Team Brazil

The world challenge cup series resumes in Szombathely this weekend after a summer hiatus. As the second-to-last challenge cup of the 2026 season, the competition features several world-class athletes who are preparing to challenge for world championships medals next month, alongside lots of up-and-comers hoping to break onto the medal lists here.

Most notable on the list is Kaylia Némour, who has had quite the season, winning five world cup medals over the winter and spring before taking home five gold medals at the African Championships in addition to leading Algeria to a team berth at worlds, and then winning another three golds at the Mediterranean Games a few weeks ago, where she earned the top all-around score of the year by nearly a point.

The Brazilian team will also be one to watch in Szombathely, with Olympic medalists Rebeca Andrade, Lorrane Oliveira, and Flavia Saraiva on the WAG roster while Lucas Bitencourt, Arthur Mariano, and Caio Souza make up MAG squad. All six of the Brazilians should easily make finals here, with Andrade especially exciting as she makes her return to beam for the first time since the Paris Olympics.

Also interesting will be the return of Oleg Verniaiev, who last represented Ukraine at Euros in May 2025. He’s listed to compete on all six apparatuses in Szombathely, which would be a first since 2024, and I’m intrigued about how he looks, given that Ukraine has been suffering a bit internationally this year and he could potentially help lift them up a bit.

Other names to watch include Shanna-Kae Grant, Abigail Roper, and Emily Roper, all of whom competed at the Commonwealth Games and could be outside hopefuls for Great Britain’s worlds team this year, and U.S. athletes Dulcy Caylor and Tatum Drusch, who likely won’t be frontrunners in this field, but should still perform well and make several finals. I’d also personally love to see Sophie St. John of Malta make the beam final, and I always love watching Zeinolla Idrissov of Kazahstan on pommels.

Finally, Hungary has a solid roster as the host country, led on the WAG side by 2024 Olympian Lili Czifra and also including Kira Balazs, Greta Mayer, and Nikolett Szilagyi, along with Regina Kovacs in an exhibition performance. The MAG team meanwhile includes Balazs Kiss, Levente Marko, Istvan Mentovai, Mark Nagy, Nandor Sas, and Zala Samu Zambori, largely a B-team, though I’d anticipate a couple of these guys will be in the mix for worlds this year and this competition should give them some solid experience.

The competition begins tomorrow, September 18, with qualifications, while apparatus finals will be held on Saturday and Sunday. You can watch qualifications and finals live on the Hungarian federation’s website (though you will need a VPN if you’re located outside of the country!) and finals will also stream live on World Gymnastics TV for a fee.

A full list of athletes expected to compete is below.

Article by Lauren Hopkins