China won the women's team final at the World Championships in Rotterdam on Wednesday with 165.764, 0.233 ahead of the United States on 165.531. Japan took bronze with 164.063. The result ends the American run of seven consecutive world team titles, which began in 2011. It is China's first women's world team title since 2006, and the first time since Russia won here in Rotterdam in 2010 that the United States have not taken the title at a World Championships with a team event.
Final ranking
| Rank | Team | Total | |---|---|---| | 1 | China | 165.764 | | 2 | United States | 165.531 | | 3 | Japan | 164.063 | | 4 | France | 161.130 | | 5 | Brazil | 159.730 | | 6 | WG2 | 159.394 | | 7 | Italy | 158.129 | | 8 | Canada | 158.096 |
Decided by the last routine
The title came down to China's final floor routine. Before it, China were on 152.931 with two floor scores counted. Qiu Qiyuan scored 12.833, enough to take China past the United States by 0.233.
The two teams won the final in very different ways. China's balance beam total of 43.366 was 4.167 better than the American beam total of 39.199, where Dulcy Caylor scored 12.333. The United States were stronger everywhere else: by 1.667 on vault, 0.300 on uneven bars and 1.967 on floor. Beam outweighed all three.
Zhang Qingying, the world beam champion, scored 15.066 on beam, the highest score of the final, and competed on all four apparatus. For the United States, Claire Pease also did all four and scored 13.933 on floor, the best floor mark of the night. Skye Blakely added 14.300 on vault and 14.400 on bars.
Japan move up to bronze
Japan, fifth in qualification, won bronze. Their vault total of 42.132 was second only to the United States. France improved from sixth to fourth and Brazil from eighth to fifth. Rebeca Andrade scored 14.400 on vault, the best vault of the final. WG2, third in qualification, dropped to sixth after a beam total of 38.498. Italy, fourth in qualification, finished seventh.
LA28 places
The three highest-ranked eligible nations earn a team place of five gymnasts for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. China, the United States and Japan all qualify. For the United States, that secures a full women's team at a home Olympics. The remaining nine women's team places will be decided at the 2027 World Championships in Chengdu.
Full scores are on the women's team final results page. The medal table and LA28 tracker are updated.
