Pease wins floor gold as U.S. takes most medals at gymnastics worlds

Claire Pease won the women’s floor exercise final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam on Oct. 25, scoring 13.866 points to beat U.S. teammate Reese Esponda by 0.300. Esponda took silver with 13.566, giving the United States the top two places on the championships’ closing day.

France’s Maiana Prat finished third with 13.466. The 0.100-point gap between Esponda and Prat made silver and bronze especially close; Pease finished 0.400 points ahead of the bronze medalist.

How the U.S. finished ahead of China i

The floor result added one gold and one silver to the U.S. medal total. The final standings show why “most golds” and “most medals” describe different outcomes: the United States and China each won three golds, but the U.S. finished with eight medals overall, one more than China.

Both teams won two bronze medals. The difference was silver: the U.S. earned three, compared with China’s two. Adding each country’s gold, silver and bronze medals gives the totals shown above.

A final-day finish in Rotterdam i

The championships ran Oct. 17–25 at Rotterdam Ahoy, with the floor final held on the last day. Pease and Esponda were both making their World Championships debuts, NBC Sports reported.

NBC also reported that three different Americans won individual world titles at these championships, the first time that had happened at one edition since 2011. That distinction counts individual title winners, not total medals; the U.S. medal-table lead came from its full set of gold, silver and bronze finishes.

The 2026 championships concluded with the floor final. The next World Championships are scheduled for 2027 in Chengdu, China, NBC reported.