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

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands - China's women's gymnastics team finished qualifying at the 2026 world championships with 164.996 points, 0.467 ahead of the Americans, to top the standings and advance to Wednesday's (October 21) team final, USA Today reported from Rotterdam on October 19. Russia was third with 163.662, followed by Italy (162.430), Japan (161.630), France (160.430), Canada (160.130) and Brazil (159.131) - the eight teams advancing to the final.

The Chinese women haven't been on a podium at the Olympics or world championships since winning bronze at the 2018 worlds. USA Today noted that scoring was far more generous in the final qualifying sessions than when the Americans competed on Sunday in the first subdivision - China competed in the last of 10 sessions - but said it is a sign the U.S. women's 15-year winning streak at the world championships is very much at risk, with both China and Russia in position to end their reign. These championships mark the first opportunity for three men's teams and three women's teams to lock down spots at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

China's lead was built on balance beam, where Zhang Qingying scored 15.1 and Qiu Qiyuan 14.966 to go 1-2 in qualifying; in the all-around, Russia's Ludmila Roshchina finished third while China's Ke Qinqin and Zhang Qingying were fifth and sixth. China scored 42.032 on vault, second only to the Americans. Uneven bars, however, cost the team: China scored only 41.232 on bars, hurt by a fall from Qiu Qiyuan - the 2023 world champion and Paris Olympics silver medalist on the event, whose routine had a 6.7 start value at the Asian Games this summer; after the fall her D score was only 6.0 with a 7.333 execution score for a 13.333 total. Ke Qinqin's 14.133 was the team's highest bars score and was not even in the top 10, and China will not have a single gymnast in the uneven bars final.

Going into the last rotation, floor exercise, China needed to average about 14.3 to pass the United States. A 10.8 by Zhang Yihan put that in doubt, but Qiu Qiyuan closed with a 12.8 - China's best floor score - to seal the top spot. Russia, back on the world stage with a full team for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics - and at the world championships for the first time with a full team since 2019 - scrambled to replace several gymnasts denied visas by the Dutch government on security grounds before the competition.

Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：中国体操选手邱祺缘（资料图，2024年巴黎奥运会高低杠领奖台）。摄影：Ocoudis，CC0（经Wikimedia Commons）

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