Qualifications at the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland have come to an end and the finals fields have officially been set. Today was the second four subdivisions of men’s qualification, which included Team USA. The U.S. men battled a few setbacks throughout the night, but came out with a fifth place finish to secure a spot in the team final as part of the top eight. 

The top eight teams who will be moving on to team finals are Japan (358.884), China (357.027), Great Britain (354.417), Russia (352.692), USA (350.332), Switzerland (350.127), Brazil (349.057), and South Korea (346.166). Germany just missed out with a 345.717. 

Kohei Uchimura of Japan keeps his lead in the all-around from night one with a 90.564. Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev is right behind with a 90.131 followed by Great Britain's Daniel Purvis with an 88.956. USA's Danell Leyva is fourth with an 88.898. However, as Leyva mentioned in an interview, the qualification rankings don't really matter because the scores are wiped clean for the finals. Although it must be a confidence booster for those who finished at the top. 

You can see the full qualification results here and the list of gymnasts who made individual finals here. 

Routine Of The Day

Danell Leyva's 15.566 high bar routine.

For viewing in USA:


For viewing in the rest of the world:

Lineups and Predictions:

For team finals, the format is three up three count, so there is little room for error at a competition like this. As announced earlier, Maggie Nichols was selected to compete all-around in the team final, while Simone Biles will be competing three events.  

Vault: Gabby Douglas, Nichols, Biles
Uneven bars: Nichols, Douglas, Madison Kocian
Balance beam: Nichols, Aly Raisman, Biles
Floor exercise: Nichols, Raisman, Biles

Since the U.S. women scored over five points higher than second place ranked Russia in qualifications, predicting that they will come out with the title is not too earth-shattering. Our prediction for second place is China, who didn’t have the cleanest qualifications performance, however, there is huge talent on the team and much more potential than they showed in qualifications. With their supreme work on bars and improved difficulty on vault, they will surely be fighting for the silver medal. Russia ended qualifications in second place, and although there is room for improvement, they are without Aliya Mustafina who provides not only strong routines, but strong leadership as well. In a three up three count situation, it is imperative to have athletes who can handle pressure on a big stage. Additionally, Great Britain had a standout performance in the qualification round, surprising with their combination of difficulty and style and finishing in third place,

Top 5 Prediction:
1. USA
2. China
3. GBR
4. Russia
5. Japan

They Said It

“Taking away from this competition, obviously we had a couple bumps in the road, but we all look like we are getting a lot more comfortable out on the floor with our gymnastics—it looks like it is ‘on.’ So now we just have to go out and perform that gymnastics. -Brandon Wynn on Team USA’s performance

"My main dream would be to open up some sort of sports med clinic with an MD or a DO—maybe with a professional sports team or USA Gymnastics—something where I could work with a physician and be apart of gymnastics through sport again.” -Paul Ruggeri on his career after gymnastics


Related:
World Championships Central