Japan rallies to capture gold in the men's team final at the world gymnastics championships

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Japan surged to win gold in the men's team final at the world gymnastics championships on Tuesday, using excellent routines over the last two rotations to move past Great Britain and China and hold off Russia.

Two years after winning a thrilling final at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Japanese remained on top by posting a total of 251.928, well clear of a resurgent Russia, which won silver in its first major international team appearance since the 2020 Olympics.

The Russians, competing officially as “World Gymnastics 2” after World Gymnastics — the sport's governing body — lifted a ban against Russian athletes stemming from the country's war with Ukraine, edged China for second place at 250.329. China won bronze at 249.193.

Great Britain, which was in the lead going through four of the six rotations, slipped to fourth. The Brits ran into trouble during the fifth rotation when Courtney Tulloch fell during his parallel bar routine, a no-no during the three-up/three-count finals.

Japan used a stellar 14.566 on parallel bars by Shohei Kawakami to move into the lead. Kawakami then fell while leading off on high bar in the final routine, but teammates Fusuke Maeda and reigning world and Olympic all-around champion Daiki Hashimoto followed with nearly flawless routines. Hashimoto punctuated Japan's third straight world team title by drilling his high bar dismount. His score of 14.866 was more than enough to keep the Japanese atop the podium.

Switzerland was a surprising fifth at 246.497, over a point clear of the United States in sixth.

The Americans, who won bronze in Paris two years ago, struggled to generate any momentum and fell out of medal contention in the fourth rotation when Danila Leykin fell on a release and then later stalled during the middle of his routine.

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