Rotterdam Silver Crowns a Brutal Return
German gymnast Helen Kevric secured the silver medal on the uneven bars at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam, welt.de reported, completing a remarkable return to the international stage just over a year after suffering a severe knee injury at the European Championships. At the Olympic Games 2024, Helen Kevric was Germany’s youngest participant at 16 years old. Now she wins silver at her World Championship debut – and that despite having to fight for more than a year for her return. As her dismount from the uneven bars had succeeded perfectly into a stand and the audience cheered in the Rotterdam gymnastics arena, Helen Kevric showed hardly any emotion. No scream, no gesture, no smile. For the 18-year-old, who had entered the uneven bars final of the World Championships as the sixth of eight athletes, the wait for the score began.
Competing as the sixth of eight finalists in the uneven bars rotation, the 18-year-old from MTV Stuttgart posted a score of 14,833 points. The mark placed her second behind Algeria’s Kaylia Nemour, who captured the gold medal with a routine scored at 15,333 points. Skye Blakely of the United States claimed the bronze medal with 14,600 points. Nemour, 19, could not be beaten, unlike in the all-around final on Saturday where she had missed a medal by 0,034 points, and secured her third World Championship medal on the uneven bars following silver in 2023 and gold in 2025. She is a crass and strong athlete,
Kevric had previously said about her competitor.
Qualifying Pedigree and German Droughts Broken
Kevric entered the final as the second-best qualifier after winning the European title on her signature apparatus in August. Her silver medal performance in Rotterdam marks the first World Championship medal for the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) since Pauline Schäfer-Betz won silver on the balance beam in 2021.
The Long Road Through Surgery and Leipzig
The journey to the podium required an extended rehabilitation period following a serious left knee injury sustained in May 2025 at the home European Championships in Leipzig. After undergoing surgery, Kevric spent more than a year away from major international competition before returning to action at the German Championships in Hannover in July, followed by her gold-medal performance at the European Championships in Zagreb.
Surreal Emotions on the Podium
Reflecting on her performance in the Rotterdam arena, Kevric said that it felt unreal and that she could not really believe it. It is simply extremely crass,
she said immediately after the competition, according to welt.de. I can’t really believe it yet.
Somehow it all went super fast.
This shows me that I took the right path after my injury, that I pushed hard—and now I am standing here and am vice world champion.
I am really happy.
Carrying the Delegation Alone
Sources reported that Kevric is currently Germany’s top-ranked female gymnast, noting that no other German athletes reached the apparatus finals in Rotterdam. Both the men’s and women’s teams missed the team finals, and the women’s all-around final took place without German representation, leaving Kevric’s silver as the sole podium finish for the German delegation at the championships. Timo Eder landed in 14th place for the men, and the further World Titles on Saturday went to Richard Frederick from the USA on floor, Hamlet Manukyan from Armenia on pommel horse, Lan Xingyu from China on rings, and for the women to multi-time Olympic champion Rebeca Andrade from Brazil, who returned after a two-year break.
