Naomi Visser finishes fifth in the uneven bars final at the Rotterdam gymnastics worlds

Visser finishes fifth on uneven bars

Naomi Visser, 25, placed fifth in the uneven bars final at the world gymnastics championships in Rotterdam on Saturday, 24 October, just outside the medals. She was the third gymnast of the eight-athlete final to compete, after Kaylia Nemour of Algeria and Skye Blakely of the United States had already posted high scores. Visser kept her nerves in check and delivered a clean routine, though it carried less difficulty than Nemour's and was less tidy than Blakely's. Two Italian competitors fell from the bars, which kept Visser in third place for a time, until Helen Kevric of Germany scored higher and Elena Colas of France later passed her as well.

Fifth place matched her best finish at a world championships, which she had reached in the 2021 all-around final in Kitakyushu. That event was devalued by its timing directly after the Tokyo Olympics. It was also her fourth world championship uneven bars final, after appearances in 2025, 2023 and 2022.

Scores on the podium

Nemour opened the final with 15.333 points, the highest mark of the final, and no competitor came close to her after that. Kevric took silver with 14.833 and Blakely bronze with 14.600. Sources differ on Visser's own score: AD and Telegraaf give 14.366, while de Volkskrant gives 14.266, a tenth below her qualifying score.

Friday's all-around final

Visser had finished 11th in the all-around final on Friday, 23 October, with 52.866 points. Skye Blakely won that final with 55.733 points, ahead of Ljoedmila Rosjtsjina on 55.199 and He Qinqin on 55.032 for bronze. Nemour finished fourth with 54.998 after a big error on the vault, her first apparatus. Visser said afterwards that she was delighted with her performance.

I am super happy that I had a flawless routine.

Visser's reaction on the bars

After her uneven bars routine, Visser said she had done about the maximum she could manage for now. She acknowledged that she did not have the highest difficulty score and had to rely on neatness to score well. She said finals always make her tense, and that she had been very nervous just before the routine.

I think this was about the maximum for me for now.

I always find finals very tense, especially the uneven bars, because they are very technical.

She described her best ever uneven bars result at a worlds, on home soil, as very pleasing. Visser was the only Dutch gymnast to reach an apparatus final at these championships.