China Edges U.S. 165.764-165.531 to Win Women's Team Gold at Gymnastics Worlds, Ending the Americans' Seven-Title Streak

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — It came down to 0.233 of a point. China won the women's team title at the 2026 World Gymnastics Championships on Wednesday night, October 21, scoring 165.764 to hold off the United States at 165.531 at the Rotterdam Ahoy arena. Japan took bronze with 164.063.

China became the first nation to beat the U.S. women at a world championships in 16 years. The Americans had won the previous seven world team titles dating to 2011, all by at least two points, NBC Sports reported; China's winning margin was the second-smallest since the perfect-10 scoring system was replaced in 2006, behind only Russia's 0.201 victory over the U.S. in 2010 — the last time the Americans lost. For China, it was a first global team title since it hosted the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and, as the event's official website noted, a first world team trophy since its only previous one 20 years ago in 2006. Japan's bronze was its first Olympic or world women's team medal in 60 years. The top three teams also secured team places at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The final turned on the third rotation. The U.S. started strongly — all six of its routines across vault and uneven bars scored 14.0 or better, and it outscored China on bars, 42.766 to 42.466. On balance beam, however, Dulcy Caylor fell on her dismount and scored 12.333; an inquiry raised Claire Pease's score from 13.500 to 13.600, while Skye Blakely's 13.266 stood after a rejected inquiry. China, meanwhile, pulled away on its signature apparatus, where reigning world champion Zhang Qingying scored 15.066; USA Today reported the Chinese gained more than four points on the U.S. on beam alone.

The U.S. went into the final rotation, floor exercise, trailing by 2.2 points and kept cutting the gap: Pease scored 13.933 and China's Ke Qinqin 13.100. With one gymnast remaining for each team, the deficit was 0.800. Reese Esponda posted 13.400 for the U.S., leaving China's last gymnast, Qiu Qiyuan, needing better than 12.6 to clinch the title — she delivered, and China held on by 0.233.

China's five gymnasts were Ke Qinqin, Zhang Qingying, Qiu Qiyuan, Zhang Yihan and Du Siyu; the team had topped qualifying with 164.996 to the Americans' 164.529, with Zhang and Qiu going one-two on beam in qualifying. The U.S. silver-medal team — Blakely, Charleigh Bullock, Caylor, Esponda and Pease — included no gymnast with previous Olympic experience, the first time that has happened in a worlds team event since the streak began in 2011; Hezly Rivera, the youngest U.S. athlete at the Paris Olympics, made the team but withdrew the day before qualifying with left ankle pain. The championships continue Thursday with the men's all-around final and Friday with the women's all-around final, for which Ke and Zhang qualified fifth and sixth.

Related: Gymnastics Worlds: China Tops Women's Qualifying to Reach Team Final, 164.996 Edging the U.S. by 0.467 as Zhang Qingying and Qiu Qiyuan Go 1-2 on Beam

Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：2026年美国杯上的中国体操队（资料图）。照片：SpiritedMichelle，CC BY-SA 4.0，经Wikimedia Commons。The Chinese national gymnastics team at the 2026 American Cup (file photo). Photo: SpiritedMichelle, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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