Led by Zhang Boheng, China takes the lead over Japan after second subdivision

Artistic gymnastics continues with the second of three subdivisions in 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.

Details from each rotation of subdivision two are below.

China and Japan are expected to go head-to-head for gold in the men's team final in just a few days, but first, the two teams met under the lights of Bercy Arena for the qualification round.

The first day of competition in Paris did not disappoint, setting the stage for what should be an epic battle on July 29. Although Japan left the door open with mistakes, the reigning world champions rallied back to avoid a shutout.

When the chalk dust settled, China topped Japan by over two points, with China's Zhang Boheng surging to the top of the all-around standings (88.597) over Japan's Shinnosuke Oka (86.865) and Daiki Hashimoto (85.065), the defending Olympic all-around champion.

In Rotation 1, China capitalized early on by starting on their strongest event, the still rings. Although the team gave away some valuable tenths on landings, they were able to make up for it with their outstanding difficulty. Reigning Olympic rings champion Liu Yang and his teammate Zou Jingyuan both performed routines with a 6.4 difficulty value, with Jingyuan bringing in the higher score after sticking his landing (15.300).

China put up a massive 45.199 event total to take a comfortable lead over Japan (43.466) after one rotation.

In the second rotation Japan was brilliant on parallel bars, led by Shinnosuke's score of 15.300. The rotation was rounded out by a 15.000 from Tanigawa Wataru, a 14.933 Kaya Kazuma, and a 14.833 from Hashimoto.

Over on vault, China avoided disaster after Sun Weide (who stepped in to replace Sun Wei after injury) fell on his vault. Because of the late substitution, Weide did not participate in podium training, meaning the qualification round was his first time performing his routines in Bercy Arena. The pressure was on Yang, who is not known to be a vaulter for the Chinese team, but he rose to the occasion for a 14.100.

Ukraine had a rough rotation on floor but saw a great rebound performance from 2023 World all-around silver medalist Illia Kovtun of Ukraine, who fell on high bar in the first rotation.

Going into Rotation 3, Japan took a miniscule lead of 0.001 over China.

China headed to parallel bars where Boheng showed complete mastery of the event (15.333), which was followed up by Jingyuan, who posted a monstrous score of 16.200 to help push China back into the lead.

Japan swung the door open on high bar, where defending Olympic high bar champion Hashimoto nearly broke the rhythm of his routine on his Tak full. He managed to keep the routine going but then fell on his dismount seconds later. With a 13.733, his chances of defending his high bar title end here.

At the halfway point, China held a comfortable lead over Japan and didn’t slow down on high bar. The apparatus gave many of the top athletes troubles but not the Chinese men. Boheng rocked a routine and posted the highest score of the competition so far with a 15.133. The team also counted a 14.400 from Weide and a 13.833 from Xiao Ruoteng.

Hashimoto ran into more trouble on the floor exercise, giving away several tenths on his landings and only posting a 13.733. He won’t advance to the floor final either.

The high score for Japan on floor was from Shinnosuke (14.333), who stuck all of his tumbling passes.

Going into Rotation 5, China held a lead of over four points.

Japan hit the reset button on pommel horse, with Takaaki Sugino leading the rotation with a 15.033.

On floor, China was led by Boheng’s 14.466.

Ukraine brought the heat on vault, with Nazar Chepurnyi vaulting a clean (stuck) Dragulescu and Kas double to move to the top of the vault rankings (14.844 average). Ukraine’s veteran leader Oleg Verniaiev and Igor Radivilov both followed and stuck Dragulescu’s of their own. As a result, Ukraine made up four points in the rankings during the fifth rotation.

With one rotation to go, China maintained the lead by over 1.7 points.

Japan rallied back on rings to finish the competition strong. Tanigawa led the way with a 14.466. In his Olympic debut, Shinnosuke closed out his competition with an excellent rings routine, good for a 14.000.

China sealed the deal on pommel horse with Jingyuan posting the top score for his team (14.600).

Notable individuals competing in Subdivision 2 were Carlos Yulo of the Philippines, Yulo rocked a floor routine with sky-high tumbling done with near flawless execution for a 14.766.

France’s Samir Ait Said drew thunderous applause from the home crowd for his high bar routine (14.966).

With one subdivision to go, China, Japan and Great Britain have mathematically clinched spots in the team final.

China will look for its first gold medal since London 2012. Japan, who won silver at the Tokyo 2020 Games, will look to get back on top of the medal podium for the first time since 2016.

"In Tokyo we got a silver medal (in the team competition) with a little margin," Kazuma said after the competition. "So it was frustrating, but we kept practicing every day for success today. Next time, in two days (the team final), I want the gold medal."