ROTTERDAM, Oct 23 (Reuters) – American Skye Blakely won the women’s all-around title at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships on Friday, completing a comeback from an Achilles injury that derailed her bid for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The 21-year-old scored 55.733 points across vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise at Ahoy Arena to claim her first individual world title. Russia’s Liudmila Roshchina took silver with 55.199, while China’s Ke Qinqin, 16, finished third on 55.032.
Blakely ruptured her right Achilles tendon during floor exercise training two days before the US Olympic trials in 2024, ending her bid to qualify for the Paris Games. She had also missed the Tokyo Olympic trials in 2021 after tearing an elbow ligament.
The victory marks a breakthrough for Blakely, who previously won team gold at the 2022 and 2023 world championships but had not earned an individual world medal.
She became the first American woman to win the world all-around title since Simone Biles in 2023.
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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