It’s happening!

In the team department, the first subdivision features big boys Russia and China, as well as Spain’s team, and an Oleg-free Ukraine trying to make do with 3 athletes on 4 of the 6 events.

Everyone for Russia is slated for every event on the start list, but Abliazin is listed 4th on several events and Dalaloyan is listed 4th on others, so we’ll see how much “I’m actually doing this routine” ends up happening versus how much “I’m straight-up a corpse.” Dalaloyan is also listed for two vaults. WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?

Nagornyy and Belyavisky will be the favorites to make the AA for Russia. Xiao Ruoteng and Sun Wei will enter as the favorites to make the AA for China, but it’s a close enough race that a fall can certainly upend things. This subdivision will also set the stage for what’s needed in terms of EF qualifying scores, but it will be hard to tell what’s actually going to hold up at this point.

As for the individual competitors, the big one to watch will be the second rotation, when McClenaghan will be up 4th on horse, Deurloo and Zonderland will be on high bar, and Zapata will be on floor. Also that’s Russia’s vault rotation (ack) and Zou Jingyuan’s PBars. So, that one’s going to be busy. But we’ll also see Dolgopyat and Shatilov on floor in rotation 3 and Dragulescu on vault in rotation 4.

---

In the team race, China starts on vault and Russia starts on rings. Rings should be a really good event for Russia, but vault is vault, so China will expect a lead after 1.

Just 19 of the individual men are slated to do the all-around. That means that with 2-per-country, there are only 43 possible people to qualify for the 24 AA final spots.

I have both the Tokyo live scores and the NBC live scores pages up to test which one is better and updates faster.

We’ve got the Australian world feed audio for our feed so far. Not complaining.

Marched out!

PA announcer only doing the countries, not the athletes names. They were confused. Netherlands not here for the intros, chilling in the back until sub 2.

Rotation 1

Lin Chaopan has cupping all over the place.

Lin – VT – Kas 2/1 and it’s quite solid, small step back, leg crossing throughout, comfortably completed. 14.666

Xiao – VT – hit his Kas 2/1 as well, better twisting form but steps stideways out of bounds, a medium lunge over there

Yudenkov starts Ukraine with 12.966 on horse. Not a disaster but he wanted 13s. Belvayskiy went 14.00 on rings.

Xiao 14.700 on vault. A reward for his better form.

Pakhniuk second on pommel horse, he’s a little short of vertical on his scissors up to handstand, has a moment of real crazy legs on a Russian travel but stayed on.

14.766 for Sun Wei on his Kas 2/1, so China will be quite pleased by those vault scores.

Just 12.866 for Pakhniuk on horse.

Nagornyy 14.333 on rings. He can do a bit better but that’s fine.

Spain will need to drop Diallo’s 11.100 on HB.

Jessen getting his broadcast moment on floor. Looks like Zou will not compete vault for China. They have 3 scores they want. Jessen goes through cleanly, only a few steps. 13.466, best floor so far.

Abliazin 14.800 on rings, which should be a good mark for finals, at least at this point.

Plata with a must-hit HB for Spain – Cassina is clean – Kolman a little close but works out of it – layout tkatchev, again a bit of elbows – tkatchev 1/2 – tak 1/2, not too bad – rybalko extremely late – oohhhhhh, it was going so well but a fall on his DLO 2/1 attempt, which means a counting fall for Spain on HB.

We didn’t see Dalaloyan on rings, but he went 14.500, which would indicate not a death.

Now it’s individual time for Russia on rings, the only event still going in rotation 1. Very good hit, pace back on his double double tuck, pretty straight on second salto.

China went 44.132 on vault to Russia’s 43.633 on rings. Both teams will be comfortable with those scores.

After 1:
China – 44.132
Russia – 43.633
Ukraine – 39.498
Spain – 38.832

A look back at Abliazin’s 14.800 rings routine during the rotation break. Very secure planche and handstands, hitting vertical – DLO 2/1 dismount is short with a lunge forward, so he’ll be able to improve by several tenths on that 14.800 later on.

Rotation 2

This is the big one, at least for the individuals and Dalaloyan’s vaulting.

So it’s really great that we’re starting on rings instead of on Deurloo’s HB.

Belyavskiy opened with a 14.300 vault.

Deurloo with a 14.400 on HB! Very competitive!

Abad goes OOB on a double front pike 1/2 out, both feet out – attempts a front full to double front pike but tucks it too much and steps OOB again.

Nagornyy 14.700 on first vault, 14.866 on second vault. That should get him back to the vault final.

A casual leadoff 15.133 for Sun Wei on PB.

This coverage is excruciating.

Now we’re on to Mohamed on HB, while Abliazin gets 14.900 for his first vault. Abliazin’s second vault is 14.566, which puts him just below Nagornyy on average.

Well it’s 15.400 for Xiao in the second PB routine for China. They’re like, BYE GOOBERS.

Dalaloyan – VT – Sweet lord he’s vaulting – he attempts a double front puck for some reason – step to the side, mummified feet – but hit it.

He got credit for the pike and an E score over 9. So that’s where we are.

Zonderland – HB – Cassina is hit, leg break – Kolamn same, he’s getting trhough with huge leg breaks but staying on – DLO 2/1, tucks significantly at the end, stuck landing. He did well to get through, I can’t imagine the execution score will be competitive though.

14.733 for Lin Chaopan on PB, like a loser who doesn’t get 15s.

Zou – PB – Makuts work is so clean – diam, right to vertical – peach 1/2 with a hand placement – front atraddle to arms, good – bhavsar, good – healy down – small arch and hand placement – double front 1/2 out, small step. Not his strongest but no large errors, will be huge score.

SO WE DIDN’T SEE RHYS.

Zonderland goes 13.833, which is not going to do it.

A hit for McClenaghan with a 15.266. Definite final.

16.166 for Zou Jingyuan. Definite final.

You Hao doing PB, got the spot through the PB apparatus world cup – double tuck and pike comfortable – hestiation in peach 1/2 – love his salto work, but we’re seeing some form errors elsewhere – douyble front 1/2 out, step back and some surfing.

Zapata 15.041 on floor!

China goes 46.699 on PB, Russia 44.258 on vault. China now up 1.6 on its pace from the 2019 TF, while Russia is a couple tenths shy.

15.666 for You Hao, that will get him to the final as the second Chinese member.

Now we get to look back at McClenaghan – beautiful extended body position – only very small hesitations. Good hit.

China leads Russia by 3 points after 2 events.

Sun Wei currently leads Lin Chaopan by 6 tenths in the race for the AA final.

Rotation 3

Heaven forbid we see Sun Wei’s HB when we could see Yudenkov’s Kas 1/1. A hit?

Shatilov – FX – 3.5 to 1/2, hop to the side, some direction – 2.5 to rudi, bounce back OOB – double double is solid, small hop – 1.5 to front full to tuck full, solid – 3/1, ragged, step forward. Did another Olympics!

Sun Wei starts with a 14.000.

Pakhniuk barely lands a Kas 1.5 but does, lunge back. 14.100.

Nagornyy starts PB with a 14.966.

Belyavskiy – PB – small hesitation to start – tippelt, comfortable up to handstand – bhavsar is hit – elbows on front toss – stutz to one with another leg break – double front 1/2 is fine, hop back. Meh.

14.266 for Xiao on HB.

Lin Chaopan – HB – Cassina is solid – Kolman good – layout tkatchev 1/2, caught – tak 1/2 – tkatchev 1/2 – some elbows on a lot of these catches- nice finish position on full – DLO 2/1, stuck landing. Very strong. 14.200.

Oooh! Looks like Radivilov missed his second bault. Just 14.074 average.

Dolgopyat goes 15.200 on floor, which we didn’t see. That’s the leading floor score so far.

Dalaloyan through PB with a 15.233. Russia will gain a lot of group back on China in this rotation. In fact Russia will now move ahead.

Kartsev – PB – hits tippelt but not the highest one we’ll see – strong straddle has strong amplitude – diam is nice and fluid – stutz a little short – double front 1/2 out, shuffle back. 14.900.

Poliahov will have to get a SCORE. He does well to stick his double front 1/2 out, but we already have 15.3 and 15.2 for Russia here.

Drat. Poliashov at 15.133 will keep him out of the PB final.

Russia leads China by a little more than a tenth now.

We’re looking back on Dolgopyat on floor, just some small steps on his first couple passes but sticks several in the second 1/2. Only some .1 hops a couple chest positions. Short landing on a triple double.

Anyway Dalaloyan is leading the AA upside down face emoji.

Rotation 4

Dolgopyat’s pommel horse is the routine we get live. A MUST SEE ROUTINE. Keeping a good high position over the pommels, legs together, was going well but couldn’t get up to handstand for his dismount. Will have to get back on to do a dismount.

Nagornyy 14.466 on HB, solid number for him there.

14.333 for Sun Wei on floor.

Dragulescu – VT 1 – and a fall – round off 1/2 on front 2.5 attempt. Well short. More than a 1/4 twist short.

Second vault – does a Dragulescu and it’s solid, lunge back.

Belyavskiy 14.033 on HB.

13.966 for Lin Chapoan on floor will not help his AA quest compared to Sun.

Xiao – FX – randi, short with a small hop – 3.5 to 1/2, stuck with some chest down – double double, stuck – 2.5 to front 2/1, small hop and some knees – 2/1, stuck – 3/1, good completion, hop back. Solid. First pass was the only issue.

Huge 14.866 for Xiao, will get China back out in front after 4 events. By about 1/2 a point.

Oooof. Abad couldn’t get up to handstand at the end, and then crashed his dismount. He’s having a DAY. Towel abuse warning.

Kartsev falls on a Tkatchev 1/2 on HB. Valentina’s like, “CRAZY LIKE A FOX.”

So, China has the .480 lead on Russia now as a team. Sun has about 6 and a half tenths on Lin in the race. Dalaloyan has 8 tenths on Belvayskiy. Nagornyy the top Russian now. Xiao in front overall.

Long score delay for Kartsev. Valentina is like, “Just send him a piece of paper that says HA HA.” It was 12.000

Rotation 5

Zou is back in action for his other amazing event, PH, where he’s leading off. Was extremely clean until dismount but did work through it, a pause and it looked like he might come off but he worked through it. Hips dip but probably not enough to be a THING thing.

Abliazin goes 14.300 for his first competitive floor routine in four years. So there’s that.

14600 for Zou, so I think they were fine with it. Sun Wei extremely strong as well, one small leg break and that was it.

Another fall for Abad. He’s having…a bad.

15.066 for nagonyy on floor. Noteworthy for how we’ve still seen none of his routines.

Kovtun – HB – layout tkatchev to tkatchev 1/2 – Yam was quite piked and a little close – tkatchev, nice – stalder tkatchev 1/2, sluggish to get into but caught – tak full is late, as is the 1/2 – Ukraine is having a dire one today – hop back on DLO 2/1

Ooof only 12.933 for Balyavskiy on floor. Well, if there was any question about Dalaloyan going before this…

OK here wwe go.

Dalaloyan – FX – front lay to double front pike, hop back – front full to 2.5, short landing, hop forward – a rudi looked a little troubling and painful, but he’s staying alive – 2/1, doesn’t try to stick it – 3/1, hop back. How is he alive?

Dalaloyan is full crying now on the chairs.

13.700 for Dalaloyan. That will have to count, and China will take a lead of more than a point to the final rotation.

Individually, Dalaloyan will expand his lead over Belyavskiy, who missed. And Sun also has a large lead on Lin Chaopan. Someone would have to fall now to change things.

A couple OOBs for Kartsev. 13.733.

Rotation 6

One rotation left. Things moving a very specific direction. We also have Srbic on HB in the final rotation.

Meanwhile, Xiao is .001 ahead of Nagornyy.

The most critical routine: Mohamed on vault. Yurchenko 2.5 and bunny hops sideways off the mat – pretty form

Srbic – HB – stalder tkatchev to katchev to layout tkatchev to tkatchev 1/2, good – tak 1/2 – layout tkatchev 1/2 – tak full pretty late – stalder, short – DLO 1/1, very clean, stuck. Good one. Just a couple late pirouette positions.

Sun Wei starts rings with 14.233.

13.800 for Dalaloyan on PH, goes 85.957 on the day.

14.633 for Srbic on HB will lead the way on that event.

Kovtun – FX – Missed punch on his attempted 3.5 combination, off from the start.

14.200 for Xiao on rings. He’s done on 87.732.

14.366 for Nagornyy on horse gives him 87.897, so he will lead the AA.

Belyavskiy on pommel horse. He’s not capable of passing Dalaloyan overall with this routine. Goes through quite cleanly. Nice. 14.733. He’ll come up short of Dalaloyan but really should be placed into the AA final when Dalaloyan gets withdrawn. Please.

Lin Chapoan just 13.433 on rings but it IS barely enough to get China ahead of Russia by about a tenth on the day.

China 262.061, Russia 261.945.

Verrry short rings dismount from You Hao. Still gets 14.800 for it, which puts him tied with Abliazin but behind on E.

Liu Yang finishing us on rings with a lovely inverted cross – good comfortable maltese position into cross – arches a handstand but pulls it back and controls – double double tuck, step back. Best rings we’ve seen. 15.300

After 1 subdivision
1. China – 262.061
2. Russia – 261.945
3. Ukraine – 247.492
4. Spain – 241.462

I don’t imagine that will get Ukraine back to the TF, but you never know.

In the AA
1. Nagornyy – 87.897
2. Xiao – 87.732
3. Sun – 87.298
4. Dalaloyan – 85.957

So they will make the AA from China and Russia (for now)

Events:
Floor is Dolgopyat, then Nagornyy, then Zapata. They all have a good shot to make it back.

McClenaghan leads horse and will make it back, followed by Sun and Belyavskiy.

On rings, it’s Liu well out in front, then Abliazin and You

Vault is Nagornyy then Abliazin

PB is Zou then You (Xiao is 2-per), then Pakhniuk. We already saw 8 people go over 15 there.

Hb is Srbic, then Nagornyy, then Deurloo. Nagornyy moving ahead of Deurloo makes his mission more challenging.

For the eventers, if you’re Dolgopyat, McClenaghan, Liu Zou, and Srbic, you’re very pleased with qualification.

I’ll have a new post for the next subdivision.