Rebeca Andrade enters Saturday’s vault final at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam leading the standings with a 14.533 average, as official scoring data shows. The 27-year-old Brazilian athlete secured the top position during Monday’s qualification round at the Rotterdam Ahoy, edging out South Korea’s Seojeong Yeo by just 0.050 points as the 54th edition of the tournament enters its medal rounds.
Brazil Secures Five Individual Final Spots
Alongside the team qualification, Brazil advanced five entries into individual finals. Flávia Saraiva and Lorrane Oliveira secured spots in the all-around final, while Saraiva also advanced to the balance beam final after posting the third-highest score on that apparatus.
Andrade’s qualification-leading vault performance relied on two distinct attempts recorded in the official protocols. She earned 14.400 points for her first vault—comprising a 5.000 difficulty score and a 9.400 execution mark—followed by 14.266 points for her second attempt, which carried a 4.800 difficulty and a 9.466 execution score. According to reporting from the Brazilian sports portal ge.globo cited by karlobag.eu, Andrade collected an additional 0.200-point bonus because her two vaults belonged to different structural groups.
Seojeong Yeo finished second in the vault qualification with a 14.483 average, while the United States gymnast Claire Pease took third with 14.283 points. Yeo posted the highest single-vault score of the qualification round with 14.566 on her first attempt, but overall standings required consistency across both rotations.
Andrade Earns High Execution Scores in Rotterdam
Inside the Rotterdam arena, crowd appreciation for Andrade outpaced nearly every competitor in the field. FAZ.net reported that the gymnast’s ability to make peak difficulty elements appear effortless draws distinct praise from judges and spectators alike, noting that her execution scores reached 9.4 and 9.466 out of ten during the qualification phase.
Following her routine, Andrade told reporters, “I am very happy that I could help the team with my vaults,” as FAZ.net reported. Despite a fall on the balance beam, her overall contribution helped propel the Brazilian squad to a fifth-place finish in the team standings.
Andrade Becomes Brazil's Most Decorated Athlete
Born in a suburb of Guarulhos in the state of São Paulo, Andrade began gymnastics at age four in a social project gym. She moved to a training center in Curitiba at age nine before joining Rio de Janeiro’s Clube de Regatas do Flamengo, where she remains based. Between 2015 and 2019, she sustained three tears to the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee. Reflecting on those injuries during her comeback, she remarked, “They were important to grow up,” according to FAZ.net.
With six Olympic medals and nine World Championship medals, Andrade stands as Brazil’s most decorated athlete. Her career highlight to date remains her floor exercise victory at the Paris Olympic Games ahead of silver medalist Simone Biles, where the silver and bronze medalists notably knelt in tribute as she took the top step of the podium. However, FAZ.net reported that Andrade has made the definitive decision to step away from floor routines and all-around competition to preserve her physical health, stating, “I love performing on the floor, but I also know the limits of my body.”
Andrade Trains Upgraded Vault for Medal Event
Working alongside coach Francisco Porath and therapist Aline Wolff, Andrade is managing her return following a nearly two-year competitive break, with an eye toward the 2028 Olympic Games. In Rotterdam, she omitted the uneven bars from her repertoire as she carefully builds back her routine load.
For Saturday’s medal event, Andrade acknowledged she is training an upgraded second vault—the higher-difficulty “Cheng”—on a daily basis, though top rivals such as Seojeong Yeo and Claire Pease entered the competition with higher baseline difficulty tariffs. The vault final begins at the Rotterdam Ahoy.
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