World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Explained

The World Championships are gymnastics’ other major event, run by the FIG using the same core format as the Olympics — but not always the full team, all-around and apparatus programme.

Two kinds of World Championships

The FIG Technical Regulations 2025 define two types:

• Team and Individual World Championships — held one and two years before an Olympic Games. They have qualification, a team final, an all-around final and apparatus finals.
• Individual World Championships — held in the year after an Olympics. There is no team competition or team ranking; each country can enter up to six men and four women, with no more than three on any one apparatus. The 2025 Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, the first after Paris 2024, were of this type.

Format

At a team Worlds, teams of three to five gymnasts (plus a reserve) compete in qualification, with four on each apparatus and the best three scores counting. The top eight teams reach the team final, where three gymnasts per team compete on each apparatus and all three scores count. The top 24 all-around gymnasts and the top eight on each apparatus reach their finals, with a maximum of two per country in each. See team, all-around and apparatus finals.

How countries qualify

Places at a team Worlds have to be earned:

• Teams — up to 24 men’s and 24 women’s teams, through the continental championships. For the edition one year before an Olympics, the top eight teams from the previous year’s Worlds qualify automatically.
• All-around gymnasts without a team — 40 men and 56 women, through the continental championships, with a maximum of two per country.
• Apparatus specialists — the top eight per apparatus from the Apparatus World Cup series.

A country without a team can send up to five individual gymnasts per discipline.

The road to LA 2028

The 2026 and 2027 editions decide the Olympic team places for Los Angeles 2028. The 2026 World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands (17–25 October 2026) awarded places to the top three teams in each team final. The 2027 World Championships award the next nine team places, plus individual places through the all-around and apparatus finals. See Olympic qualification.

The 2026 World Championships

Rotterdam gave out the first Olympic places of the LA 2028 cycle.

• Men’s team final (20 October) — Japan won with 251.928, ahead of the WG2/Russia team (250.329) and China (249.193). Great Britain finished fourth on 247.395, one place outside the Olympic places.
• Women’s team final (21 October) — China won with 165.764, ending a run of US team titles dating back to 2011, ahead of the United States (165.531) and Japan (164.063). Great Britain did not reach the eight-team final.

The three medal-winning teams in each final earned an LA 2028 team place. Great Britain’s men’s and women’s teams can still qualify through the nine team places awarded at the 2027 World Championships.

Great Britain won three individual medals in Rotterdam: Joe Fraser took bronze in the men’s all-around, behind Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto and China’s Yang Haonan, and Jake Jarman won silver on both floor and vault.