With the 2026 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam days away, the competition is officially starting to heat up. As gymnasts start to make their way to the Netherlands and complete podium training, we are starting to get a clearer picture of who may be in contention for both finals and medals.

While we have gotten used to American dominance in the women’s team event over the last decade and a half, the tide may be changing. The last time Worlds was held in Rotterdam – 2010 – was the most recent world championships to feature a team final winner other than the United States (Russia).

Many teams will be heading into the competition with hopes of outperforming the expectations of yesteryear, and plenty have the talent to back up their goals. We are making our way through the women’s teams most poised to make the team final in order to give you a sense of the stakes heading into the first Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Qualifier. This preview covers Europe and Algeria.

As a reminder, the top three teams in this year’s team final will earn tickets to LA, with nine more teams to be named at next year’s championships.

Algeria

No conversation about Worlds would be complete without mentioning the reigning world and Olympic bars champion, Kaylia Nemour. The 19-year-old – who was already one of the top all-around gymnasts in the world – is having somewhat of a career renaissance in 2026, guiding Algeria to its first-ever world championships as a team while putting up eye-popping scores on nearly every event. 

Though the Algerian team as a whole – which, besides Nemour, features Sihem Hamidi along with fellow French expats Djenna Laroui, Louna Hamames-Moallic, and Lena Khenoun – is unlikely to factor into the team final conversation, Nemour is positioned to dominate the competition, with the potential to win medals on bars, beam, and in the all-around. 

The double-twisting Yurchenko has been in and out of her arsenal over the years, but it seems like Nemour is hitting her stride at the right time, performing three solid vaults over the past few months across the Mediterranean Games and Swiss championships. If she can hit the vault more successfully than in her two attempts at last year’s Worlds, her chances of escaping the Nina Derwael all-around medal purgatory skyrocket considerably. If she is able to make the podium, Nemour will become the first African gymnast to win an all-around medal at Worlds.

Of course, Nemour’s bars are still her calling card, and that event remains her best shot at another world medal. She scored a world-leading 15.650 during the all-around competition at the Mediterranean Games en route to a monstrous 57.750 all-around score.

Italy

The Team

Though both Manila Esposito and Elisa Iorio are multi-quad veterans, this year’s Italian team has a bit of a new look, being the first world or Olympic team not to feature a D’Amato twin since the pair made their senior debut in 2019.

While Esposito has been the de facto leader of the Italian team over the last few seasons based on availability alone (though she did skip 2025 Worlds), her poise and veteran leadership will be particularly needed with multiple world championship rookies – July Marano and Sofia Tonelli – making the roster.

2025 team member Giulia Perotti will also be heading to Rotterdam with hopes of redeeming herself after a rough performance at last year’s championships. Though she did make the floor final, the reigning European bars bronze medalist surely has more to show if she can put the pieces together when it counts.

Italy should be in a solid position to make the team final after putting up a substantial score to win silver at Euros, but it is likely to take some mistakes from the top of the pack to defend its 2024 Olympic team podium spot.

The Breakdown

Italy will be lacking in the difficulty department with 2021 world vault silver medalist Asia D’Amato out, meaning the team will have to lean on its execution to keep up with competitors. Esposito is also not expected to compete vault.

Marano has played around with a double-twisting Yurchenko of her own to mixed success and is likely to stick to the 1.5. Tonelli’s main role on the team is vault and floor, and her Yurchenko 1.5 is a lock for the lineup. Iorio is expected to contribute a 1.5 as well. As one of Italy’s top all-arounders, Perotti’s full-twisting Yurchenko is likely to take the fourth lineup spot. 

Though all of Italy’s vaults are fairly clean, a potential team final lineup of three Yurchenko 1.5s puts the team at a 1.2 point difficulty deficit compared to a lineup of DTYs, which will have to be made up elsewhere.

Luckily, bars has the potential to be a standout event for the Italian team. Iorio and Perotti both won medals at the European championships this year, with Marano being in the position to move on if it were not for the two-per-country rule. Sofia Tonelli earned a 14.100 in the event final at the Mediterranean Games. Though the bars final is looking to be incredibly competitive, it would not be out of the question for Italy to qualify multiple gymnasts if it can string together some solid hits.

Likely out of the all-around, Esposito has a solid shot at the beam final. Making the podium will be more of a challenge than in years past due to the difficulty advantage of top competitors from China and Japan, but her world class form and originality mean she is in a prime position to surge in the rankings on the back of others’ mistakes, similarly to how she won the Olympic beam bronze medal in Paris. 

Perotti is a lovely beam worker in her own right, boasting a routine that showcases her extension, particularly on dance elements. She’s scored as high as 14.500 domestically, though her international scores are a fair bit below her domestic ones on average. Perotti also has a three fall routine for 9.167 from Jesolo earlier this year on her record, meaning that putting her up in a team final situation is a risk, but it may be a risk necessary for Italy to challenge for a medal.

Marano has generally hovered around the high-12 to low-13 range, though her status as the reigning Italian national all-around champion likely still earns her a lineup spot. Tonelli was mostly brought in as a leg event specialist, but she has scored comparably to Iorio and may be the fourth competitor in qualifications.

Iorio has not competed floor since the Paris Olympics, so the other four team members will have to pick up the slack. Esposito is a fan favorite here on floor as well, and she has won medals on the event in her last three European Championship appearances. Tonelli and Marano are both capable of hitting well into the 13s, and Perotti has gone as high as 13.25 this season domestically. 

France

The Team

With Melanie de Jesus dos Santos still yet to make her full-fledged post-Paris debut (she competed floor at this year’s French Championships), all eyes will be on first-year senior star Elena Colas.

Colas is one of the most impressive juniors we have seen come out of France – or really any country – over the last few quads. Though domination at the senior level was probably an unrealistic ask, Colas has looked about as good as you can for a first-year senior, with the highlight being her bronze medal in the all-around at this year’s European Championships despite a mediocre day by her standards.  

Colas will have plenty of veteran leadership to lean on, including 2024 Olympian Morgane Osyssek-Reimer and six-time world team member Lorette Charpy. Joining them is fellow first-year senior Maiana Prat and Celia Serber, who is making her fourth appearance at Worlds.

The Breakdown

Colas is going to be a leader on all four events for France, but her vault in particular is going to be a huge asset. Sporting the only double-twisting Yurchenko on the team, she has the potential to boost an otherwise unremarkable lineup. Serber has shown a solid Yurchenko 1.5 throughout the season, and she does compete a second vault, though with only a 3.8 difficulty score, she is unlikely to factor into the event final picture.

Though Osyssek-Reimer’s Tsuk full is France’s next hardest vault, Charpy and Prat are likely to fill the rest of the lineup with full-twisting Yurchenkos. Both vaulted at Euros, with Charpy outscoring Osyssek-Reimer’s harder vault and Prat routinely getting called up to compete in the all-around.

Bars is likely to have the same lineup as vault, with Osyssek-Reimer not competing the event at all at the European Championships. Though Colas missed out on the bars final at Euros, her 14.600 in the team final shows that she’s more than capable of making the world final, with some potential medal upside. Charpy has been counted on for her bars contributions throughout her long elite career, though Serber has actually scored higher this year. They both should still be able to easily make the lineup, with Prat filling out the fourth spot. 

Beam has the potential to be a standout rotation for France. Colas is the reigning European champion, and was joined by Osyssek-Reimer in the final. Watch out for Osyssek-Reimer to potentially bring out the layout full she showed at Euros. If she performs it, it is likely to be the hardest skill attempted on beam of the competition.

Prat has had her ups and down on beam this season, but she has the potential to score well into the 13s with a hit. With a 5.9 attempted D-score, her routine is likely to be tied with Osyssek for the hardest of the French rotation. On the other end of the spectrum, Charpy has scored similarly for an easier routine. She provides some stability to an otherwise volatile lineup. 

Floor was shaping up to be a solid lineup for France, but both Osyssek-Reimer and Prat have hit their stride recently and may boost the team’s scoring potential. As on beam, Osyssek-Reimer’s unique composition – including a double layout to front pike and full-in to front tuck – makes her one to look out for. On the other end of the spectrum, Prat relies on difficult dance elements to up her D-score. This strategy has largely paid off, including a recent 13.766 to win the floor title at the Paris Challenge Cup, but any routine relying on dance elements has the potential to go downhill quick should the judges at Worlds decide to drop the hammer on execution.

Serber and Charpy are both potential options for the fourth lineup spot, though Charpy is perhaps the more likely choice in order to secure an all-around score like she did at 2025 Worlds.

Great Britain

The Team

Similarly to Italy, Team GB is still without a set of twins of its own – Jess and Jen Gadirova. The Tokyo Olympic bronze medalists are still working their way back into competition after a litany of injuries over the past few seasons. To make matters worse, the pair’s gym – Lynx Gymnastics – burnt down in May, further complicating the comeback process. 

While the Gadirovas are still absent, another veteran competitor – three-time Olympian Becky Downie – is back for the first time since the Paris Games. Though Downie has not competed in the all-around since 2022, she has quickly returned to form on her best apparatuses: bars and beam. 

Fellow Olympian Alice Kinsella is also back after giving birth just over a year ago, and while she has not competed much this year, an all-around win at the Senior Team International in September showed that she is right on track. 

Joining Downie and Kinsella are 2025 team members Abigail Martin, Alia Leat, and Ruby Evans. Evans in particular has been having a career year, becoming the first Welsh gymnast since 1971 to win the all-around title at the British Championships. She also won floor at the Commonwealth Games, becoming the first Welsh gymnast in history to win gold at the Games.

The Breakdown

With Downie yet to bring back vault or floor, the lineups for Team GB on the leg events are pretty straightforward. Martin is the only Brit competing two vaults, and she should be able to make the event final after winning silver on the event at the Commonwealth Games and finishing fourth at Euros. Kinsella and Evans both vault solid double-twisting Yurchenkos, though Evans does still have an Amanar in her back pocket.

Leat did not vault in the team final at Euros, but Downie’s lack of vault means her Yurchenko full is the automatic choice to fill out the lineup. While Great Britain may not have the vault depth of top teams like the United States, a three DTY lineup ranks favorably among potential team final contenders.

Anything that Downie gives up on vault and floor, she makes up for with her stellar bars work. She has not been able to consistently deliver the type of performance that led her to the world silver medal in 2019, but a 14.600 in the event final at the British Championships shows that when she is on, she is still one of the world’s top bars workers.

Martin and Evans have been on fairly opposite trajectories on bars over the season, with Martin receiving by far her best scores of the year at Euros as Evans recorded her first sub-12 score of the season. Getting them both hitting at the same time will go a long way in maximizing the team’s scoring potential. Kinsella has only performed one bars routine this year, but it did score a respectable 13.350, which is more than enough to warrant a lineup spot.

Beam is probably Great Britain’s weakest event overall, but Alia Leat has looked great, making the final at both the Commonwealth Games and European Championships. Her front aerial to switch ring leap to split ring jump series is genuinely breathtaking and is just one highlight of a routine more than capable of challenging for an event final spot.

Similar to bars, Kinsella is relatively untested on beam this season, but replicating the 13.750 she scored at the Senior Team International would go a long way in boosting Great Britain’s podium hopes. Downie is also a likely competitor after competing on the event in the qualifying round at Euros.

The final beam spot comes down to Martin or Evans, who have scored similarly throughout the year. Martin is attempting a slightly more difficult routine, but the choice between the two will ultimately come down to who the federation deems a better chance to make the all-around final.

Though either one of the Gadirovas could have made Team GB’s floor rotation an all-timer, the return of reigning world medalists Evans and Martin is about as good as anyone could ask for. Both are performing difficulty routines in the high 5s, and Evans is likely to perform one of the most impressive combo passes of the competition – a front layout to front 2.5 twist.

Once again, with Downie not competing, Kinsella and Leat will take the remaining two lineup spots. Floor was Kinsella’s weakest event in her one all-around competition this year, but she has made a world floor final before and can still be counted on for a solid score. Leat faltered in the team final at Euros, but she should be able to score as high as the mid 13s with a good routine.

WG2 (Russia)

The Team

The Russian team – officially competing as “WG2” – has been the talk of the town heading into Worlds as visa issues have thrown the presumed squad into disarray. As a result, the team – Alyona Glotova, Milana Kayumova, Lyudmila Roshchina, Elizaveta Us, Aleksandra Anufrieva, and alternate Zlata Osokina – is fairly untested. 

This group still has the potential to make the team final, but anything past that is far less certain than when Tokyo Olympic champions Angelina Melnikova and Viktoria Listunova were slated to compete in Rotterdam.

Though the visa shakeup has complicated lineup strategy significantly, Roshchina, a 2025 world team member, is poised for the most individual success. She would have finished fourth in the all-around at this year’s European Championships, but she was two-per-country’d out of the final standings by Melnikova and Anna Kalmykova, who both had their visas denied by the Dutch government. 

Alongside Roshchina, Glotova also had a fairly successful European Championships, making the bars final with a solid 14.300 in qualifications. 

Bars is also Kayumova’s best event, as evidenced by her gold medal performance at the Antalya World Cup in March. 

Anufrieva and Us fall more into the vault specialist archetype – though Us does have some upside on beam – and both will be hoping to make the vault final. Though Us’ difficulty is too low to be a true event final threat, Anufrieva’s Rudi/Tsuk full combo may be difficult enough to prevail despite her chaotic leg form.

Osokina is a bit of a wild card, excelling on all four events at times over the past few seasons, but she has yet to consistently break out on any of them. Her beam routine in particular, which features a front handspring to front tuck acro series and a daring Onodi to split ring to back handspring, has the potential to score big, but seemingly constant wobbles and falls have kept her scores below 13 in all but one routine this season.

The visa situation has likely taken Russia out of contention for one of the three Olympic quota spots being handed out in Rotterdam, but with 2027 Worlds being held in China – a de facto ally of Russia – not all hope is lost for the likes of Melnikova, Listunova, and Kalmykova.