On Sunday (18 October), 2022 European balance beam champion Emma Malewski lines up in qualification at the Rotterdam 2026 World Championships, back on the elite artistic gymnastics stage for Germany for the first time in four years.
She has missed it.
“It’s so amazing. I missed the feeling a lot,” Malewski said after podium training. “I’m so happy to be back on the international stage.”
The road here has not been straight forward. A torn ligament in her left foot forced her out of the 2023 World Championships. A shoulder injury the following year ended her bid for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Rather than push straight into the next cycle, the German enrolled at Clemson University and spent last season competing NCAA gymnastics in the United States.
“First, I wanted to have the experience in college, the experience as a team, a little bit different from what I knew,” she said. “I also had a lot of injuries, and I just wanted to see how my body reacted after all of that.”
The idea of elite never quite left, though, and over the summer she drove the return herself.
Liz Crandall-Howell, who coaches Malewski at Clemson, watched it happen.
“This summer was really just amazing to watch,” Crandall-Howell said. “She had a plan every day, but really she was the person driving this pursuit, every single day.”
The work spread through the gym.
“So many of our team came in because she was working on this elite thing, and they pushed her every day,” Crandall-Howell added. “I think it inspired them to come in and work, and in turn it helped push her along every single day, so she didn’t feel alone.”
