ICU World Cheerleading Championships
We are Girls in Sport is so lucky to have Joey Gamper-Cuthbert write this summary of the recent World Championships in cheer!
Now the glitter has settled and our athletes are back home, it’s time to reflect on what has been an outstanding showing for SportCheerUK at this year’s ICU World Cheerleading Championships, held in Florida this April at the iconic ESPN Wide World of Sports.
Which of the GB home nations compete?
Across the GB home nations, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man continue to collaborate under the SportCheerUK umbrella at governance level, while still competing independently on the world stage. All performances sit within the international framework of the International Cheer Union - the internationally recognised governing body for Cheerleading and Performance Cheer, and the sport’s recognised pathway to Olympic inclusion.
Cheerleading - a description
Cheerleading is now a globally established sport. Within it, Performance Cheer includes disciplines such as Pom, Hip Hop, and Jazz, blending technical precision with musical interpretation, performance quality, and athletic execution. The sport of Cheerleading (with its backflips and pyramids) combines elite athleticism, choreography, stunting, tumbling, and dance. Importantly, Cheerleading is now an IOC-recognised sport, with a formal bid submitted for inclusion in the Brisbane Olympic Games, further reinforcing its rapid global growth.
SportCheerUK representation: scale and impact
Across the home nations, SportCheerUK brought an estimated 600 athletes to the Championships:
This level of participation highlights the strength and depth of the performance pathways across all home nations, from grassroots development through to elite international representation.
Scotland at the ICU World Cheerleading Championships 2026
Scotland: resilience, medals, and world-class consistency
Scotland delivered a powerful and consistent set of performances across both Cheer and Performance Cheer divisions:
🥈 Adaptive Ability Pom – Silver Medal
Youth Pom – 7th
Senior Pom – 11th
Pom Doubles – 18th
Youth Hip Hop – 7th
Senior Hip Hop – 10th
Hip Hop Doubles – 12th
From a standout silver in Adaptive Ability Pom to multiple top-10 finishes, Scotland demonstrated competitive strength across every level, showcasing resilience, teamwork, and high-performance execution.
Wales at the ICU World Cheerleading Championships 2026
Wales: World Champions and top-five excellence
Wales produced one of the standout achievements of the entire SportCheerUK campaign:
🏆 Adaptive Abilities Coed Advanced – World Champions
Youth Pom – 5th
Hip Hop Doubles – 13th
Pom Doubles – 14th
A world title performance in Adaptive Abilities Coed Advanced, alongside a top-five youth finish, underlines Wales’ continued rise and impact on the international stage.
England at the ICU World Cheerleading Championships 2026
England: depth, medals, and elite consistency
England once again demonstrated exceptional depth across multiple disciplines, delivering medals and high global rankings:
Medal performances:
🏆 Performance Cheer Hip Hop Doubles – World Champions
🥈 Youth Co-ed Median Cheer – Silver
🥈 Adaptive Abilities Unified Advanced Cheer – Silver
🥉 Youth All Girl Cheer – Bronze
🥉 Adaptive Abilities Unified Median Cheer – Bronze
Top 10 international rankings:
Hip Hop Youth – 5th in the world
Hip Hop Juniors – 6th in the world
Jazz – 6th in the world
Additional semi-final appearances in Co-Ed Premier Cheer and Performance Cheer Pom further demonstrate the consistency and competitive strength across England’s programme.
Isle of Man at the ICU World Cheerleading Championships 2026
Isle of Man: emerging nation, national record
As a newly established provisional ICU member nation, the Isle of Man continues to build its international presence. Abby Vance and Caitlyn Hampson represented the island in Pom Doubles, achieving:
28th place finish (moving up in the rankings from their debut last year)
New Isle of Man national score record
Their performance marks an important milestone in the island’s developing cheer pathway and international progression.
Inclusion and innovation: Cheer For Everyone Para Sport exhibition
In addition to home nation representation, the Championships also featured a significant inclusion milestone.
The British Cheerleading Disability Charity Cheer For Everyone piloted the first-ever Para Sport cheerleading exhibition team at the ICU World Championships. The performance featured athletes from Great Britain who meet the ICU/Paralympic classification system, delivering a powerful and inspiring exhibition display on the world stage.
This initiative marked an important step forward for visibility and opportunity within Para Sport cheer, showcasing what inclusive pathways can look like within the global cheerleading community, while remaining clearly positioned as an independent exhibition initiative featuring GB-based athletes rather than a formal national programme.
A unified structure, competing identities
The strength of SportCheerUK lies in its dual identity: collaboration across governance and development pathways, while maintaining independent national representation at international competitions. This structure allows each nation to grow its own identity while benefiting from shared progress across the wider system.
Across Scotland, Wales, England, and the Isle of Man, performances at this year’s ICU World Championships demonstrate not only medal success and world rankings, but also a rapidly strengthening development ecosystem that continues to expand opportunity, inclusion, and elite performance standards.
From World Champions to record-breaking debuts, and from Adaptive Ability divisions to Para Sport exhibition innovation, SportCheerUK continues to establish itself as a significant and growing force within global cheerleading - a sport that now stands firmly on the pathway to Olympic recognition.
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