Worlds 2026 Men's Team Final: Japan Win Without Their Best, Russia Return, and Great Britain's High Bar Heartbreak

The men's team final in Rotterdam finished the way everyone predicted: Japan on top, with Russia and China on the podium. How they got there was nothing like what anyone predicted. Every score below is from the official results, and you can tap into who counted what on our team final board.

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JAPAN: GOLD, 251.928

Japan came in with a buffer after 254.529 in qualification, and won on 251.928.

Japan's day was just okay. They only had one fall, Shohei Kawakami on his Winkler on high bar (13.100), but nothing else really took off. Shinnosuke Oka had an awkward Honma, they all stepped on floor landings, and parallel bars averaged about 14.0, compared to 14.8 in qualification.

Then there was Fusuke Maeda on high bar. He nails the Maras, nails his Cassina to Kolman connection, goes for his Tkatchev half and doesn't connect the Def. In fact he doesn't do it at all: he winds up for the dismount and downgrades the triple back to a double layout full twist. Honestly, this was the most relieving routine of the day for me. Japan didn't need a 15.5 to win, and Fusuke still scored 14.333 with what is an easy routine for him.

Daiki Hashimoto competed all six again, for 84.865, the highest all-around total of the night. Japan's lineup is so deep that Oka, the reigning Olympic all-around and high bar champion, only did floor, rings and parallel bars. Kawakami did everything except floor, which tells me Japan knows exactly what he's capable of. It's such a shame he can't fight for gold in the all-around final, after two-per-country kept him out of it.

Japan's standout routine came last, from Daiki on high bar. He's the Tokyo high bar champion and he's been in this exact spot so many times: last up on high bar with a gold on the line. In qualification he fell on the Cassina. Here he nailed the whole routine and stuck the dismount for 14.866, sealing Japan's world title. Their head coach said Daiki is in a class of his own, and there was a lot of yelling and celebrating from the team, which is always nice to see. What a team, capable of much more. Japan are the only country with the luxury of winning gold without hitting 18 for 18.

RUSSIA: SILVER, 250.329

Russia take silver in their return to the World Championships after years away. This is a great result for a young team that's really rebuilding for the future.

Arsenii Dukhno did the all-around again, with a very similar day to qualification: 83.932, against 83.866. Russia had a day a lot like Japan's. Most routines weren't incredible, but they probably made the fewest mistakes, and that lifted them above the rest of the field. The biggest disappointment was Ilia Zaika not producing the rings score he should, with a low dismount for 13.300.

Russia won high bar on the day, 0.266 ahead of Japan (remember Kawakami fell on his Winkler). Floor was their last apparatus. Sergei Naidin had their lowest score of the night, 12.733, but Dukhno was last up and nailed his routine for 14.500. He doesn't just nail the landings he sticks: he saves the less-than-ideal ones too, still scoring 14.5 with his double twist and double front passes.

It took me back to the Tokyo Olympics, when Russia won team gold, waiting in line for that last score and celebrating. Politics aside, it's good to see Russian gymnastics back on the main stage. These guys train their whole lives to do one thing extremely well: gymnastics.

CHINA: BRONZE, 249.193

China did it, they stayed on the podium. It looked a bit shaky after Zhang Boheng had to pull out and qualification wasn't a great showing. No surprises: China won rings and parallel bars, helped by Lan Xingyu's 14.733 on rings and Zou Jingyuan's ever-trustworthy 15 on parallel bars (15.366).

They had a pretty good day, especially Tian Hao, who had a shocker in qualification. He gave the team three good scores on floor (13.700), pommels (13.666) and high bar (14.566). He and Li Hongyan showed quite a bit of emotion near the end, which was refreshing. Yang Haonan did the all-around again, only really messy on floor (12.466), and finished on another good 82.231.

The most shocking moment of the night was Li Hongyan's high bar. Going into his giants, he slipped straight off the bar and landed in a very awkward position. He went back up and repeated the skill, which was freaky to watch, but he was fine the second time around. Third is a good result for this team, and it'll be interesting to see what China's team looks like going forward.

GREAT BRITAIN: FOURTH, 247.395

Great Britain were the team that could have achieved greatness. This is the strongest GB team we've seen in a long time. Their counting D score was 96.6, only four tenths behind Japan's 97.0. But they didn't hit.

Sadly, Joe Fraser had a terrible day. He was first up on floor and fell on the team's very first skill. The team made up for it incredibly, with Jake Jarman's 14.500 and a stuck dismount from Harry Hepworth for 14.300. They made up so much that their floor total beat Japan's by 0.001, despite counting a fall.

Pommels was decent, counting a 14.433 from Reuben Ward, and Joe settled in with a lovely routine (14.166). Jake was a little messier than in qualification (13.366).

Harry is any team's best bet in a team final. Just like at the Euros, all three of his routines were exceptional. I was worried about his rings dismount, and then he did the best triple back dismount I have ever seen (14.666). The same couldn't be said for Courtney Tulloch, whose rings were a scary watch (13.500). GB had the highest vault total of anyone, 43.499, with Jake's Yonekura (14.866), Harry's front two-and-a-half (14.600) and Courtney's Dragulescu (14.033).

After four apparatus, GB were actually top of the leaderboard despite their mistakes. But their weakest events were still to come, and I knew they needed a bigger buffer to hold on.

Joe locked in on parallel bars and let out a shriek on his landing (14.066). After a rough start, he'd nailed three routines in a row and was definitely feeling it. Then Courtney missed the bars on a skill and scored 12.233, and the cracks were showing. On high bar, Reuben did his job with 13.500 and Jake scored 13.233, but poor Joe. He scared all of us on the STAG+ stream by not releasing his Cassina, then going for it again and sending it super close, and he fell (12.000). Parallel bars and high bar cost GB 5.666 against Japan.

GB didn't put anyone up on all six. Their lineup is the dream: every slot is someone's best routine, rather than strong all-rounders filling gaps. With everyone hitting, the only weak spots are Jake and Reuben on high bar. Both can do more difficulty, as we've seen in their training clips. If they get those skills into routines, Great Britain could be a force to be reckoned with heading into LA 2028.

UNITED STATES: SIXTH, 245.161

The USA had a decent chance at second, but finished sixth, their lowest Worlds team finish since 2006. Right from the start on rings, the whole team scored lower than they're capable of, and Shane Wiskus once again counted a 12 (12.833). Shane nailed his parallel bars set and let out a scream like Joe's (14.333). Danila Leykin counted 13.033 on parallel bars, then 11.466 on high bar with two falls.

Kameron Nelson showed another big floor routine, downgrading his dismount, which was a smart choice and led to a stick (14.133). Fred Richard looked alright, only messing up on pommels (12.866), which we didn't see on the broadcast. The real highlight was Patrick Hoopes's 14.833 on pommels, his second great routine of these Worlds ahead of the pommels final.

It's been a very disappointing Worlds for the USA. They still have Danila and Fred in the all-around final, Fred on floor and Patrick on pommels, plus a couple of first reserves.

THE REST OF THE FINAL

Switzerland were the only team to hit 18 for 18, and slot into fifth on 246.497. The E scores were great, which just shows their lack of difficulty, but it's still a great result for them.

The Netherlands (7th, 241.294) and Colombia (8th, 240.093) were just happy to be here. The Netherlands were electric in front of a home crowd. You could hear the crowd every time they were up. Casimir Schmidt said this was their best performance ever, and that he never thought he'd get to experience a team final in his own career.

Colombia counted too many falls. Camilo Vera and Angel Barajas really are the two stars of this team, both doing the all-around and both hitting 81+ again (83.432 for Angel, 81.231 for Camilo). We saw some interesting high bar construction from both. Angel is no longer tagging the Ginger onto the end of his Tkatchev half. He's doing a Liukin by itself later in the routine instead, which upgrades him by another tenth to 6.8 D, and should mean fewer deductions, since the Ginger and kip out can pick up a couple of tenths. He scored 14.900. Camilo's routine is a big one, and he even finished with a triple-twisting double layout. It's always hard to know what he'll do on high bar, and I'm so glad we get to watch both of them in that final.

WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE ALL-AROUND FINAL

My qualification guide has the longer all-around breakdown, but from this competition: Daiki showed 84.865 and a lot of consistency. Arsenii scored 83.932 and was only let down by rings. Daniel Marinov's four routines looked strong, especially 14.700 on parallel bars. Yang Haonan put up another 82. And a few people need to lock in: Joe, Danila and Fred, especially Danila. He's had two bad competitions in a row and will need a very strong mental game going into the final.

Watch the all-around final with me as a STAG+ member on the website, or I'll see you when we have a new all-around world champion.

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