Despite an admirable, tenacious effort from a team lacking some of its most prolific performers, Great Britain narrowly missed out on a medal in the men’s team final of the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp. After an excellent duel with the USA team lasted until the final two rotations, the talented Americans pulled away to take the bronze medal with a score of 252.428 and a three-point lead.
Having established their dominance in qualifications, Japan clinched the world title with a score of 255.594. Behind them, China recovered from a disastrous showing in qualifications to clinch a deserved silver medal with a score of 255.594
It is a reflection of the depth of British men’s gymnastics that despite numerous notable absences – including Joe Fraser, the 2019 parallel bar world champion, and Giarnni Regini Moran, the floor champion last year – the Great Britain team still qualified for the final in third place and fought for medals.
Ahead of them, Japan and the USA led the field, but the results from the qualifying round were deceptive. After a catastrophic qualifying performance, China finished in eighth place, very nearly missing the final. China have won eight of the past 10 world championship team competitions, including last year in Liverpool, yet they have generated a reputation for not necessarily being as motivated in the qualifying rounds. In the finals, though, they always perform.
In the absence of the two prominent team members Jake Jarman, the Great Britain team’s rookie last year, took a more central role and handled himself extremely well. They started on the pommel horse, an excruciatingly difficult apparatus where all nerves and tension is laid bare.
After James Hall opened up the evening with a fall, though, Jarman followed with a steady score of 13.2. In his first final since he won his third Olympic gold in Tokyo, the team looked to their greatest gymnast, Max Whitlock. As always, he delivered. He weaved through his supremely difficult set with typical assurance and ease.
Great Britain gave themselves a chance for a medal with a fine vaulting exhibition. Jarman led the way with a brilliant effort on his Yonekura vault before extremely difficult vaults from Harry Hepworth and Courtney Tulloch followed. After finishing 18th out of 24 on vault in qualifications, their score of 44.599 on the apparatus was the highest on the night and an improvement by 2.9 points.
As Great Britain moved through the rotations, China predictably were a completely different team compared to the qualifying rounds, pounding through the first three rotations, their prospects of securing a medal immediately clear. The USA, meanwhile, struggled on pommel horse, their second rotation, but recovered strongly. While Japan also suffered a fall on the pommel horse, they methodically established their supremacy and began to pull away from the leading group. After four rotations, things could not have been tighter. Japan led Great Britain, with China and the USA in third and fourth – just 1.5 points separated the quartet.
In the end, the final medals were decided on the penultimate rotation. While James Hall peeled off the horizontal bar, Great Britain’s lack of difficulty on the apparatus in the absence of Fraser was laid bare. China became the only top contender to escape the pommel horse without any falls and the USA pieced together a strong trio of routines on the parallel bars, establishing a three point lead over Great Britain that they held until the end.
