2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships

China Edges Out Russia For Worlds Team Gold In Close Meet

China Edges Out Russia For Worlds Team Gold In Close Meet

China was victorious in the men's team final at the 2018 World Gymnastics Championships, narrowly beating Russia for the gold.

Oct 29, 2018 by Amanda Wijangco
China Edges Out Russia For Worlds Team Gold In Close Meet

In true gymnastics fashion, just 0.049 points decided the men's team champions at the 2018 World Championships in Doha, Qatar. It came down to the final routine of the competition with Russia and China, the top two teams coming into the final rotation, competing on high bar. 

With the new alternating team finals format where countries alternate gymnasts in the competition (as opposed to one country's entire lineup competing after another's), it all came down to Russia and China's final competitors of the meet. China's Xiao Ruoteng began his high bar routine with a Liukin release but fell. This mistake opened the door for Russia to take the gold. After Ruoteng finished his routine, it was time for Russia's Nikita Nagornyy to compete and possibly put them above China. 

Nagornyy's routine began and fared well until he had to save a handstand after his Tkatchev half. It was a small mistake, but every tenth counts. He did the rest of his routine with no problems, even sticking a big double double layout dismount. However, Nagornyy's high bar routine wasn't good enough to win the meet for his country.

China won the men's team final with a score of 256.634. Russia was close behind to win the silver medal with a score of 256.585. Japan earned bronze. By placing in the top three at team finals, China, Russia, and Japan have qualified teams to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

The U.S. finished in fourth, followed by Great Britain in fifth, Switzerland in sixth, Brazil in seventh, and the Netherlands in eighth.

Though they won in the end, the meet began on a rather rough note for the Chinese and the top four teams. Ruoteng and his team began on floor, and he started the meet how he ended it: with a fall. Due to the three-up three-count format of team finals, the Chinese men had to count his low score. Dmitrii Lankin of Russia went out-of-bounds during his floor routine, so both China and Russia began the meet on a less-than-ideal note.

Meanwhile on pommel horse, the Japanese and U.S. men each had falls from Wataru Tanigawa and Sam Mikulak, respectively. This put China and USA in seventh and eighth, respectively, at the end of the first rotation. Russia's mistake on floor, however, wasn't costly as it still topped the standings after one rotation. Brazil and the Netherlands were second and third, respectively, because they started the competition well. The Brazilians began on rings, where they excel, especially with Olympian Arthur Zanetti leading the way with a big 15.033.

In the second rotation, pommel horse wasn't kind to the Russians or Chinese either. China's Sun Wei fell trying to hit a handstand while Russia's Nikolai Kuksenkov and Nagornyy both had form breaks during their routines, giving all three of them scores in the low 13.000 range. Japan hit its second event of still rings, and the USA was also solid on rings, but not good enough to move up in the rankings.

After two, Russia dropped to sixth, followed by China and USA. Japan moved up to third after its hit rings rotation. After nice vaults, Great Britain overtook the lead and Brazil moved into second.



The third rotation went smoothly for China, Russia, Japan, and the USA. China and Russia both hit all of their rings routines with everyone earning a score in the 14.000 range. Japan and the USA both had great vaults across the board with every gymnast receiving an E-score in the 9.000 range. The star of the third rotation, of course, was Kenzo Shirai's triple twisting Yurchenko, which earned a 14.966 for Japan.

Halfway through the meet, China, Russia, Japan, and the USA all moved up the rankings following a good third rotation. Japan took the lead, followed by Russia, Great Britain, the USA, and China.

The Chinese and Japanese men moved to vault, and both were excellent. Nagornyy got things started with a huge stuck Dragulescu vault to earn a 15.033. Dalaloyan later vaulted a triple twisting Yurchenko and stuck it for a 15.066. 



Meanwhile on parallel bars, things got a bit shaky again for the Japanese and U.S. men. Both teams had to count a low score as Japan's Yusuke Tanaka fell while the USA's Akash Modi messed up on his peach 1/2. Luckily, it didn't hurt their team standings too much. After four rotations, Russia and China were top two followed by Japan, the USA, Brazil, Switzerland, Great Britain, and the Netherlands.

The fifth rotation brought solid routines from the top four teams. Zou Jingyuan of China stole the show, though, with his huge parallel bars routine that earned a 16.200. Only two parallel bars routines scored a 15.000 or above, and both came from this rotation from China. Lin Chaopan earned the lone 15.000 score with a big 15.133.



With one rotation left, China took the lead from Russia, who moved to second. Japan, the USA, Great Britain, Brazil, Switzerland, and the Netherlands followed. At this point, the gold medal race was between China and Russia while Japan and the USA were battling for bronze.

The U.S. men did what they were capable of on floor and hit all three of their routines. But it wasn't enough to beat the Japanese men, even though Tanigawa fell on his front double pike. On high bar, Chaopan and Wei hit their routines to start the event for China, but then came Ruoteng's fall. Russia's first two high bar routines were both solid and earned scores in the high 13.000 range. Nagornyy took his turn on the apparatus and had to muscle through a handstand to prevent himself from falling. He did the remainder of his routine well, and then it was time to wait. 

The suspense was evident in the arena, both on the floor and in the stands, with gymnasts and spectators waiting for the result, to see who would take the gold. Nagornyy's routine earned a 13.733, short of the 17.783 needed to win the gold. China had narrowly won the gold by 0.049. 



Full results can be found on the FIG's website.