The 2026 World Championships start this Saturday, October 17, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and will serve as the first qualifier for the 2028 Olympic Games, with a total of six teams earning berths for Los Angeles.
Below, you can find everything you’ll need to follow the competition over the next week, including who’s competing, the complete schedule, and how you can watch.
What’s at Stake?
Unlike the qualification process for teams and athletes to get into worlds this year, qualifying from the mid-quad worlds to the Olympics is pretty straightforward! For both WAG and MAG, securing a spot for Los Angeles is as simple as finishing top three in finals. That’s it!
It’s important to note that this year’s worlds will not act as a qualifier for next year’s worlds. The 24 teams that qualified this year will have to re-qualify to worlds via continental championships again in 2027, meaning we could see a slight shake-up for some of the teams that were on the bubble for making it this year.
Who’s Competing?
Here are links to the lists of teams and individual athletes that have qualified to compete in Rotterdam, along with any changes to the rosters we’ve seen since they were originally announced.
 MAG QUALIFIERS |
 WAG QUALIFIERS |
When’s It Happening?
Here’s the complete schedule. All times are local to Rotterdam, which is six hours ahead of ET.
| SATURDAY OCTOBER 17 | |
| 10:00 am | MAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 1 Teams: Brazil, Canada, France, Taiwan All-Around: Czechia, India, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Norway |
| 12:10 pm | MAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 2 Teams: Cyprus, Russia, South Korea, Ukraine Specialists: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Chile, Czechia, Finland, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Norway, Philippines, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden, Türkiye, Uzbekistan |
| 4:00 pm | MAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 3 Teams: Colombia, Egypt, Hungary, Netherlands All-Around: Ecuador, Iceland, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Tunisia, Türkiye, Uzbekistan |
| 8:10 pm | MAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 4 Teams: Australia, Great Britain, Japan, United States All-Around: Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Croatia, Georgia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mongolia, Thailand |
| SUNDAY OCTOBER 18 | |
| 10:00 am | MAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 5 Teams: Belgium, China, Italy, Spain All-Around: Bulgaria, Iran, Jamaica, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Singapore |
| 12:10 pm | MAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 6 Teams: Germany, Israel, Kazakhstan, Switzerland All-Around: Belarus, Dominican Republic, Finland, Greece, Guatemala, New Zealand, Peru |
| 4:00 pm | WAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 1 Teams: Germany, Romania, United States All-Around: Finland, Honduras, Indonesia, Sinagpore |
| 5:50 pm | WAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 2 Teams: Australia, Belgium, Japan All-Around: Azerbaijan, Poland, South Africa |
| 7:40 pm | WAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 3 Teams: Italy, Mexico All-Around: Croatia, Ecuador, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Luxembourg, New Zealand |
| MONDAY OCTOBER 19 | |
| 9:30 am | WAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 4 Teams: Belarus, Sweden All-Around: Denmark, Guatemala, Hungary, Peru, Slovenia, Zimbabwe |
| 11:05 am | WAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 5 Teams: Algeria, Argentina, Ukraine All-Around: Panama, Taiwan |
| 12:40 pm | WAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 6 Teams: France, Malaysia All-Around: Austria, El Salvador, Liechtenstein, Myanmar, Philippines, Slovakia, 1 TBD |
| 4:00 pm | WAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 7 Teams: Great Britain, Netherlands Specialists: Costa Rica, Croatia, Czechia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Malta, Panama, Portugal, Qatar, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Taiwan, Türkiye |
| 5:35 pm | WAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 8 Teams: Canada, Russia, Spain All-Around: Chile, Egypt, Norway |
| 7:35 pm | WAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 9 Teams: Brazil, Switzerland All-Around: Dominican Republic, Iceland, Morocco, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Türkiye, Uzbekistan |
| 9:10 pm | WAG QUALIFICATIONS | SUBDIVISION 10 Teams: China, South Korea All-Around: Colombia, Costa Rica, Czechia, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica |
| TUESDAY OCTOBER 20 | |
| 7:00 pm | MAG Team Final |
| WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 21 | |
| 7:00 pm | WAG Team Final |
| THURSDAY OCTOBER 22 | |
| 7:30 pm | MAG All-Around Final |
| FRIDAY OCTOBER 23 | |
| 7:30 pm | WAG All-Around Final |
| SATURDAY OCTOBER 24 | |
| 2:00 pm | APPARATUS FINALS | DAY 1 WAG: Vault, Uneven Bars MAG: Floor, Pommel Horse, Rings |
| SUNDAY OCTOBER 25 | |
| 2:00 pm | APPARATUS FINALS | DAY 2 WAG: Balance Beam, Floor MAG: Vault, Parallel Bars, High Bar |
How Can We Follow Along?
The World Gymnastics microsite for Rotterdam has a ton of information, including news, photos, links for scores and streams, all necessary documents like start lists and official results, medal standings, and basically anything else you’d need to stay up-to-date.
Live scores will exist thanks to Longines as well as on the World Gymnastics microsite. Both of these absolutely WILL crash out at various times throughout the meet so my pro-tip is to keep the links for both handy because one will usually be up and running while the other is not.
All qualification sessions will stream for free thanks to Eurovision Sport!
Broadcasting for finals varies regionally. In the USA, Peacock will have streams and NBC will also air televised coverage, while the BBC is your go-to in the UK, and it’s the CBC for Canada. I haven’t found a complete list of broadcast rights for every country, but I’d say if your country is showing the event, it’ll be whatever your main sports network is? If you need more help, leave a comment – I’m happy to look more specifically!
We’ll also be live blogging almost every session if you can’t watch, so keep an eye out for our links each day! I think the only one I’m not able to watch live is MAG subdivision four (JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES WHY GOD WHY) because I have a rehearsal for the musical Oklahoma at exactly the same time lol…but thankfully Eurovision Sport archives pretty quickly so I’ll likely do a not-so-live blog once I get home!
Article by Lauren Hopkins
