2026 Worlds Women's Event Finals: Okamura's Beam and Tie-Breaks

As of October 28, 2026. Scores are taken from the official FIG/Longines data published on Gym Art's 2026 Worlds women's apparatus final results. This is an independent analysis written from the perspective of a former Japanese gymnast who builds D-score tools; it is not a recap of any single news report.

The women's apparatus finals at the 2026 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, took place on October 24 and 25. Japan's only finalist, Mana Okamura, qualified fourth on balance beam with 14.266 but finished eighth in the final with 12.666 after a fall. The beam title itself was decided by a tie-break: Kaylia Nemour of Algeria and Zhang Qingying of China both scored 14.566, and Nemour won gold on a higher execution score.

This article goes through all four women's finals (vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor) using the published D-scores (difficulty) and E-scores (execution). It shows exactly where Okamura lost her points, how the FIG tie-break rules shaped two podiums, and how far Japan's other gymnasts were from the qualification cut-off on the events where they missed the final. On beam and floor, the E-score also rewards artistry: how well the movement, expression and (on floor) the music fit together. If you are building a floor routine and need music that is edited to the rules, a former gymnast handles custom floor music for women's gymnastics.

2026 Worlds Women's Apparatus Finals: Results on All Four Events

Schedule and Final Format

The women's apparatus finals were split over two days. Vault and uneven bars were held on Saturday, October 24, and balance beam and floor closed the championships on Sunday, October 25 (championship schedule).

• The top eight gymnasts from qualification advance to each final
• Each country may place no more than two gymnasts in an apparatus final (FIG Technical Regulations 2026)
• Qualification scores do not carry over; the final is decided by a single routine
• Vault is the exception: each gymnast performs two vaults and the average counts

Medalists on Every Event

Nemour won two titles (uneven bars and beam), while Skye Blakely of the United States took two bronze medals on the opening day, on vault and bars (International Gymnast's day-one report).

Both beam and floor produced tied scores, and in both cases the medal order was settled by the tie-break rules in the Technical Regulations. We look at that in detail below.

Japan's Only Finalist: Mana Okamura on Beam

Japan's women won team bronze in Rotterdam, but only one Japanese gymnast reached an individual apparatus final: Okamura on beam. Sports Hochi noted that she was the only Japanese woman in the apparatus finals (Sports Hochi via Yahoo! Japan, in Japanese). Okamura had earned her place on the world team by winning her first national all-around title at the All-Japan Senior Championships in September 2026 (Kumamoto Nichinichi / Kyodo, in Japanese). For the full story of qualification, see our 2026 Worlds women's qualification analysis.

Beam Final: Breaking Down Okamura's D-Score and E-Score

From 14.266 in Qualification to 12.666 in the Final

Okamura was the fourth gymnast up in the beam final. According to Sports Hochi, she wobbled several times from the opening of the routine, fought to recover, then fell in the middle of the exercise, and was in tears afterwards. Here is how her two routines compare (full beam qualification scores).

Of the 1.600 points she lost, 1.500 came from execution and only 0.100 from difficulty. In other words, the drop was almost entirely about how the routine was performed, not what was in it.

Where the 1.500 Execution Points Went: a Fall Costs 1.00

Under the women's Code of Points, a fall on or off the apparatus is a 1.00 execution deduction each time (FIG WAG Code of Points 2025–2028, table of deductions). Because the E-score starts at 10.00 and judges subtract from it, we can work out the rest:

• Total deductions in qualification: 10 − 8.266 = 1.734
• Total deductions in the final: 10 − 6.766 = 3.234
• Final deductions excluding the fall: 2.234, which is 0.500 more than in qualification

So the fall was not the whole story. Another half a point went to smaller errors. On beam, every loss of balance is deducted (0.10 or 0.30 each time in the Code's table), so the early wobbles reported by Sports Hochi add up in the numbers.

D-Score 6.0 to 5.9: How the Code Treats a Fall

On beam, acro and dance elements only receive difficulty value if the gymnast returns to the beam on her feet or torso (Code of Points, beam notes 12.7). An element that is not credited can be repeated later in the routine to earn its value. The D-jury's table also states that a connection performed with a fall receives no connection value on beam. Either of these could explain the 0.100 drop in Okamura's D-score, but the official data does not list element-by-element values, so we cannot say which skill was affected.

For a guide to beam skills and how judges evaluate them, read our article on balance beam skills and scoring.

With Her Qualification Routine, Bronze Was 0.034 Away

Putting her qualification score next to the final results shows how close Okamura really was. Her 14.266 would have finished 0.034 behind bronze medalist Flavia Saraiva (14.300) and ahead of fourth-placed Elena Colas (14.100). Her qualification E-score of 8.266 matched the highest E-score of the final, shared by Nemour and Manila Esposito.

• Her qualification score in the final: equivalent to 4th place (calculated)
• Her final score with only the 1.00 fall added back: 13.666, equivalent to 6th place (calculated, ignoring the D-score change)

Okamura's execution in qualification was good enough to fight for a medal. Eighth place came from one fall and the errors around it, not from a gap in level.

Beam Gold Decided by E-Score: Nemour and Zhang Tie on 14.566

How the Two Tied Scores Were Built

Zhang had the highest difficulty in the final at 6.5, and Nemour had 6.3, yet they finished on exactly the same total. The top five and Okamura were scored as follows (beam final scores).

Zhang had topped qualification with a 6.8 D-score and 15.100, but competed with 0.3 less difficulty in the final. Nemour, who qualified seventh with 14.133, raised her E-score by 0.333 from qualification to final.

The Tie-Break Rule: Technical Regulations 2026, Art. 7.2.3

Article 7.2.3 of the FIG Technical Regulations 2026 sets out how ties are broken in apparatus finals on every event except vault:

1. The gymnast with the higher E-score prevails
2. If still tied, the gymnast with the higher D-score prevails
3. If still tied, the gymnasts share the ranking

Nemour's 8.266 E-score was 0.200 higher than Zhang's 8.066, so Nemour took gold and Zhang silver. Algeria's TSA reported that Nemour edged Zhang, who had the same score but lower execution, and Zhang Qingying's Wikipedia entry lists the result as silver. The same rule applies in men's finals: it also decided Shinnosuke Oka's high bar silver (men's apparatus finals analysis).

The Highest D-Score Does Not Always Win

Four gymnasts in the beam final had a D-score above 6.0, but execution decided who stood on the podium.

• Zhang, with the highest D-score (6.5), lost the tie on execution and took silver
• Qiu Qiyuan (CHN), with a 6.1 D-score, scored 7.533 for execution and placed seventh
• Esposito, with only a 5.8 D-score, climbed to fifth thanks to an 8.266 E-score

A beam routine must finish within 90 seconds (Code of Points). Each loss of balance costs 0.10 or 0.30 and a fall costs 1.00, so the harder the routine, the more there is to lose in execution.

Floor, Vault and Uneven Bars: The Deductions That Decided the Medals

Floor: Pease Wins, and Bronze Is Split by E-Score

Claire Pease of the United States won floor with 13.866 (D 6.1, E 7.866, neutral deduction −0.1). She had qualified only fifth, with a −0.3 neutral deduction, and her 6.1 was the highest D-score in the final. Top qualifier Reese Esponda took silver with 13.566 (floor final scores).

Maiana Prat of France and Abigail Martin of Great Britain tied for third on 13.466. Prat's E-score of 7.866 was 0.200 higher than Martin's, so Prat took bronze. International Gymnast also reported that Prat won the tie-break on execution and that Martin finished fourth.

Floor is the only women's event performed to music. Under FIG rules, music with words is not allowed (the human voice may be used as an instrument, for example humming), and the routine may not exceed 90 seconds. Because the fit between movement, expression and music is judged as artistry within the E-score, how the music is structured and choreographed has a direct effect on the score. For rule-compliant editing or an original composition, see our competition floor music service.

Vault: Andrade's Third World Title

Rebeca Andrade of Brazil won vault with an average of 14.466. International Gymnast notes that this is her third world vault title, after 2021 and 2023. South Africa's eNCA reported that Rotterdam was her return to competition after time away from the sport.

• Pease (silver, 14.233) took a −0.3 out-of-bounds neutral deduction on her second vault. Without it, her average would have been 14.383 (calculated), still 0.083 short of gold
• Yeo Seojeong (KOR) scored 14.600 on her first vault, the best single vault of the final, but 12.833 on her second and finished seventh
• Yeo and Martin tied on 13.716. On vault, ties are broken by the higher of the two vault scores, so Yeo (14.600) ranks ahead of Martin (13.600)

Uneven Bars: Nemour Defends Her Title With a 7.0 D-Score

Nemour defended her uneven bars title with 15.333. She lowered her D-score from 7.1 in qualification to 7.0 in the final, which was still the highest difficulty in the field (International Gymnast). Her 0.500 margin over Germany's Helen Kevric was the largest gap between gold and silver across the four women's finals.

Where Japan Missed the Final: The Gap to the Qualification Cut-Off

Floor: Aiko Sugihara Missed the Final by 0.166

Aiko Sugihara scored 13.100 in floor qualification (D 5.7, E 7.800, neutral deduction −0.4) and placed 17th. The eighth and last qualifier scored 13.266, so she missed out by 0.166 (full floor qualification scores).

• Without the −0.4 neutral deduction she would have scored 13.500, equivalent to second in qualification (calculated)
• Her 7.800 E-score was higher than the 7.633 that eventual champion Pease earned in qualification

Difficulty was not the reason she missed the final; the neutral deduction was. Sugihara went on to finish fifth in the all-around final (women's all-around analysis).

Uneven Bars: Misa Nishiyama in 14th

On uneven bars, Misa Nishiyama was Japan's best qualifier, 14th with 13.933 (D 6.2, E 7.733). The eighth qualifier, Blakely, scored 14.333 (D 6.2, E 8.133) with the same difficulty, so the whole 0.400 gap was execution (full uneven bars qualification scores). Okamura was 17th on bars with 13.800.

Japan's Other Beam Qualifier and Vault

In beam qualification, Rina Kishi followed Okamura in 16th with 13.633. Vault qualification ranks only gymnasts who perform two vaults, and no Japanese gymnast appears in that ranking. For Japan's women to contend for individual medals, floor, where Japan's execution already matches the world's best, is the next event to target alongside beam.

Looking Ahead: Japan's Women on the Road to Los Angeles 2028

Beam Is Japan's Scoring Strength

Japan's women won their first world team bronze in 60 years in Rotterdam (women's team final analysis). On beam, Okamura's fourth place in qualification puts her within reach of individual medals. Her qualification E-score matched the best E-score in the final, so the challenge is not difficulty but delivering a clean routine when it counts.

On Floor, Fewer Neutral Deductions Means a Place in the Final

Sugihara's floor execution compared well with the finalists, and without the −0.4 neutral deduction she would have been near the top of qualification. Neutral deductions, such as stepping out of bounds, are taken from the final score regardless of the quality of the routine. Planning the use of the floor area together with the structure of the music helps protect those points.

The Next Big Stage

The next major target is the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Official information about the championships is available on the Japan Gymnastics Association event page (in Japanese). Whether Japan's gymnasts can keep their beam and floor E-scores at the level seen in Rotterdam will be the thread to follow on the way to Olympic selection.

Summary

• At the 2026 Worlds women's apparatus finals, Japan's only finalist was Mana Okamura on beam, who went from fourth in qualification to eighth in the final with 12.666
• Of the 1.600 points Okamura lost, 1.500 were execution: 1.00 for the fall and 0.500 for other errors. Her qualification routine would have been 0.034 short of bronze
• Beam gold was a 14.566 tie between Nemour and Zhang, broken on E-score under Technical Regulations Art. 7.2.3. The same rule gave Prat floor bronze over Martin
• Sugihara missed the floor final by 0.166 because of a −0.4 neutral deduction, and Nishiyama's entire gap to the bars final was execution
• Japan's women can match the world on beam and floor execution; the work ahead is hitting in finals and cutting neutral deductions

On floor, the closer the music and choreography fit together, the more it shows in the artistry score. If you would like help choosing, editing or composing music for your next competition, visit our competition floor music page.

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• A 90-Second Floor Routine Template: Structure and Music Choices