Worlds Apparatus Finals Day 1: U.S. Wins Four Medals as Frederick Richard Takes Floor Gold and Skye Blakely Adds Two Bronzes

The first day of apparatus finals at the 2026 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships was held on October 24 at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where the United States claimed four medals in a single day: Frederick Richard won gold on men's floor exercise with 14.633, Skye Blakely added bronzes on women's vault and uneven bars, and Claire Pease took silver on women's vault. USA Gymnastics' running medal count puts the U.S. total at six medals so far at these championships — two gold, two silver and two bronze.

On men's floor, Richard of Stoughton, Massachusetts, and the University of Michigan posted the competition's highest execution score, 8.833, plus a one-tenth stick bonus, for a 14.633 total that held off 2025 world champion Jake Jarman of Great Britain (14.600), with Israel's Artem Dolgopyat third (14.466). Richard is the first American man to win world gold on floor since Paul Hamm in 2003, and the first U.S. medal of any color on the apparatus since Yul Moldauer's bronze in 2017. According to NBC Sports, Richard had publicly guaranteed on May 5 that he would win gold at the world championships five months later. 'I hope this is a lesson to everybody that you don't have to wait to get the win to say you will be a champion,' he said after the final.

In the women's vault final, Brazil's Rebeca Andrade won her third career world vault title with 14.466. Pease of Sunnyvale, Texas (WOGA Gymnastics), competing at her first world championships, secured her first individual world medal with silver at 14.233, followed by Blakely of Frisco, Texas (University of Florida) — who had won the women's all-around title the day before — in bronze position at 14.166.

On uneven bars, Algeria's Kaylia Nemour won gold with 15.333, the highest score of the day, ahead of Germany's Helen Kevric (14.833), while Blakely took bronze at 14.600 — her highest score on the apparatus all week, two-tenths above the 14.400 she recorded in the team and all-around competitions. The bronze was Blakely's fourth medal of these championships, after all-around gold, team silver and vault bronze.

In the men's pommel horse final, Armenia's Hamlet Manukyan won gold with 15.300, Italy's Gabriele Targhetta was second (15.233) and Armenia's Mamikon Khachatryan third (15.000). Two-time U.S. pommel horse champion Patrick Hoopes of Lehi, Utah (U.S. Air Force Academy) finished fifth with 14.933 after a tiebreak with Kazakhstan's Nariman Kubanov.

The championships conclude on Sunday, October 25, at Rotterdam Ahoy, with the final round of apparatus finals set for 9 a.m. ET.

Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：Frederick Richard 在2026年美国体操锦标赛上进行自由体操比赛。摄影 SpiritedMichelle（Kimberly Indergand），CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Frederick Richard competing on floor exercise at the 2026 U.S. National Gymnastics Championships. Photo by SpiritedMichelle (Kimberly Indergand), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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