Lucky Thirteen! Team China Back On Top!
Unpredictable. That just may be the word of the day from the men’s team final from the 2022 World Championships.
Prior to the competition here in Liverpool, many expected Japan to dominate and run away with the title after finishing first in Qualifications, nearly 8 points ahead of hometown heroes Great Britain. But at the end of the day it was China, who qualified in fourth, who reigned supreme (257.858) to claim their 13th team gold medal in World Championships history! Japan finished second (253.395) and Great Britain rallied for the bronze (247.229) – just their second Team World medal ever – in what was truly a roller coaster ride competition for them.
China started on pommel horse in the first rotation and with Sun Wei falling in the lead off spot, it started to look as though they would have a repeat performance of Qualifications (they had a total of eight falls). After a stellar rings rotation (led by a 14.866 from Zou Jingyuan and a 14.666 from You Hao), China jumped from fifth to second, and moved into the lead after vault when Zou hit a 15.766 on parallel bars. It was evident this team wasn’t going to back down and in the end, they left no doubt who was the best team out on the floor tonight.
“We did so much better compared to the qualification,” Zhang Boheng said after the competition. “After one day of refreshing our minds and reflecting after the qualifiers, we got great momentum and rhythm today.”
Capturing its own headline, the pommel horse proved to be the great equalizer of the evening. There were so many falls and mistakes, in fact, it was hard to keep track of who actually stayed on the event including the United States, who got off to a rocky start in the first rotation (38.265). U.S. All-Around Champion Brody Malone came off before his dismount (11.733) and reigning World Champ Stephen Nedoroscik did not compete his full difficulty (5.1 D score, 12.966 final score). Great Britain (35.232) and Japan (38.466) continued the battle against the horse in the second rotation, setting up a chance for both teams to rebound or succumb to the incredible pressure they must have felt after such a disappointing performance for both.
Japan sat sixth after the second rotation and fought its way back into silver medal position. By the fifth rotation, they were back in third with strong performances from reigning Olympic Champion Hashimoto Daiki, and Tanigawa Wataru, who led the All-Around after Qualifications. It seemed as though none of the teams could retain momentum after a hit set and as China continued its rise, the battle for silver and bronze was anyone’s game.
Despite the mistakes early on, the United States was still in it for a medal heading into the last rotation, they just needed to do what they did in Qualifications. But surprising mistakes from Malone on floor (12.866) took them out of the mix. Malone seemed to uncharacteristically struggle all night with the exception of high bar where he put up strong performance. And even though the team didn’t let down their fight, in the end, it wasn’t their night to stand on the podium.
“We put ourselves in a hole from the first event, and basically had to claw our way back,” said U.S. high performance director Brett McClure. “By the last event we were still in the mix, surprisingly, but we just couldn’t put it together. So it’s back to the gym, and back to work.”
The focus shifted to Great Britain on high bar and Italy on pommel horse in the last rotation. Italy started well but a fall from Yumin Abbadini in the anchor position (12.300) opened the door. Emotions were running high in M&S Arena as the crowd seemed to know it was Great Britain’s medal to lose.
Rallying back after mistakes early on in the competition, James Hall posted a 13.700 on high bar, Joe Fraser a 14.000, and Jake Jarman brought it home in front of a roaring home crowd. With every eye on the scoreboard, Jarmen’s 13.100 sealed the deal, giving Great Britain its first medal at a World Championships since winning silver in 2015.
“The team and I never doubted ourselves once,” Fraser said. “We pulled together through the hard times; we were there for each other on the highs. This will be up there for the rest of my life.”
Despite being so close to a medal, Italy, who finished 4th, was just 1.234 points behind Great Britain and claimed the country’s highest finish since 1950!
“Gymnastics is like a rollercoaster, sometimes you go up and sometimes you go down,” Nicola Bartolini said on the last rotation. “I’m realizing what just happened. Three years ago we were in Stuttgart, in the world championships before the Olympic Games. The team wasn’t qualified for the Olympic Games. And now we are here, fourth in the world. That’s incredible.”
In addition to the medals, China, Japan and Great Britain all earned berths to the 2024 Olympics in Paris!
