This year’s edition of the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, held in Jakarta, Indonesia, has come to an end. For the first time since 2017, Brazil said goodbye to the competition without reaching the podium. The last hope for a medal was Flávia Saraiva, who came fourth in the beam final, held this Saturday (25).
The performance of the 26-year-old from Rio de Janeiro was the best of the Brazilian team in the event and its most positive performance at World Cups on beam, surpassing sixth place in Stuttgart, Germany, in 2019.. At the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016, the gymnast came fifth.
Flávia qualified for the balance beam final with the second best performance of the qualifiers, with 13,833 points (5.5 for the difficulty of the movement and 8,333 for execution). To fight for the podium, the Brazilian opted for a more complex series, which was worth 5.7. With the 8,200 points she received for performing the stunt, without errors, the Rio native totaled 13,900.
The medalists, however, obtained scores above 14, with even more difficult and spiked movements. Gold went to China’s Zhang Qingying (15,166), with Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour (14,300) taking silver and Japan’s Aiko Sugihara taking bronze.
“I really wanted to take away this burden that, in finals, Flávia doesn’t get it right. Today [sábado]I was proud of my work, of everything I did throughout the year. This final was a little atypical. Few made mistakes. This is great for gymnastics, it shows how competitive it is. I was very happy to open the final and settle the series straight away. It’s always a challenge to be first, but I managed to do exactly what I had been training for”, said Flávia, to the Brazilian Gymnastics Confederation (CBG).
In addition to Flávia, only Caio Souza from Rio de Janeiro and Diogo Soares from São Paulo competed in the finals in Jakarta. In the general individual (a test in which athletes compete on all devices), the first came in ninth and the second in 17th. Caio was also in the rings decision, finishing sixth.
It is worth remembering that Rebeca Andrade, responsible for four of Brazil’s six medals at the 2023 World Cup in Antwerp, was not at this year’s edition. The São Paulo native decided not to compete in 2025. The performance in the Belgian edition of the event remains the most positive in Brazilian gymnastics to date: one gold, three silvers and two bronzes.
Taekwondo World Cup
The second day of the World Taekwondo Championship, in Wuxi, China, had two Brazilians on the mat, both debutants in the competition. Guilherme Morais from São Paulo lost in the round of 16 to South Korean Jun Jang, after defeating Afghan Mohsen Rezaee and Italian Dennis Baretta in the under-63 kilograms (kg) category. Camilly Camargo from Santa Catarina fell in the second round to Kazakh Nodira Akhomedova, after beating Indian Twisha Kakadiya in the 49 kg category.
Brazil will be represented by Matheus Gilliard from Rio de Janeiro (up to 54 kg), Ícaro Miguel from Minas Gerais (up to 87 kg) and Thaisa de Souza from São Paulo (73 kg) in the fights this Sunday (26). The country has already reached the top of the podium in Wuxi with Maria Clara Pacheco from São Paulo, champion of the up to 57 kg category last Friday (24), repeating the feat of Natália Falavigna from Paraná 20 years earlier.
