Following the inevitability of yesterday’s US win and the thrilling “who’s the least splatty” preposterous of the race for the other medals, it’s now the men’s turn to try to deliver an equivalent level of delightful nonsense—but to the race for the gold medal.
Heading in, three clear countries have separated themselves in qualification—Russia, China, Japan—and it would be a major surprise were even one of them not to medal. Those are the three. But the race among the three of them? It’s live, with not enough separating them to feel confident that the qualification hierarchy will be maintained. A single dire rotation changes everything. And even Japan, which seemed a clear #3 entering worlds, will be buoyed by how close it came to China even while not getting the hoped-for contribution from either Tanigawa.
It’s team final day! Even though it doesn’t carry quite the same eeeeeeeeee as it did back in the days when the result was in doubt, it’s still the team final.
More or less, the teams advancing were those favored to do so—save for the revelation that Japan without Mai is weaker than we thought and the non-revelation that the Netherlands is phenomenal. Though the positions weren’t entirely predictable.
Be so proud of me that I didn’t miss any routines after a train delay (that wasn’t even because of a body on the tracks, so you know you’re not in America—just to set a morbid tone for the day).
News from the Japan, USA, Canada subdivision is that Wataru will not be competing all the events today.
