China Edge USA by Just 0.233 Points to Win First Women's Team Gymnastics World Gold Since 2006
China have won a dramatic victory in the women's team event at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. They took gold ahead of the United States by a margin of just 0.233 points, ending the American women's dream of an eighth consecutive team title.
The final in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, was decided by the very last routine. China's Qiu Qiyuan needed more than 12.600 points in the closing floor routine to secure gold, and under pressure she delivered exactly enough with 12.833 to put her team on top.
China finished with 165.764 points overall. The United States took silver just 0.233 points behind. Japan, a further 1.468 points back, claimed bronze, with France fourth.
China had also led the way in qualifying. But in the final it was the reigning champions, the United States, who moved ahead at the halfway stage, building a healthy lead helped by strong vault and uneven bars routines.
Skye Blakely was the only gymnast on the US team who was also part of the quintet that won their seventh consecutive title in 2023. But the Americans lost their rhythm on the balance beam, where 18-year-old Caylor Dulcy stumbled and scored just 12.333.
The beam is where the contest turned. China outscored the United States by more than four points on the apparatus. Zhang Qingying, who had topped beam qualifying, made them pay with a sparkling performance that earned her 15.066 points.
China came under pressure on the floor late on, but Qiu held her nerve. Her 12.833 sealed the victory — China's first women's team world crown since 2006.
The United States had last failed to win this title in 2010, when they were beaten by Russia. This time China repeated that result, in one of the finest margins the championships have seen.
US superstar Simone Biles was absent from this championships. The 23-time world champion, including five times in the team competition, is taking a break from the sport and has not competed since the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she won three gold medals.
The result puts a major crack in more than a decade of American dominance in women's gymnastics. Without Biles, the young US team appeared to fall short on experience, as the final showed.
The championships continue for several more days. On Thursday in the Netherlands, Japan's Daiki Hashimoto defends his men's all-around title, with a big challenge expected from his compatriot and Olympic champion Shinnosuke Oka.
Japan took the men's team title on Tuesday, pipping Russia and China. So at this championships, both the men's and women's team golds have gone to Asian countries.
