Skye Blakely Wins World All-Around Title in Rotterdam, Capping Comeback From Achilles Surgery

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands: Skye Blakely won the women's all-around gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships on Friday, scoring 55.733 points at Rotterdam Ahoy to finish clear of Liudmila Roshchina and Ke Qinqin. It was Blakely's first all-around competition at a world championships, and it closed a comeback that began with a ruptured Achilles tendon two days before the 2024 United States Olympic Trials.

The final in numbers

Blakely scored 14.200 on vault, 14.400 on uneven bars and 14.200 on balance beam before a 12.933 on floor exercise brought her total to 55.733. She led after three rotations with 42.800 points and took a lead of about one point over Roshchina into the final rotation. Her floor score, posted at 3:37 p.m. Eastern Time, was enough to hold the lead to the end. Roshchina, competing for World Gymnastics 2, took silver with 55.199 points, 0.534 points behind Blakely. Ke Qinqin of China took bronze with 55.032 points.

Where the challengers lost ground

Kaylia Nemour of Algeria had qualified first with 55.999 points and started the final as the gymnast to beat. Her final turned on vault, where a stutter step on her approach left her with 12.366 points. She recovered with 14.866 on uneven bars but finished fourth with 54.998 points. Ke fell on her balance beam dismount in the third rotation and scored 13.833 on the apparatus, yet still held on to bronze. Aiko Sugihara of Japan was fifth with 54.765 points, Elena Colas of France sixth with 54.666, and the second American in the final, Claire Pease, seventh with 54.232. Twenty-four gymnasts contested the final.

Two years of recovery

Blakely is 21 years old and a junior at the University of Florida. She had qualified second for the final with 55.465 points, behind Nemour. In 2024 she finished runner-up to Simone Biles at the United States Championships, then ruptured her right Achilles tendon while training on floor exercise two days before the Olympic Trials and had surgery to repair it. She had also torn an elbow ligament while warming up for the Tokyo Olympic Trials. The day after the Achilles injury, she closed a social media post with three words: "I will be back." After qualifying in Rotterdam, she said, "I already cried, but it just means the world to me," according to NBC Sports. Speaking about the championships, she said the week meant the world to her after two major surgeries and a long run of hardships, and that she was grateful simply to be there competing, as USA TODAY reported. Earlier in these championships, on October 21, she helped the United States women take team silver behind China.

What the title means

The gold medal is the 15th world all-around title for the United States women. American women have now won an all-around medal at every world championships since 2003. Blakely's championships are not finished. She has also qualified for the vault, uneven bars and balance beam apparatus finals, which run on October 24 and 25 in Rotterdam.