It was so near yet so far for the Russians. Nikita Nagornyy needed a score of 13.822 on the Horizontal Bar to clinch Russia’s first ever team gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships.
But a small error on an opening handstand meant he finished with 13.733 to hand China the gold by a meagre .049 points in a thrilling team final at the Aspire Dome.
In the end, Russia had to settle for a silver, their first medal at the Worlds since 2006. Defending Olympic and world champions Japan took home bronze, 1.75 points ahead of the US. The top three teams also sealed their place at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
It was the closest Olympic or world men’s or women’s team final since the perfect-10 scoring system was replaced in 2006. The eight-team final was a see-saw battle, with China placed seventh after the second of six routines. But they slowly made progress and were leading Russia by 0.948 points heading into the final rotation — Horizontal Bar.
Russia, however, came back into contention after China’s defending world all-around champion Xiao Ruoteng had a fall on the Bars, which meant a deduction of one point and a low score of 12.600.
Russia would have prevailed if Nagornyy repeated his score from last week’s qualifying but with all eyes on him, the 21-year-old faltered on a headstand.
In fact, it was Russians who were leading by a massive 1.919 after four rotations before Artur Dalaloyan slipped off the Parallel Bars and China took advantage of it, before nearly giving it away in the Bars.
The breakthrough performance for China came from Zou Jingyuan, who was immaculate in Parallel Bars as he scored 16.200, the highest of the Doha Worlds far.
China’s coach Liang Chow was pleased with victory especially as it comes after China had to be content with bronze at 2016 Rio Olympics. However, he added his team needs to improve a lot if they have to reach the greater heights of 1994 to 2014, when China won 10 of the 11 world team titles.
“We are very happy with the win. After 2015, new athletes have come in and made our team stronger and that helped us to win the championship here in Doha. Russia have made a lot of progress and were impressive. Japan could not do well as they were missing two gymnasts due to injury,” Chow said.
Ruoteng, meanwhile, was relieved his mistake on the Bars did not cost China the title. “I was feeling very disappointed after my fall. But I was keen to finish all my moves and help my team. I am glad it ended happily,” he said.
Russia’s Dalaloyan looked at the bright side and said they were pleased to punch their ticket to Olympics. “Our main task was to qualify for Olympics and we have done it. We made mistakes but every team committed mistakes in the final. I am thankful to the fans who cheered for me after I fell as it gave me energy. We are happy with the silver medal as a podium finish at this level is a good achievement,” he said.
Defending champion Japan, cheered on by vociferous supporters, were also in contention for a repeat of last year’s performance in Montreal. But they struggled on Bars, which undid all the good work till halfway point. Yusuke Tanaka came off on the fourth rotation, dropping the Japanese to third place, while three-time Olympic gold medallist and six-time world all-around champion Kohei Uchimura was still in discomfort yesterday, recovering from an ankle injury.
Uchimura said: “I feel for bad for my teammates as I could not do well because of my injury. There is also lot of work to do between now and 2020, but we are confident we can win gold in Tokyo.”
The US team, which came agonisingly close for a bronze, were impressive despite bringing a young team to Doha. Sam Mikulak said the experience of participating at a world stage will do a world of good for his young teammates.
“We did the job we came out to do. We’re all much better gymnasts today than we were yesterday. This is an experience for a lifetime, and now, we put the pressure on a lot of teams who I think weren’t looking at us the way they’re going to start looking at us,” Mikulak said.
“Coming into this, no one really saw us as being up on that podium, so we were coming in as underdogs. These guys are young. For a lot of them it’s their first Worlds. They came out and showed better than I did, the veteran, so that’s going to be a huge confidence-booster,” he added.
The women’s team finals will take place today, with the United States led by Simone Biles heavily favoured to lead the defending champions to another gold. Russia, China, Brazil, Japan, France and Germany are other top eight teams who will be in action in the finals.
Men’s team final
Standings
1. China 256.634 points
2. Russia 256.585
3. Japan 253.744
4. United States 251.994
5. Great Britain 248.628
6. Switzerland 244.294
7. Brazil 243.994
8. Netherlands 240.660
Winners China (in red) pose on the podium with second-placed Russia (in white and blue) and third-placed Japan (in white and red) after the men’s team final at the 48th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Doha 2018 at Aspire Dome yesterday. PICTURES: Thajudheen
