China wins the team gold (Photo FIG)
Rising stars Yang Lanbin, Wang Chengcheng and Zheng Ao led China to its first Artistic Gymnastics Junior World Championships team title in Manila, out-manoeuvering Japan and bronze medallist USA.
China started slowly on Horizontal Bar but picked up steam as the competition unfolded on the opening day at the Marriott Grand Ballroom in Pasay City. The Chinese trio posted the highest team totals for Floor Exercise, Pommel Horse, Still Rings and Vault to make the gymnastics powerhouse’s first ever team medal at a Junior World Championships gold.
Early issues on Horizontal Bar forced the Chinese to count a sub-12 point score in the unforgiving three-up three-count format. But Yang, Wang and Zheng Ao diligently hacked away at the deficit with hit performances everywhere else. 13.300 by Yang and 13.100 from Wang on Parallel Bars in the final rotation was enough to pull them ahead by six tenths of a point. China’s winning total was 163.095.
“There were a lot of ups and downs, but I’m really happy right now,” said Wang, who led the way with the highest score of the competition on Pommel Horse (14.100) and was the best Chinese performer on Still Rings.
“We just had the National Games in China a week ago and I got to do that, and now I’ve experienced the World Championships too, which is a big event for our junior teams. I’ve been a little tired from that, but team and country come first.”
2023 champions Japan, represented by Ojima Nao, Yasui Eijun and Kakutani Taiki, hit 17 of 18 routines to earn silver with 162.429. The young Japanese squad overcame some pre-competition jitters to perform themselves onto the podium, explained team captain Ojima.
“We come from different clubs and haven’t done many competitions, so I was a bit nervous,” explained Ojima, a 17-year-old who qualified for Saturday’s All-Around final in third place.
“But we all practiced and worked together, and I think we played a good match. I was pretty apprehensive during my first routine, but I think I was able to switch gears and do well afterwards.”
What seemed like a cut-and-dried silver for Japan was complicated by the United States’s Dante Reive, Danila Leykin and Nathan Roman, who displayed moments of brilliance across the six apparatus to finish with bronze just 0.1 behind the Japanese.
Clutch performances came from Rieve, the highest scorer on Still Rings (13.933), and the elegant Leykin, who had the best scores of the day on Parallel Bars (14.100) and Horizontal Bar (14.466). The USA’s bronze medal total was 162.239.
“Team USA is on the hunt!” Leykin exclaimed, and Rieve predicted more medals to come.
The French effort took flight on Horizontal Bar, where twin scores of 14.066 by Nael Sakouhi and Leeroy Traore-Malatre galvanised the team.
The French went on to nail tricky sets on Floor Exercise and Pommel Horse for 161.762 and fourth. Great Britain, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands rounded out the top eight.
Dukhno makes an All-Around impression
The men’s All-Around qualification was always going to be a good show, and neutral athlete Arsenii Dukhno assumed the starring role. The 17-year-old started by scoring an enormous 14.500 for a Floor Exercise that would have been at home in any world final and went on from there, displaying fully mature routines across the six apparatus.
Even a fall on Parallel Bars and some issues on Horizontal Bar could not keep Dukhno from leading the way in the All-Around with 82.065, 1.3 points ahead of China’s Yang, second with 80.698. Ojima, Leykin and Kakutani were third, fourth, and fifth, with 1.633 separating Dukhno from Kakutani.
In addition to Floor, Dukhno qualified first to the apparatus final on Vault, where he tossed a triple-twisting Yurchenko and averaged 14.216. He was also third on Pommel Horse and fourth on Still Rings.
Filipino Karl Eldrew Yulo, the younger brother of Olympic champion Carlos Yulo, was the host nation’s top performer, advancing to the Floor Exercise final in second place with 14.233 and also qualifying for finals on Vault, Horizontal Bar and in the All-Around.
Before the competition Yulo admitted to feeling the weight of expectations that come when your sibling has achieved Olympic greatness, but said his main goal was to take everything he could from the Junior Worlds experience.
“This is going to be my first and last [Junior Worlds] and so I’m just going to enjoy this competition,” said Yulo, who spent seven months in Japan this year training to give Thursday’s performance. Going forward, “I will do my best instead of pressuring myself,” he added.
