Team China

China and Japan weren’t playing when they selected their teams for this year’s Summer Universiade – or University Games – competition, with both sending world championships-caliber teams that went above and beyond in today’s team final.

The competition in Chengdu was spread out over two days for the men, with the first two subdivisions taking place on Tuesday, while the remaining two were held this afternoon, with China participating in subdivision three while Japan had a spot in the fourth and final round of competition.

Both teams put up performances that outshined their respective team performances at world championships last year, but in the end, it was China that came out on top again after also winning gold at worlds, scoring a 262.594 to Japan’s 260.562, a two-point margin made up largely thanks to the team’s advantages on rings and parallel bars. The Japanese team did get a bit of a leg-up on floor, pommel horse, and vault, and the teams were pretty well-matched on high bar, but being so far behind on China’s best events – where China went 45.066 and a massive 45.932, respectively – kept them unable to get the upset.

The Chinese program typically sends a weaker squad to this competition, with Japan generally dominating in the men’s field, but hosting the event of course called for an upgrade, and China took the best of the best. The team was led by 2021 world all-around champion Zhang Boheng, who put up an 87.699 today with a fall on pommels. The fall left him almost exactly a point behind Japan’s Hashimoto Daiki, the 2022 world all-around champion, who leads after qualifications with an 88.698. If we give Zhang back exactly one point for his fall, he would have finished one one-thousandth ahead of his friendly rival. It’s impossible to predict which of the two will come out on top in the final, but what we know for sure is that the pair remains so far ahead of the rest of the world, and it continues to be absolutely thrilling watching them push each other further and further each year as they work toward Paris 2024.

Also competing in the all-around for China were Shi Cong, who qualified in third place with an 85.431, and Lan Xingyu, who was fifth with an 84.831, while Zou Jingyuan was at his finest on pommels, rings, and parallel bars, and Su Weide rounded out the group on floor, vault, and high bar.

For Japan, second-best to Hashimoto was Kaya Kazuma qualifying in fourth place with an 84.998, while Kawakami Shohei finished seventh with an 84.031. The team’s floor and vault specialist Minami Kazuki contributed the team’s best scores on both of those events with a 14.733 and 14.8, respectively, while Sugimoto Kaito contributed 14+ scores on rings, parallel bars, and high bar, and also put up a pommels routine.

Taking the bronze medal were the South Koreans about a point and a half ahead of the United States. The team was led by Ryu Sunghyun, who finished 10th in the all-around with an 82.698, and did its best collective work on floor and vault. The U.S. men competed in the first subdivision on Tuesday, leading the competition for the day with a 246.361 and doing a strong job overall, especially considering that most of the guys on competing here will not be in the mix for the worlds team. While they were ultimately pretty far behind on several events – namely floor, pommels, rings, and parallel bars – I think the big takeaway here is that the guys were at their best on high bar of all apparatuses, scoring more than a point higher than last year’s worlds team thanks to a 14.6 from standout Fred Richard, who qualified in ninth place as an all-arounder, along with a 13.833 from Taylor Christopulos and a 13.633 from Joshua Karnes.

Rounding out the top eight were Kazakhstan in fifth with a 243.894, Taiwan in sixth with a 243.462, Italy in seventh with a 243.126, and Switzerland in eighth with a 242.094.

In the all-around competition, Milad Karimi of Kazakhstan was the top qualifier outside of China and Japan, finishing fifth with an 84.331, while Lee Chih-Kai of Taiwan was eighth with an 83.299.

In addition to dominating in the team and all-around rankings, China and Japan also led most of the apparatus finals, including Lan with a 15.3 on rings and Zou with a 15.866 on parallel bars for China, and Minami with a 14.733 on floor and Hashimoto with a 15.033 on pommels and a 15.266 on high bar, but we did see one outsider break into these ranks, as Nazar Chepurnyi of Ukraine led vault with a 14.699 average.

The complete team final ranking is below, as are the lists of the all-around final and apparatus final qualifiers are below (italicized athletes are not eligible to compete in the final due to the two-per-country limitations).

Team Final Results

1. China 262.594
2. Japan 260.562
3. South Korea 247.827
4. United States 246.361
5. Kazakhstan 243.894
6. Taiwan 243.462
7. Italy 243.126
8. Switzerland 242.094
9. Türkiye 241.894
10. Spain 236.093
11. Ukraine 235.826
12. Germany 234.160
13. Austria 226.926
14. Australia 226.327
15. Finland 224.895
16. Uzbekistan 222.493
17. Cyprus 217.659

All-Around Qualification Results

1. Hashimoto Daiki, Japan, 88.698
2. Zhang Boheng, China, 87.699
3. Shi Cong, China, 85.431
4. Kaya Kazuma, Japan, 84.998
5. Lan Xingyu, China, 84.831
6. Milad Karimi, Kazakhstan, 84.331
7. Kawakami Shohei, Japan, 84.031
8. Lee Chih-Kai, Taiwan, 83.299
9. Fred Richard, United States, 82.999
10. Ryu Sunghyun, South Korea, 82.698
11. Adem Asil, Türkiye, 81.698
12. Nicolau Mir, Spain, 80.931
13. Joshua Karnes, United States, 80.798
14. Ian Raubal, Switzerland, 80.431
15. Lorenzo Bonicelli, Italy, 80.098
16. Lay Giannini, Italy, 80.065
17. Ivan Tikhonov, Azerbaijan, 79.698
18. Alexander Kunz, Germany, 79.598
19. Landen Blixt, United States, 79.032
20. Pantely Kolodii, Ukraine, 79.031
21. Samir Serhani, Switzerland, 78.765

R1. Ilyas Azizov, Kazakhstan, 78.564
R2. Mehmet Kosak, Türkiye, 78.165
R3. Nazar Chepurnyi, Ukraine, 78.164
R4. Jose Nogueira, Portugal, 77.997

Floor Exercise Qualification Results

1. Minami Kazuki, Japan, 14.733
2. Hashimoto Daiki, Japan, 14.700
3. Milad Karimi, Kazakhstan, 14.666
4. Ryu Sunghyun, South Korea, 14.566
5. Zhang Boheng, China, 14.400
6. Niccolò Vannuchi, Italy, 14.266
7. Lorenzo Bonicelli, Italy, 14.133
8. Dmitriy Patanin, Kazakhstan, 14.000

R1. Seo Jungwon, South Korea, 13.900
R2. Shi Cong, China, 13.866
R3. Pau Jimenez, Spain, 13.800

Pommel Horse Qualification Results

1. Hashimoto Daiki, Japan, 15.033
2. Lee Chih-Kai, Taiwan, 14.866
3. Nariman Kurbanov, Kazakhstan, 14.433
4. Zou Jingyuan, China, 14.366
5. Kaya Kazuma, Japan, 14.333
6. Shiao Yu-Jan, Taiwan, 14.000
7. Lan Xingyu, China, 13.866
8. Shi Cong, China, 13.800
9. Gagik Khachikyan, Armenia, 13.766

R1. Ravshal Kamiljanov, Uzbekistan, 13.700
R2. Pantely Kolodii, Ukraine, 13.600
R3. Ian Skirkey, United States, 13.533

Still Rings Qualification Results

1. Lan Xingyu, China, 15.300
2. Nikita Simonov, Azerbaijan, 14.966
3. Zou Jingyuan, China, 14.933
4. Zhang Boheng, China, 14.833
5. Adem Asil, Türkiye, 14.833
6. Mahdi Ahmad Kohani, Iran, 14.600
7. Artur Avetisyan, Armenia, 14.566
8. Mehmet Kosak, Türkiye, 14.533
9. Vinzenz Höck, Austria, 14.466

R1. Marco Sarrugerio, Italy, 14.366
R2. Hashimoto Daiki, Japan, 14.333
R3. Kaya Kazuma, Japan, 14.133

Vault Qualification Results

1. Nazar Chepurnyi, Ukraine, 14.699
2. Tseng Wei-Sheng, Taiwan, 14.399
3. Kim Jaeho, South Korea, 14.366
4. Niccolò Vannucchi, Italy, 14.266
5. Pau Jimenez, Spain, 14.249
6. Adem Asil, Türkiye, 14.066
7. Asadbek Azamov, Uzbekistan, 13.999
8. Milad Karimi, Kazakhstan, 13.883

R1. Neofytos Kyriakou, Cyprus, 13.816
R2. Georgios Angonas, Cyprus, 13.766
R3. Alexander Kunz, Germany, 13.716

Parallel Bars Qualification Results

1. Zou Jingyuan, China, 15.866
2. Zhang Boheng, China, 15.400
3. Sugimoto Kaito, Japan, 14.866
4. Shi Cong, China, 14.666 
5. Hashimoto Daiki, Japan, 14.600
6. Lan Xingyu, China, 14.400 
7. Kawakami Shohei, Japan, 14.366
7. Kaya Kazuma, Japan, 14.366
9. Milad Karimi, Kazakhstan, 14.266
10. Marco Sarrugerio, Italy, 14.166
11. Dominic Tamsel, Switzerland, 14.100
12. Ryu Sunghyun, South Korea, 14.066

R1. Nicolau Mir, Spain, 14.000
R2. Lay Giannini, Italy, 13.966
R3. Kim Jaeho, South Korea, 13.933

High Bar Qualification Results

1. Hashimoto Daiki, Japan, 15.266
2. Zhang Boheng, Japan, 15.233
3. Shi Cong, China, 15.200
4. Milad Karimi, Kazakhstan, 14.800
5. Kawakami Shohei, Japan, 14.700
6. Fred Richard, United States, 14.600
7. Sugimoto Kaito, Japan, 14.100
8. Kaya Kazuma, Japan, 14.033
9. Su Weide, China, 13.866
10. Taylor Christopulos, United States, 13.833
11. Lee Chih-Kai, Taiwan, 13.800

R1. Adem Asil, Türkiye, 13.800
R2. Ryu Sunghyun, South Korea, 13.700
R3. Dominic Tamsel, Switzerland, 13.600

Article by Lauren Hopkins