Four medals, one golden week for Florida's Skye Blakely
Florida junior Skye Blakely left the World Gymnastics Championships with four medals Sunday, the largest haul in the women's competition and a world all-around title earned two years after an Achilles injury ended her bid for the Paris Olympics.
Blakely closed her meet at Rotterdam Ahoy in the Netherlands with a 13.633 on balance beam, good for sixth place. Her medal collection was already complete: all-around gold, team silver and bronze on vault and uneven bars.
The all-around title came Friday, when Blakely scored 55.733 in her first appearance in that world final. She entered as the second-highest qualifier, then put together four routines to finish ahead of Russia's Liudmila Roshchina and China's Qinqin Ke.
According to Florida, Blakely became the first gymnast to compete in the NCAA and win a world all-around championship in the same calendar year. Former Gator Leanne Wong won world all-around silver in 2025, also in a year when she competed collegiately.
Blakely followed her gold with two podium finishes Saturday. She scored 14.166 on vault and 14.600 on uneven bars to take bronze in each event, giving her three individual medals over two days.
Her first medal of the meet came Wednesday, when the U.S. women's team earned silver with 165.531 points. China won gold at 165.764, a margin of 0.233. The Americans also secured a team berth at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics; individual Olympic team selections are still to come.
The results followed Blakely's recovery from a right Achilles tendon injury suffered during podium training at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. She made her collegiate debut on uneven bars in Florida's Jan. 10, 2025, season opener and returned to Worlds later that year, placing fourth on bars.
USA Gymnastics reported that Blakely hit all 14 of her routines in Rotterdam. Sunday's beam final brought her second appearance in that event's world final, after a fifth-place finish in 2022.
Blakely arrived in the Netherlands with two career world medals, both team golds from 2022 and 2023. She leaves with six, and for the first time, an individual world title.
Skye Blakely is introduced before the uneven bars final at the 2026 World Championships. Photo: USA Gymnastics.
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