Artistic gymnastics on the first day of competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics concludes with the third and final subdivision of the men’s qualification round.
Although medals are not awarded on the first two days of competition, the qualification rounds are arguably one of the most important days of the competition.
Eight teams will advance to the team final, the top 24 individual gymnasts (only two per country) will qualify for the all-around finals, and the top eight individual gymnasts (only two per country) will qualify for the event finals.
The third and final subdivision featured teams who came to Paris not necessarily striving for a team medal, but hoping to secure a spot in the team final.
Italy returned a team to the Games after missing out on Tokyo 2020. The Italians have not been to the team final since 1988 but got the job done in Paris, finishing sixth overall to secure a spot in the final (249.764). Switzerland will join them, finishing seventh with a 249.662.
Switzerland grabbed the lead (41.733) over Italy (40.400) after starting on pommel horse in Rotation 1. The Swiss counted a string of solid scores, including a 14.233 from Matteo Giubellini and a 13.866 from Noe Seifert.
Italy began the competition on rings with Lorenzo Minh Casali leading the way with a 13.600.
In the second rotation, the high bar claimed another victim: Noah Kuavita of Belgium was a strong contender for the final but had two falls in his routine, effectively ending his chances.
Spain’s Ray Zapata, a silver medalist on floor from Tokyo, displayed impressive tumbling to lock his place in the floor final. He had a few small hops on his landings, but he got rewarded for his difficulty and clean execution with a 14.600.
Italy was clean on vault to surge into the lead going into Rotation 3.
Turkiye, who qualified a team to the Olympics for the first time in history, had a strong rings rotation, led by Adem Asil’s score of 14.866. Ibrahim Colak had a beautiful routine but was a little shaky on one of his final handstands before his dismount. Although he stuck his front double front pike dismount, he finished with a 14.533, just shy of making the event final.
Casali led the way for Italy on rings with a 13.600.
Italy led Switzerland by 1.87 after four rotations.
The pressure was on Italy as they headed to high bar – the event that has given trouble to many of the top competitors. The rotation went well until Carlo Macchini completely missed the bar on one of his release moves. After taking a few seconds on the mat, Macchini got back up and fought through the remainder of his extremely difficult routine – receiving thunderous applause from the crowd when he completed his routine.
On vault, Asil drilled his first of two vaults (front double front pike half) like a dart on a dart board but after his hand grazed the mat on his second vault, he would miss the event final.
Going into the fifth rotation, Switzerland moved back into the lead with a margin of almost one point. The Swiss headed to the make-it-or-break-it event (high bar), while Italy went to floor, Turkiye went to parallel bars and Spain went to vault.
Aside from a fall from Seifert, the Swiss survived on high bar, with Taha Serhani posting a rotation-high 13.633. However, Italy back into the lead with one rotation to go after a solid effort on the floor.
Closing out the competition, Turkiye finished on high bar, where Ahmet Odner fell on his Kolman. Italy responded with a fall from Casali on pommel horse but was able to rally and finish strong with Yumin Abbadini (14.200) to earn a spot in the team final.
The Swiss closed out the evening with Guibellini scoring a 13.800 and Seifert posting the top score with a 14.100.
Individual athlete Tang Chia-Hung of Chinese Taipei proved he could be one of the new gold medal favorites on high bar, posting a 14.900.
Two-time pommel horse world champion Rhys McClenaghan of Ireland showcased why he’s one of the best in the world on the event. From his difficulty to his toe point to his extension, McClenaghan left little room for the judges to take deductions (15.200).
Final Results: Team | All-Around | Floor | High Bar | Parallel Bars | Pommel Horse | Rings | Vault
Final Qualifiers
TEAM:
- China - 263.028
- Japan - 260.594
- Great Britain - 256.893
- Ukraine - 253.893
- United States- 253.229
- Italy - 249.764
- Switzerland - 249.662
- Canada - 247.794
ALL-AROUND:
- Zhang Boheng (China) - 88.597
- Shinnosuke Oka (Japan) - 86.865
- Daiki Hashimoto (Japan) - 85.064
- Xiao Ruoteng (China) - 84.898
- Jake Jarman (Great Britain) - 84.897
- Joe Fraser (Great Britain) - 84.897
- Oleg Verniaiev (Ukraine) - 84.631
- Yumin Abbadini (Italy) - 83.933
- Carlos Yulo (Philippines) - 83.631
- Frederick Richard (United States) - 83.498
- Illia Kovtun (Ukraine) - 83.163
- Matteo Giubellini (Switzerland) - 83.066
- Paul Juda (United States) - 82.865
- Krisztofer Meszaros (Hungary) - 82.798
- Jesse Moore (Australia) - 82.698
- Mario Macchiati (Italy) - 82.231
- Casimir Schmidt (Netherlands) - 82.098
- Milad Karimi (Kazakhstan) - 82.065
- Diogo Soares (Brazil) - 81.999
- Florian Langenegger (Switzerland) - 81.898
- Felix Dolci (Canada) - 81.498
- Frank Rijken (Netherlands) - 81.233
- Nils Dunkel (Germany) - 81.232
- Rene Cournoyer (Canada) - 80.798
FLOOR
- Jake Jarman (Great Britain) - 14.966
- Carlos Yulo (Philippines) - 14.766
- Rayderley Zapata (Spain) - 14.600
- Illia Kovtun (Ukraine) - 14.533
- Luke Whitehouse (Great Britain) - 14.533
- Zhang Boheng (China) - 14.466
- Artem Dolgopyat (Israel) - 14.466
- Milad Karimi (Kazakhstan) - 14.433
POMMEL HORSE
- Rhys McClenaghan (Ireland) - 15.200
- Stephen Nedoroscik (United States) - 15.200
- Max Whitlock (Great Britain) - 15.166
- Takaaki Sugino (Japan) - 15.033
- Oleg Verniaiev (Ukraine) - 15.033
- Nariman Kurbanov (Kazakhstan) - 15.000
- Hur Woong (South Korea) - 14.900
- Loran De Munck (Netherlands) - 14.766
RINGS
- Zou Jingyuan (China) - 15.300
- Liu Yang (China) - 15.233
- Samir Ait Said (France) - 14.966
- Glen Cuyle (Belgium) - 14.900
- Adem Asil (Turkiye) - 14.866
- Eleftherios Petrounias (Greece) - 14.800
- Vahagn Davtyan (Armenia) - 14.733
- Harry Hepworth (Great Britain) - 14.700
VAULT
- Nazar Chepurnyi (Ukraine) - 14.833
- Harry Hepworth (Great Britain) - 14.900
- Aurel Benovic (Croatia) - 14.733
- Igor Radivilov (Ukraine) - 14.700
- Jake Jarman (Great Britain) - 14.699
- Carlos Yulo (Philippines) - 14.683
- Artur Davtyan (Armenia) - 14.666
- Mahdi Olfati (Iran) - 14.583
PARALLEL BARS
- Zou Jingyuan (China) - 16.200
- Zhang Boheng (China) - 15.333
- Shinnosuke Oka (Japan) - 15.300
- Oleg Verniaiev (Ukraine) - 15.266
- Lukas Dauser (Germany) - 15.166
- Illia Kovtun (Ukraine) - 15.166
- Arican Ferhat (Turkiye) - 15.033
- Wataru Tanigawa (Japan) - 15.000
HIGH BAR
- Zhang Boheng (China) - 15.133
- Tang Chia-Hung (Chinese Taipei) - 14.933
- Takaaki Sugino (Japan) - 14.733
- Tin Srbic (Croatia) - 14.600
- Shinnosuke Oka (Japan) - 14.533
- Angel Barajas (Colombia) - 14.466
- Su Weide (China) - 14.400
- Marios Georgiou (Cyprus) - 14.366