Kaylia Nemour Leads World All-Around Qualifying as Japan Retains Men’s Team Title

Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour topped women’s all-around qualification at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, placing herself at the front of the race for Friday’s title. Japan, meanwhile, turned a tense men’s team final into gold and secured an early place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

21 October 2026

ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS | BY SAYER ZALAND

Kaylia Nemour has put herself in position to challenge for the women’s all-around world title after leading qualification in Rotterdam, while Japan has already converted its status as a men’s gymnastics powerhouse into another world team gold medal.

The two results underline the different pressures facing leading gymnasts at the championships: Nemour must reproduce her qualifying performance when medals are decided, while Japan has already delivered under the pressure of a final.

Representing Algeria, Nemour scored 55.999 points across the four women’s apparatuses to finish first in all-around qualification.

American gymnast Skye Blakely followed with 55.465, while Liudmila Roshchina, competing under the World Gymnastics 2 designation, placed third with 55.098.

Nemour’s advantage over Blakely was 0.534 points.

She also led uneven bars qualification with 14.933, strengthening her position as a contender in more than one event.

But qualification scores do not carry into the finals.

That makes Friday’s women’s all-around competition a fresh contest rather than a continuation of Nemour’s lead. The Algerian gymnast will have to deliver another complete performance across vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.

For Nemour, the opportunity is significant. Her performances have placed Algeria at the forefront of a discipline traditionally dominated by established gymnastics nations.

Japan’s men’s team faced a different challenge on Tuesday.

Entering the final among the favourites, the Japanese gymnasts were pushed through six rotations before securing the title with 251.928 points.

The team finished ahead of the Russian athletes competing as World Gymnastics 2, who scored 250.329, while China took bronze with 249.193.

The final margin between Japan and the silver medallists was 1.599 points.

Japan’s victory was not secured through an uninterrupted lead.

Great Britain and China remained in contention during the competition, and the decisive moments came late in the final.

Daiki Hashimoto delivered a 14.866 routine on the horizontal bar, helping Japan finish strongly after a less convincing performance on parallel bars.

His contribution proved important as Japan defended its men’s team world title.

The result also carried consequences beyond the medal podium.

Japan, the Russian team competing under the World Gymnastics 2 designation and China secured qualification places for the men’s team competition at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

For those teams, Rotterdam therefore represented both an immediate world championship contest and an important stage in Olympic preparation.

Nemour’s position remains different.

She has won qualification, not the world all-around title, and must now turn a promising performance into a result when the final begins on Friday, October 23.

The contrast between the two stories captures the central competitive question of the championships: reaching the top of a qualifying table establishes a contender, but remaining there when the medals are decided establishes a champion.

Sources: World Gymnastics official results; Japanese Gymnastics Association; Reuters; NBC Sports.

Image caption: Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour led women’s all-around qualification at the 2026 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam.

Image credit: Original event photographer and applicable image licence must be confirmed for the selected photograph.