her typical mid-14s. Despite the mishap, Wong harnessed her trademark poise and precision to deliver three subsequent clean, confident routines advancing her to the AA finals.
All-Around Final
The all-around final delivered compelling drama as Melnikova claimed gold with 55.066, holding off Wong, who earned silver with 54.966, just one tenth back; notably, Wong delivered the highest cumulative execution score of the event (32.866) during the AA final. China's Zhang Qingying secured bronze with 54.633, marking China's first women's world all-around medal since 2019. Nemour's fourth-place finish (54.564) included a spectacular bar routine (15.166) - almost 5 tenths higher than the next closest score (Melnikova's 14.7), despite missing a connection that trimmed her finals vs. qualifications D-score - and it appeared that a fall on the 2.0 wolf turn in finals as well as qualifications would inform her later approach to event finals.
Event Finals
Vault Final
Melnikova secured her second gold medal in vault where she averaged 14.466, and claimed her first world vault title with a clean double-twisting Yurchenko followed by a Cheng vault. Canadian Lia-Monica Fontaine earned silver (14.033), while American Joscelyn Roberson took bronze (13.983), both in their World Championships event final debut.
Uneven Bars Final
The uneven bars final belonged to Nemour, whose 15.566 represented the highest single score across all events at these championships. Her routine included her eponymous G-rated, 'Nemour' (in bar to straight body release) skill and demonstrated the fluidity that has become her trademark. Melnikova added bars silver (14.500) to her Jakarta Worlds medals, while China's Fanyuwei Yang won bronze (14.500) in a tie break with Melnikova decided via higher exectution score. Notably, Yang performed her own new skill, named after her earlier this year; like the Nemour, the 'Yang' (Jaeger release with a full twist), has a G-rated skill value.
Balance Beam Final
Zhang Qingying commanded the balance beam final, scoring 15.166 to give China its first beam world title since 2018, as Nemour secured the beam silver medal. Demonstrating a strategic recalibration under pressure, after encountering wolf turn difficulty in both qualification and AA finals, Nemour downgraded this skill from 2.0 to 1.0. The calculated adjustment paid off, with Nemour producing the second best beam score of the day (14.300) and her highest beam D score (6.2) of the competition. Japan's Sugihara earned bronze (14.166), capping what proved to be a breakthrough day for the 26-year-old.
Ellie Black, the 4 time Olympian returning to international competition following Paris 2024, placed 5th. Competing at her 9th Championships and 17th World finals competition, Black qualified in 4th position and scored 13.6, improving on her qualification score (13.466).
Floor Exercise Final
The floor exercise final provided the competition's most redemptive moment as Sugihara won her first world title at age 26, a decade after making her first world team. Her 13.833 edged British gymnasts Ruby Evans (13.666) and Abigail Martin (13.466), who demonstrated the depth of Great Britain's program by claiming both minor medals.