Category: Gymnastics

summing up Men’s Team Final

1. Russia – 261.726
2. China – 260.729
3. Japan – 258.159

4. United States – 254.578
5. Great Britain – 251.611
6. Chinese Taipei – 248.243
7. Switzerland – 247.038
8. Ukraine – 246.593

  • GREAT to see Russia pull off the narrow victory. China has won so many, including Nanning where I felt Japan clearly had the better performance
  • Much stronger competition than the WAG Team Final. Faster judging, too.
  • Alternating nations seemed to work better for the men than women. I particularly liked comparing RUS v CHN
  • USA went 18/18 with no falls. #respect. That left them well behind the top 3 nations all of whom did count a fall. That’s all a team coach can ask.
  • I thought a clean USA team would defeat the new look Japanese men. Not so. With less Worlds experience, JPN competed more difficulty and hit almost as well. Just one fall on FX.
  • there was no way ZOU Jingyuan was going to miss P Bars twice in a row. He was awesome for 16.383 (7.00 + 9.383)

  • Taiwan is legit, finishing second over Switzerland and Ukraine. Oleg only competed Pommels, however, so a team medal was not the goal for UKR.
  • I was happy to hear Fujitsu was handing out the team awards. Then unhappy to find out it was for difficulty, not best overall performance. Dangerous.

Related:

More photos.

Dalaloyan indescribably happy & satisfied

NAGORNYY: LAST NIGHT, I COULDN’T FALL ASLEEP UNTIL 2 AM

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/olympicchannel/status/1181978349805150211

a new award for DIFFICULTY ?!

Bad idea. 😕

I’m be OK with additional awards for Elegance. Or E-score. But rewarding difficulty for the sake of difficulty could be dangerous.

“The gymnast must never attempt to increase the difficulty or the “D” score at the expense of aesthetic and technical execution. …”

German Gymnastics media

Germany always has a big media presence at Worlds.

For Stuttgart, it’s bigger than ever.

Happily, both Men’s and Women’s teams qualified for the Olympics.

Past stars including Philipp Boy and Fabian Hambüchen are everywhere. Gymnasts are pleased to be in an arena with a loud audience and so much Press. The Men’s team from Chinese Taipei looked a little bewildered to be answering so many questions.

RUSSIAN Men are World Champions

1. Russia – 261.726
2. China – 260.729
3. Japan – 258.159

4. United States – 254.578
5. Great Britain – 251.611
6. Chinese Taipei – 248.243
7. Switzerland – 247.038
8. Ukraine – 246.593

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/olympicchannel/status/1181943730707845122

I’d predicted RUS, CHN, USA and would probably do the same again if the teams were competing tomorrow.

I had doubts whether the young and inexperienced Japanese team would hold it together. Their routines are SO difficult. Also, Wataru Tanigawa looked to be injured in the qualification competition. But — happily — looked 100% tonight!

I was wrong. It was a superb 3 way fight for the medals. The best team competition I can recall. Ever.

Congratulations Japan!

related – Russia wins first men’s gymnastics world team title since Soviet breakup

another chance for Sam Mikulak

Everyone agrees Sam is one of the very best gymnasts in the world today.

But he had a surprisingly bad qualifying day, barely making the AA Final.

In today’s team competition he has another chance for redemption. A team medal would probably mean more to him than the AA

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.  It was posted before prelims.

Men’s TEAM Final begins

I’ll be commenting LIVE via Twitter @GymCoaching. And partnering this year with @kensleyanne Kensley Behel. We both will be guest MAG pundits on the GymCastic podcasts this week.

I’m predicting RUS, CHN, USA.

More LIVE coverage:

Fujitsu 3D computer video analysis UPDATE

Today at Worlds, Fujitsu held a press conference telling us where they are at with the technology.

Former FIG MTC Chair Steve Butcher is our liaison.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It’s being used at Worlds 2019, but only in case of appeal or ‘blocked score’. Blocked score is when the Superior Jury disagree with the D-panel start score.

MAG Vault, Rings, Pommels and WAG Vault.

WAG Beam looks near ready but is not being used here.

Steve said it had been used on Rings already and that judges had found it valuable.


IOC has not approved it for use at the Tokyo Olympics but FIG and Fujitsu plan to roll it out increasingly through to the 2024 Olympics.

I’m most excited about it being used by coaches in the Gym. Fujitsu will offer it to National Training Centres (or equivalent) worldwide.

Details.