Rising US star Fred Richard wins first world gymnastics title as Skye Blakely adds two more medals

American Frederick Richard won the floor exercise title at the world gymnastics championships in Rotterdam on Saturday, finishing ahead of Britain’s Jake Jarman and Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat.

With US gymnastics great Simone Biles looking on as a spectator in the Netherlands, the 22-year-old Richard secured his first world title, edging out Jarman by just 0.033 points after scoring 14.633. Jarman, the defending world champion, was among a field that included the last two Olympic gold medallists.

“I hope this is a lesson to everybody that you don’t have to wait to get the win to say you will be a champion,” Richard said afterward. “You don’t have to know when it’s going to happen or how it’s going to happen, but believing it every second of every day does pay off. I’m proof of that now.”

Richard became the first American man to win a world title on floor exercise since Paul Hamm shared gold in 2003. He is also the first American man since Danell Leyva to win medals across team, all-around and individual apparatus events at the Olympics and world championships.

Richard, who won bronze in the all-around event at the 2023 world championships in Antwerp, also helped the United States win team bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Newly minted all-around champion Skye Blakely added to her medal haul in Rotterdam, earning bronze on vault and uneven bars during the event finals on Saturday.

The 21-year-old from Dallas, who soared to gold in the all-around on Friday after recovering from injuries that wrecked her Olympic hopes in 2021 and again in 2024, hardly looked tired in what has quickly become the meet of her life.

Blakely averaged a score of 14.166 on her pair of vaults to share the podium with gold medalist Rebeca Andrade of Brazil and American teammate Claire Pease.

Andrade, the Olympic champion on vault and the Olympic silver medalist in the all-around in Paris behind Biles, edged Pease for gold. The 27-year-old Andrade, who is competing as an event specialist at the moment while eyeing a run at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, averaged 14.666, a bit ahead of Pease at 14.233.

Kaylia Nemour of Algeria recovered from a misstep on vault in the all-around finals on Friday that cost her a medal to easily defend her gold on uneven bars. Nemour’s intricate and technically demanding routine – perhaps the hardest currently being done by any gymnast, male or female, on any event – earned her a 15.333, the highest score of the day.

Helen Kervic of Germany captured the silver at 14.833, with Blakely in third at 14.600.

Blakely, who joined Olympic champions Biles and Nastia Liukin as well as Rebecca Bross as the only American women to win at least four medals at a single worlds, will have a chance to add to her medal total on Sunday when she competes in the beam final.