--- title: "Chepurnyi is the sole Ukrainian in the 2026 World Gymnastics Championships individual final: Verniaiev's failure" description: "Nazar Chepurnyi became the only Ukrainian gymnast to reach the individual final at the 2026 World Championships in the vault. Olympic champion Verniaiev missed out on all finals." date: 2026-10-18T17:41:56.266Z lang: en url: https://xab.info/en/posts/chepurnyi-sole-ukrainian-2026-worlds-final tags: [gymnastics, world-championship, ukraine, nazar-chepurnyi, vault] author: "Inna Kinsheva" publisher: "XAB.info" --- # Chepurnyi is the sole Ukrainian in the 2026 World Gymnastics Championships individual final: Verniaiev's failure ![Nazar Chepurnyi stands on the podium with a medal following a successful gymnastics competition](https://xab.info/media/2026/10/18/chepurnyi-edinennyi-ukrainets-v-final-chm-2026-gimnastika/chepurnyi-edinennyi-ukrainets-v-final-chm-2026-gimnastika-1.webp) ## Key Points - Nazar Chepurnyi is the only Ukrainian gymnast to reach the 2026 World Championships individual final (vault, 14.450, 3rd in qualification). - On parallel bars, Chepurnyi finished 13th (14.400), missing the top 8 by just 0.200 points; former Ukrainian Illia Kovtun (Croatia) took second. - Olympic champion Oleh Verniaiev failed to reach a single final at his first World Championships in three years. - Ukraine entered five gymnasts into qualifications, but reached finals in only one individual apparatus. At the 2026 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands, the Ukrainian team fielded five gymnasts in the qualifications: Vladyslav Hryko, Nikita Melnikov, Bohdan Suprun, Oleh Verniaiev, and Nazar Chepurnyi. Following the preliminaries, only one of them managed to advance to an individual final — Nazar Chepurnyi, specifically in his signature event, the vault. Thus, the Ukrainian remains the sole representative of the country competing for medals in the tournament's individual finals. ### Solo in the vault In the vault, Chepurnyi, who is the reigning 2026 European champion in the apparatus, posted an average score of 14.450 points across two attempts. This result allowed him to finish third in qualification and comfortably advance to the decisive stage. He enters the final as one of the favorites: alongside his European title, he won the most recent leg of the World Challenge Cup this season. In the preliminaries, only Great Britain's Jake Jarman and Armenia's Artur Davtyan finished ahead of the Ukrainian. ### Parallel bars and floor: falling short of the final Apart from the vault, Chepurnyi competed in two other events but failed to reach their finals. On the parallel bars, he scored 14.400 points to finish 13th, missing the top eight cut by just 0.200 points. Notably, the second-best score in the parallel bars qualification was recorded by former Ukrainian representative Illia Kovtun, who recently switched his sporting citizenship to Croatia. In the floor exercise, the Ukrainian scored 13.000 points, which was also insufficient to make the final. ### Verniaiev's failure and the rest of the team The remaining members of the Ukrainian team failed to advance to the decisive events in either individual disciplines or the team all-around. Special attention is drawn to the performance of Olympic champion Oleh Verniaiev, who started in four apparatuses but failed to secure a single final berth at his first World Championships in three years. For the Ukrainian national team, this means that all medal hopes in the individual events now rest on a single gymnast. ### Context: From the World Cup to Rotterdam Chepurnyi's advance to the vault final logically continues his strong seasonal form: his status as the 2026 European champion and World Cup stage victory are now backed up by a third-place finish in the world qualifiers. For Ukraine, which entered five athletes into the qualification round, the overall outcome remains mixed — a solitary success in the team leader's signature apparatus against a backdrop where no other gymnast came close to the final zone in any event. Now, the tournament's key question will be whether Chepurnyi can convert his qualification "silver" position into a World Championship medal in the decisive Rotterdam showdown. ## Fact-Check & Sources - [Украинец Чепурный пробился в финал чемпионата мира по спортивной гимнастике](https://sport.rbc.ua/ukr/othersport/ukrayinets-chepurniy-probivsya-finalu-chempionatu-1792345027.html) - Primary source: 5 gymnasts in qualification, Chepurnyi is the only finalist (vault, 14.450, 3rd place), parallel bars 14.400/13th, floor 13.000, Verniaiev without finals. - [Чепурный вышел в финал своего коронного вида на ЧМ по спортивной гимнастике – провал Верняева](https://football24.ua/ru/sport/news/chepurnyj-vyshel-v-final-svoego-koronnogo-vida-na-chm-po-sportivnoj-gimnastike-proval-vernjaeva-971273) - Confirms location (Rotterdam), the squad of five, 3rd place in qualification (14.450), those ahead of him (Jake Jarman, Artur Davtyan), Kovtun's 2nd place on parallel bars, Chepurnyi's status as 2026 European champion and World Cup stage winner. ## FAQ ### How many Ukrainian gymnasts reached the individual finals of the 2026 World Championships? Only one — Nazar Chepurnyi, in the vault. The other four entered gymnasts failed to make any finals. ### What score did Chepurnyi post in the vault qualification? An average score of 14.450 points, earning him third place in the preliminaries and a spot in the final. ### Why did Chepurnyi miss the parallel bars final? He scored 14.400 points to finish 13th, falling 0.200 points short of the top eight. ### How did Olympic champion Oleh Verniaiev perform? He competed in four apparatuses at his first World Championships in three years but failed to secure a single final berth.