Algerian gymnastics star Kaylia Nemour had to reset – and she did.
The 19-year-old came to the 2026 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, a favourite for the all-around gold medal having posted the highest score in the world this season – a 57.750 – at the Mediterranean Games.
But in Friday’s (23 October) final, disaster struck for Nemour as a botched vault left her in too deep of a hole to dig out from.
She turned the page, winning the uneven bars gold medal Saturday – her second straight – before claiming her first-ever global title Sunday (25 October) on the balance beam.
The Paris 2024 Olympic uneven bars champion was the first competitor of the final, laying down a 14.566 – her best of the championships – then waiting through seven more routines to learn her fate.
The silver medal went to the People’s Republic of China’s Zhang Qingying, the 2025 champion on the event. She was last up, delivering a tentative routine that was capped off by a double pike dismount with a large step backward.
After a long deliberation, the score flashed – 14.566, the same as Nemour. Zhang took the silver off the tie break with Nemour’s execution score giving her the edge.
Brazilian Flávia Saraiva claimed the bronze, her first on the event and a step up from her fourth-place finish a year ago. She scored 14.300.
“I’m extremely happy, but I’m completely in shock,” Nemour said. “In shock at this gold medal on beam. My goal was to do a nice routine, and that’s what I did, so I was already proud of myself. And with the score, I was hoping it would be enough for a medal. And now, having the gold medal is unimaginable. I think I’ll need a lot of time to digest it. Maybe a month, knowing me.”
She was not expecting to climb to the top. “I knew there was the Chinese gymnast, last year’s world champion, who is extremely strong, with a big start value and exceptional cleanliness,” she said. “And then we had the same score, so I think it was the execution score that made the difference, and it’s exceptional.”
Going first did not help the nerves.
“It’s not easy going first, especially on beam. I had pressure that I put on myself, because I really wanted to do a good routine today,” Nemour said. “When I did the mount, I felt good. I was determined to do a good routine.”
The beam title was her third career world gold, and the one that turned a hard week around.
“These finals started badly for me. I was very, very, very disappointed, extremely disappointed, and I managed to regroup for the finals,” she said. “Two finals, two gold medals, it’s just exceptional.”
In the women’s floor exercise final, Team USA went 1-2 with Claire Pease (13.866) and Reese Esponda (13.566) taking the top two spots. France’s Maïana Prat was third with a 13.466 final mark.
