GymCastic: The Gymnastics Podcast

Skye Blakely is the world all-around champion. The 21-year-old Florida Gator won gold at the 2026 World Championships in Rotterdam with 55.733, becoming the ninth American woman to win the world all-around title and the first since Simone Biles, and she did it on her own plan, without the Cheng. Liudmila Roshchina took a surprise silver and Ke Qinqin of China won bronze despite a fall on beam. Favorite Kaylia Nemour overran the springboard on her opening vault, landing on the safety collar, and fought back to finish fourth, while Claire Pease was one beam fall away from a medal. Our sleep-deprived reactions from inside Rotterdam Ahoy.
This is the free 27-minute preview. The full 57-minute show is for Club Gym Nerd members. That's 30 more minutes, more than half of the show, including the international world peace officer, why press row cried for Skye Blakely, Claire Pease and Valeri Liukin's mirrored beam ritual, and your letters on Fujitsu and Skye's beam D score. Join Club Gym Nerd to hear it all. Want to try it first? The Worlds Coverage Bundle is 3 months of Club Gym Nerd for $14.99, no auto-renewal.
GymCastic Live
GymCastic Live in Rotterdam: Saturday, October 24, 7:00 pm CEST (10:00 am PT), with Bart Deurloo and Eythora Thorsdottir. In-person is sold out; stream it live from anywhere.
GymCastic Live in New York City: Friday, December 4, 7:00 pm ET (4:00 pm PT), with Katelyn Ohashi. In-person and streaming tickets.
Rotterdam World Championships coverage is brought to you by Sand and Sea Travel. Use code GYMCASTICWORLDS.
Thank you to Gina Pongetti of MedGym for caring for Fact Checker.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome to the women's all-around final
00:46 Skye Blakely is world all-around champion
03:20 Winning Worlds on her own plan
06:09 Kaylia Nemour's vault disaster
10:22 Ke Qinqin's beam is so good she can fall and still medal
11:33 Liudmila Roshchina's surprise silver
13:02 Claire Pease's beam fall
15:15 Skye, Florida and the college-elite path
18:37 Skye's four events
20:23 The world feed problem
21:33 Opportunity for comedy: Alena Glotova falls off beam twice
22:43 Best moment: Lisa Vaelen's straddle full
23:52 Ellie Black performs the beam rage away
24:46 A correction: Gina Pongetti and MedGym
25:51 Club Gym Nerd and GymCastic Live
27:11 Club preview: the international world peace officer
2026 World Championships Headquarters: every session in your time zone, every qualified team and gymnast.
Episode page and show notes

Daiki Hashimoto won his fourth straight world all-around title at the 2026 World Championships in Rotterdam, by almost two points, with Yang Haonan of China in silver and Joe Fraser taking bronze, only Great Britain's third men's all-around medal at Worlds. Top qualifier and Olympic champion Shinnosuke Oka fell twice and still finished eighth, Arsenii Dukhno's medal run ended on high bar, and Illia Kovtun fell twice. Plus breaking news: former Stanford gymnast Kaien J-Spencer is suing Stanford, alleging his former head coach Thom Glielmi degraded and humiliated him, and the women's code that got updated in the middle of Worlds. Our sleep-deprived reactions from inside Rotterdam Ahoy.
This is the free 23-minute preview. The full 57-minute show is for Club Gym Nerd members. That's 34 more minutes, more than half of the show, including Jessica's Uber conspiracy theories, Jake Jarman's interview, our women's all-around preview with Kaylia Nemour, Skye Blakely and Claire Pease, and your letters on China's beam and whether a fall should cost more than a point. Join Club Gym Nerd to hear it all. Want to try it first? The Worlds Coverage Bundle is 3 months of Club Gym Nerd for $14.99, no auto-renewal.
GymCastic Live
GymCastic Live in Rotterdam: Saturday, October 24, 7:00 pm CEST (10:00 am PT), with Bart Deurloo and Eythora Thorsdottir. In-person is sold out; stream it live from anywhere.
GymCastic Live in New York City: Friday, December 4, 7:00 pm ET (4:00 pm PT), with Katelyn Ohashi. In-person and streaming tickets.
Rotterdam World Championships coverage is brought to you by Sand and Sea Travel. Use code GYMCASTICWORLDS.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome to the men's all-around final
01:14 Daiki Hashimoto wins a fourth straight world all-around title
02:09 Ex-Stanford gymnast sues over his former coach
04:25 The women's code gets updated during Worlds
06:14 Shinnosuke Oka's two falls
08:06 Illia Kovtun and four all-arounds in a row
09:02 Joe Fraser's Red Bull
09:42 Arsenii Dukhno's high bar fall
10:33 Noe Seifert's podium warm-up
11:23 Frederick Richard's not-so-secret girlfriend
12:13 Yang Haonan's silver
13:28 Joe Fraser's bronze and the baby celebration
17:30 Opportunity for comedy: frog on the windshield
18:27 Best moment: Camilo Vera goes for the Liukin twice
20:29 Join Club Gym Nerd and GymCastic Live
22:31 Club preview: the Uber driver's conspiracy theory
2026 World Championships Headquarters: every session in your time zone, every qualified team and gymnast.
Episode page and show notes

China are world team champions for the first time since 2006, ending the United States' run of seven straight titles by two tenths in the women's team final at the 2026 World Championships in Rotterdam. Japan won its first world team medal since 1966. We break down the beam rotation that decided it, the downgrade that cost Skye Blakely, Dulcy Caylor's beam and big floor, Claire Pease's Cheng and 56-point all-around, and why the Fujitsu D-scores belong on the live scoreboard. Plus France in fourth, a rough night for WG2 and Italy, the broken floor that was really the podium, and lunch with Jay Clark. Recorded live from inside Rotterdam Ahoy.
Want more? Club Gym Nerd members get this episode ad-free, plus daily Worlds shows with extra time, weekly live Behind The Scenes and the full archive. Join Club Gym Nerd.
GymCastic Live
GymCastic Live in Rotterdam: Saturday, October 24, 7:00 pm CEST / 10:00 am PT, with Bart Deurloo and Eythora Thorsdottir. In-person is sold out; stream it live from anywhere.
GymCastic Live in New York City: Friday, December 4, 7:00 pm ET, with Katelyn Ohashi. In-person and streaming tickets on sale.
Rotterdam World Championships coverage is brought to you by Sand and Sea Travel. Use code GYMCASTICWORLDS.
Limited time offer: make healthy eating simple. Get Huel with 15% off online with code GYMCASTIC at huel.com/GYMCASTIC. New customers only. Thank you to Huel for supporting our show.
Chapters
00:00 China are world champions; U.S. silver, Japan bronze
01:41 How China broke the U.S. streak
04:22 Skye Blakely's beam and the D-score surprise
07:43 Chasing China on beam
10:31 Japan's first team medal since 1966
14:15 Show us the Fujitsu D-scores
17:42 The broken floor was the podium
19:36 Ellie Black's vault warm-up near miss
21:17 Moment of the day: Morgane Osyssek's floor
23:23 Club Gym Nerd and GymCastic Live
25:28 China's gold, rotation by rotation
31:07 Huel
33:27 Team USA's silver: vault, Claire Pease's Cheng, the bunnies
37:37 U.S. floor and the all-around outlook
40:36 WG2, Italy and the double-pike curse
44:30 France in fourth
47:16 Lunch with Jay Clark and the FIG judging system
50:20 Canada and Brazil
54:42 Japan's Fujitsu award and the podium
57:41 Live Q&A: Fact Checker update, all-around picks, France, the U.S. men
1:10:16 Wrap
Show notes and links · 2026 World Championship Headquarters

The floor broke again. A Dutch gymnast flagged the corner of the floor during the men's team final at the 2026 World Championships, nine years after Bart Deurloo did the same in Montreal. Japan won the world team title despite late falls, the Russian team competing as WG2 took silver and China held on for bronze, while Great Britain's medal hopes came apart one error at a time. Plus when the FIG will update its equipment standards, a final that ran past 10:30 at night, and robot judges catching every out-of-bounds. Our sleep-deprived reactions from inside Rotterdam Ahoy.
This is the free 18-minute preview. The full 42-minute show is for Club Gym Nerd members. That's 24 more minutes, more than half of the show, including Fact Checker's note from the KLM crew, Japan in depth, Team USA's women's team final lineup, the U.S. men in sixth and our women's team final preview. Join Club Gym Nerd to hear it all. Want to try it first? The Worlds Coverage Bundle is 3 months of Club Gym Nerd for $14.99, no auto-renewal.
GymCastic Live
GymCastic Live in Rotterdam: Saturday, October 24, 7:00 pm CEST (10:00 am PT), with Bart Deurloo and Eythora Thorsdottir. In-person is sold out; stream it live from anywhere.
GymCastic Live in New York City: Friday, December 4, 7:00 pm ET (4:00 pm PT), with Katelyn Ohashi. In-person and streaming tickets.
Rotterdam World Championships coverage is brought to you by Sand and Sea Travel. Use code GYMCASTICWORLDS.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome to the men's team final
01:00 Japan wins the world team title
02:01 The floor breaks again
04:09 When will the FIG update its equipment standards?
06:16 Russia, not Russia, and the missing headshots
07:17 Great Britain's heartbreak
09:57 China holds on for bronze
11:16 Too late at night to compete
12:32 Robot judges and the out-of-bounds epidemic
13:31 GymCastic Live in Rotterdam with Bart Deurloo and Eythora Thorsdottir
14:11 Switzerland and the last-rotation falls
15:55 Join Club Gym Nerd for the rest
17:25 Club preview: the arena's location tag
2026 World Championships Headquarters: every session in your time zone, every qualified team and gymnast.
Episode page and show notes

When beams attack. Great Britain counted a full beam meltdown and missed the team final by less than two-tenths, Flávia Saraiva's vault got Brazil in, and Kaylia Nemour leads the all-around even with mistakes. China survived a rare bars disaster to qualify first, the Russian team competing as WG2 is third with its B team, and Skye Blakely held on to a bars final spot. Our sleep-deprived reactions from inside Rotterdam Ahoy after day two of women's qualification at the 2026 World Championships.
This is the free 25-minute preview. The full 51-minute show is for Club Gym Nerd members. That's 26 more minutes, more than half of the show, including the hair dryer story, a Fact Checker update, and every subdivision in depth: France, Sanne Wevers' last routine, Canada's floor secret and Brazil. Join Club Gym Nerd to hear it all. Want to try it first? The Worlds Coverage Bundle is 3 months of Club Gym Nerd for $14.99, no auto-renewal.
GymCastic Live
GymCastic Live in Rotterdam: Saturday, October 24, 7:00 pm CEST (10:00 am PT), with Bart Deurloo and Eythora Thorsdottir. In-person is sold out; stream it live from anywhere.
GymCastic Live in New York City: Friday, December 4, 7:00 pm ET (4:00 pm PT), with Katelyn Ohashi. In-person and streaming tickets.
Rotterdam World Championships coverage is brought to you by Sand and Sea Travel. Use code GYMCASTICWORLDS.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome to Rotterdam, day two
01:23 Breaking news from the Spanish federation
02:55 Kaylia Nemour leads the all-around
08:45 China qualifies first
12:06 Flávia Saraiva saves Brazil
14:18 Russia, not Russia, in third
15:34 Great Britain's beam meltdown
16:47 Becky Downie delivers
18:36 Biggest surprise: Skye Blakely makes the bars final
19:48 Opportunities for comedy
21:08 Best moments: Hillary Heron and the Thriller
23:18 Join Club Gym Nerd for the rest
24:45 Club preview: the hair dryer story
2026 World Championships Headquarters: every session in your time zone, every qualified team and gymnast.
Episode page and show notes