Tanigawa Wataru and Japan lead the way at Liverpool Artistic Gymnastics Worlds

Tanigawa Wataru (JPN) and the Japanese men’s team emerged as the ones to beat after a turbulent qualification Monday at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Liverpool (GBR).

At the wlast Artistic Gymnastics World Championships held in Great Britain in 2015, the Japanese men recaptured the World team title they had not won in nearly 40 years. They have not claimed it since, but seven years later, Worlds are back in the UK and Japan is once again leading the way.

At least for now. Qualification determines who advances to Wednesday’s men’s team final, Friday’s All-Around final and the individual apparatus finals 5-6 November. Scores do not carry over, meaning teams and individuals always start finals with a clean slate.

Japan rises over Britain, while USA and China remain in contention

On a day when several teams were plagued by uncharacteristic errors, the Japanese radiated strength and serenity. Seemingly impervious to pressure, Doi Ryosuke,

Hashimoto Daiki, Tanigawa Kakeru, Tanigawa Wataru, and Kamoto Yuya mostly sailed through their routines on all six apparatus as they tallied 260.695 points overall.

“Today, the performance overall was really good. Of course, sometimes someone made a mistake, but someone else would cover it up,” Tanigawa remarked. “If we do the same thing [in the final], it’s going to be the same as we achieved today.”

Japan’s score put them nearly eight points over Great Britain, a margin equivalent to several goals in football. The United States, led by newcomer Asher Hong, was third with 252.295, well within striking distance of the British and certainly in contention for the podium, provided they can give a similar performance Wednesday.

The People’s Republic of China, returning several members of their 2018 World champion team, were among those who had difficulties. Numerous falls, including from reigning World champion Zhang Bohengand 2015 World Parallel Bars champion You Hao, marred China’s competition, leaving them fourth and looking up at old rivals they have usually left in the dust.

“We are so desperate to do our best. Somehow mistakes come when you are aiming for perfection,” Zhang explained. “We have to figure out how to preserve our power so we can perform on all apparatus. I have to improve and review some of my techniques and my ability to use my power in the right way.”

Italy, Spain, Brazil, and the Republic of Korea also advanced to the team final.

Tanigawa, Hashimoto, Yulo: a showdown awaits in the All-Around final

Individually, nobody was better than the experienced Tanigawa, who at 26 is one of his team’s elder statesmen. Well-known for his prowess on Vault, Tanigawa announced himself as an All-Around contender with an overall score of 84.731, narrowly edging Olympic champion Hashimoto and Carlos Yulo (PHI), a wildly talented 22-year-old who seems poised to take the Gymnastics world by storm. Less than 0.1 separated the three on Monday.

Hashimoto and Yulo, both of whom fell from the pommel horse, have room to improve. So does Tanigawa, whose vault was not credited with the maximum difficulty he is capable of. Still, “if Hashimoto produces the performance that he can do, I have no chance,” Tanigawa opined.

Yulo made up ground with fireworks on Still Rings, Vault, Parallel Bars, and Floor Exercise, where he made a thrillingly difficult display look easy. The result was 15.266 points, a full half point higher than any contender.

The routine was a reminder of what won him the world title on the apparatus in 2019 — and how far he has come since.

“Right now I’m really glad but not satisfied because there are a lot of areas where I can improve,” Yulo remarked. “If I can do it in the final, maybe I will say I’m satisfied.”

Top qualifiers for apparatus finals included Hashimoto on Horizontal Bar, Tokyo Olympic champion Zou Jingyuan (CHN) on Parallel Bars, and Olympic bronze medallist Artur Davtyan (ARM) on Vault. Courtney Tulloch (GBR) had the highest score on Still Rings, while Rhys McClenaghan (IRL), aiming to become Ireland’s first World champion in Gymnastics, was the best on Pommel Horse.