ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Simone Biles still has a decision to make about Los Angeles 2028, but her potential teammates are not waiting around for an answer.
The 29-year-old spent the final evening of the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships handing out medals rather than collecting them, as a new generation of American gymnasts finished top of the medal table and offered a glimpse of what the United States could look like at its home Olympics in two years.
The Americans collected three golds, three silvers and two bronzes, finishing ahead of China despite the absence of Biles and the rest of the women’s team that won Olympic gold in Paris two years ago. (One member of that team, Hezly Rivera, was set to compete but withdrew with an injury.) The United States’ final gold came from Claire Pease, 17, who won Sunday’s floor exercise final ahead of teammate Reese Esponda, also 17, completing an American one-two.
“It was an amazing feeling,” Pease told Peacock. “Just being here on the world stage is so amazing. There’s so many people here cheering, and it was just a great feeling.”
CLAIRE PEASE, WORLD FLOOR CHAMPION‼️
🥇➡️ 13.866 pic.twitter.com/Gog3krB9A7
— USA Gymnastics (@USAGym) October 25, 2026
Competing at her first World Championships, Pease scored 13.866 to finish 0.300 points ahead of Esponda, whose silver came despite having to change one of her tumbling passes shortly before the competition.
Pease, who trains under Valeri Liukin at WOGA Gymnastics in Texas, finished the championships with three medals, having also taken vault silver behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade and helped the Americans secure team silver.
“I feel like I really controlled my power and settled into the podium landings today,” she said.
For Esponda, the result represented a recovery from a difficult build-up to the championships. The reigning U.S. floor champion had been told that a tumbling element in her floor routine previously accepted as forward would instead be classified as sideways, leaving her routine short of a composition requirement.
She changed the pass, qualified for the final in first place and recovered from a disappointing performance in Wednesday’s team competition to claim her first world medal.
“I’m just really proud of my fight,” Esponda told Peacock. “I worked really hard, and in the team final, I didn’t have my best routine, so I put my best foot forward. I was trying to work on all my landings, and I think I did a lot better today.
“It was a great moment for both of us,” she said. “We bonded so well this trip, and it was just an amazing feeling.”
Their success followed an emotional all-around victory for Skye Blakely, 21, on Friday, two years after a ruptured Achilles tendon ended her hopes of competing at the Paris Olympics.
Blakely had also missed the delayed Tokyo Games after suffering an injury during the 2021 U.S. Olympic trials. In Rotterdam, she claimed the biggest title of her career before adding bronze medals on vault and uneven bars Saturday.
The achievements of Pease, Esponda and Blakely were particularly notable given the uncertainty over the U.S. women’s team’s future. Rivera was the only member of the gold medal-winning women’s squad from the Paris Olympics who was also part of the team in Rotterdam, with Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey all missing after taking time off following the Games. Carey is back and was a non-traveling alternate on this team. Lee and Chiles announced comebacks as well. But now Pease, Esponda and Blakely have all shown the ability to win individual medals at the highest level, too.
The American men contributed to the medal haul through Frederick Richard, 22, who won Saturday’s floor exercise final ahead of Britain’s Jake Jarman. Richard was part of the U.S. men’s team that secured Olympic bronze in Paris, its first team medal at the Games since 2008.
Yet Rotterdam also provided a reminder of the competition the Americans will face in Los Angeles as China beat the United States to women’s team gold Wednesday, while Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour won two individual world titles in as many days, adding Sunday’s balance beam gold to her uneven bars victory Saturday.
The Americans’ team silver nevertheless secured qualification for Los Angeles 2028, with the results in Rotterdam offering an unusually early glimpse of the gymnasts who could form the backbone of their Olympic challenge.
Biles has not competed since winning three gold medals and a silver at Paris 2024, and has yet to confirm whether she will attempt a fourth Olympics.
For much of the past decade, American gymnastics has been defined by what Biles could win. In Rotterdam, as she presented medals to a new generation, the United States offered a glimpse of what it might achieve without her.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Olympics, Global Sports, Women's Olympics
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