Pease and Esponda Go 1-2 on Floor as Americans Close Historic Gymnastics Worlds in Rotterdam
Claire Pease won floor gold and Reese Esponda took silver on the final day of the World Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, as three different Americans won individual titles for the first time in 15 years.
Claire Pease and Reese Esponda won gold and silver on floor exercise on the last day of the World Gymnastics Championships, closing a meet in which three different Americans won individual titles for the first time in 15 years.
Pease, a 17-year-old in her World Championships debut, scored 13.866 as the eighth and final gymnast to go in Rotterdam, Netherlands, on Sunday. Esponda, also 17 and in her first worlds, scored 13.566 after posting the best score in qualifying.
“I really controlled my power and settled into the podium landings,” Pease said.
“I’m just really proud of my fight,” Esponda said. “I worked really hard. In team final, I didn’t have my best routine, so I put my best foot forward, and I was trying to work on all my landings, and I think I did a lot better today.”
A first for American gymnastics since 2011
The United States finished the championships with the most total medals, eight, and tied China for the most golds, with three. It was the third straight day an American won a world title, after Skye Blakely in the all-around on Friday and Frederick Richard on men’s floor on Saturday.
The last year three different American gymnasts won individual world titles was 2011, when Jordyn Wieber won the all-around, McKayla Maroney won vault and Danell Leyva won parallel bars.
Pease is the youngest American to win an individual world title since Morgan Hurd won the all-around in 2017, and the first American to win individual gold in her first worlds since Hurd. Pease trains at the same Dallas-area gym where Madison Kocian trained, went from 10th in the all-around at the 2025 U.S. Championships to winning a selection competition for this year’s world team last month, and also won silver medals in the team event and on vault in Rotterdam.
Esponda trains at the gym owned by the family of Simone Biles in Spring, Texas. She went from 16th at the 2025 U.S. Championships to making this year’s five-woman world team for her floor and vault work.
Blakely closes a four-medal meet, Nemour takes beam gold
Also Sunday, Blakely finished sixth on balance beam, closing a breakout meet that included gold in the all-around, silver in the team event and bronze on vault and uneven bars. She performed 14 routines over eight days without a major error.
Kaylia Nemour of Algeria won the beam title, edging Zhang Qingying of China on an execution tiebreak after both scored 14.566. Nemour’s execution score of 8.266 beat Zhang’s 8.066, giving Nemour her first World beam gold after she finished second to Zhang on the event last year in Jakarta. Flavia Saraiva of Brazil took bronze with 14.300, her first World medal on beam.
Elsewhere on the final day, China’s Zou Jingyuan won the parallel bars title for a fifth time, adding to his 2024 Olympic gold. Tang Chia-Hung won high bar, becoming the first world champion from Taiwan, and Artur Davtyan of Armenia claimed his second world title on vault. The next world championships are in 2027 in Chengdu, China, the last worlds before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Reporting based on coverage by NBC Sports and USA Today.
