Andrade writes Brazilian history with premier World All-Around title

Andrade’s rise from promising junior to World All-Around champion is an unlikely one, coming after three knee ligament tears that necessitated long periods of recovery away from training and competition between 2014 and 2019.

Yet the 23-year-old has persevered — and even improved — en route to earning 56.899 points for gold ahead of Shilese Jones (USA) and Jessica Gadirova (GBR) inside the M&S Bank Arena.

For Andrade and Brazil, a World All-Around title at last!

In Liverpool, she has been at the height of her considerable powers. It was evident in the way she handled herself Thursday, closing out her title campaign with, in her words, “one of my best Floor routines ever.”

Other performances — notably on Balance Beam and Vault – also bordered on the sublime. Andrade opened her competition on the latter, where the Olympic champion executed a sizzling Cheng (roundoff, half turn onto the table, front layout with 1.5 twists off) to jump out to a nearly half point lead ahead of Jade Carey (USA).

A small mistake on Uneven Bars, normally one of her best apparatus, ate up some of that advantage, but Andrade did not flinch on Balance Beam, where she outpaced most of her competition. And on Floor Exercise, there was a nod to her roots with a routine that mixed Bach and MC Joao’s “Baile de Favela”.

“Everything always happens when it needs to, and I am really happy to have done everything I could, and not lose the competition on my bar routine,”

she said. “I have had a lot of moments, not just in my sporting life but in my personal life too; my injuries, the things I needed to do to be here now. There have been a lot of things that have helped me make adjustments when I need to. I don’t feel pressure doing Gymnastics, because that’s my job. I was happy to be here.”

No Brazilian woman had ever medalled in the All-Around at the World Championships, though Daiane dos Santos (Floor Exercise, 2003), Diogo Hipolito (Men’s Floor Exercise, 2005 and 2007) and Arthur Mariano (Horizontal Bar, 2019) have all won World gold. But Andrade’s Olympic All-Around silver from Tokyo (JPN) last year fuelled anticipation that she could go all the way.

Jones, a new U.S. superstar, shines with silver

Andrade was pursued throughout by Shilese Jones (USA), who presented the best routine of the night on the Uneven Bars with 14.366. Jones, a 20-year-old, competed in the shadows of other U.S. teammates for years before a breakout 2022 season, and was brilliant on Balance Beam as well, though her difficulty score was significantly lower than Andrade’s.

She finished with 55.399 overall, 1.5 points behind Andrade.

“I’m speechless, so speechless. I’ve been training for this for so long now. I’m just super proud and super stoked,” Jones said. “Honestly, there weren’t too many nerves. We’ve been doing this for a couple of days now with the team finals and everything, so it kind of boosted my confidence a little bit. I’ve been on this journey for a really long time now, and I’m super-proud of my Gymnastics and my skills.”