Women ready to rule the world at Liverpool 2022

Women’s gymnastics has never felt more exciting and unpredictable as in the run-up to the 2022 World Championships.

The old certainties are gone and herald a brave new world, with Brazil and Italy to the fore, soon to descend on Liverpool.

These are the gymnasts who have dazzled us already in 2022 and set the standard for the rest to follow next month, tickets still available here.

Rebeca Andrade

Whichever way you slice it, Brazil beating out the USA in the team competition the Pan-American Championships was a seismic result.

They were led in body and spirit by Andrade, who made gym history for her nation by locking out Olympic and world vault titles in 2021.

The Sao Paulo star has picked up where she left off and holds the clear world leading score for all-around with 58.100 at her National Championships.

Andrade was edged to uneven bars gold by Shilese Jones at World Challenge Cup in Paris, a pivotal Liverpool prelude, but expect her to lead the way again come Championship time.

Jade Carey

The American’s showdown with Andrade on the vault will be one of many must-not-miss events at the Worlds.

Carey is blazing a trail by starting studies at Oklahoma State University and continuing her career in elite competition, a move that will change the game for those that will follow.

The 22-year-old’s goal in Liverpool will be to back up her Olympic floor win and continue to “prove (she) can be a successful all-around gymnast.”

Beam silver in Paris proved that the building blocks are in place, with the challenge to produce that form on the biggest stage.

Alice D’Amato

The Italian team put the world on notice by beating Britain to gold at August’s European Championships in Munich.

The D’Amato twins were lynchpins of that win with Alice taking uneven bars silver and Asia gold in the all-around.

Asia will miss Liverpool, out with injury until 2023, with her sister needing no more motivation to grab an apparatus medal and make waves in the team event.

Zhang Jin

Zhang, 21, burst onto the scene as part of the Chinese team that won bronze at the 2018 World Championships in Doha.

She finished seventh in the all-around in Tokyo and has stepped on significantly in 2022, taking gold at the Asian Championships with the year’s tenth-best score of 55.400.

A bronze medallist in her own right on the balance beam, Zhang will key to China’s hopes of muscling in on the global medals once more.

Jessica Gadirova

A primal force on the floor and vault in particular, Gadirova is primed for a quantum leap in front of a home crowd and against the best in the world.

The 17-year-old held the world’s best floor score with the 14.600 to win European gold, before Jordan Chiles knocked her off the top in Paris.

Likely to figure at the sharp end of the vault final too, there are no limits to what Gadirova might achieve on home soil.