Nazar Chepurnyi

The final world cup of the 2026 series takes place this weekend in Osijek, Croatia, where many specialists will make last-ditch efforts to secure spots for this year’s world championships.

The top eight eligible athletes on each apparatus will qualify to Rotterdam, but while the rankings will be finalized after this weekend, we won’t actually know who the eligible athletes are until after the continental championships end in August. Once the continental meets determine the team and individual all-around qualifiers, the world cup rankings will be redistributed to remove athletes who are no longer eligible.

As it currently stands in the women’s field, Teja Belak of Slovenia leads vault, Anna Kalmykova of Russia (competing neutrally) leads floor, and Kaylia Nemour of Algeria has locked down the titles on bars and beam, while in the men’s field, the current leaders Eldrew Yulo of the Philippines on floor, Zeinolla Idrissov of Kazakhstan on pommel horse, Nikita Simonov of Azerbaijan on rings, Nazar Chepurnyi of Ukraine on vault, and Angel Barajas of Colombia on parallel bars and high bar. If you’re curious, the complete rankings for the women are here, and for the men are here.

Many of these athletes are likely to become ineligible thanks to the continental meets, though specialists like Belak and Simonov who don’t compete in the all-around and won’t have qualifying teams to fall back on are using this as their one and only opportunity to make it (and I’d throw Chepurnyi into that mix as well given that Ukraine’s team is no longer in a place to be considered a lock, though he has competed in the all-around a few times over the past few years and I could see him going for it again at Euros this summer).

So essentially, while this weekend’s meets will determine the top eight athletes on each apparatus, we’ll still have a long wait before the qualifiers are finalized, which must be so much fun for the specialists further down the list hoping to jump as other athletes qualify and become ineligible.

Qualifications in Osijek will take place tomorrow and Friday, with finals happening over the weekend. You’ll be able to follow live results on Elevien, finals will stream live on World Gymnastics TV, and full details about the event are available on the official website.

A full list of competitors expected in Osijek is below.

Article by Lauren Hopkins