Finally all caught up on the men's team finals and oh boyyy... that was too intense for my heart. Just when I thought Japan definitely had it, two falls on their last apparatus - high bar... one of which was Uchimura. It's a good thing they had a solid start because that gave them enough cushion for 2 falls on HB and 1 fall on PB.
USA was doing exceptionally well, but alas... their final rotation was also their Achilles heel - horse of death (a.k.a. pommel horse). They should still be proud of what they achieved though, they held up so well even without Dalton and Mikulak. Leyva can be a very strong contender for all-around, just needs to make sure he hits his pommel horse routine!! He was so good until the dismount.
Great Britain was... great, need I say more? Their final rotation on floor was such a crowd pleaser, I must say, Glasgow picked the right year to host the artistic gymnastics world championships. What a great motivational booster going into the final months before Rio.
Oh China, those floor and that one pommel horse routine costed them the gold... they had the highest average difficulty of the night, but for some odd reason just couldn't deliver this time round like they normally do. Both team China and Japan scored 3-4 points lower than they did during finals last year... some evaluation is needed as they proceed to Rio. China's team is made up of the exact same members from their 2014 world champion team with the exception of Xiao (who incidentally was the one to fell on pommel horse and gave China it's only score in the 13s) who has replaced Cheng (basically China's only true vault specialist). They'll need to get him up to speed as the rest already have experience in what it takes to win at this level on the international stage. Yeah, they certainly don't look too thrilled to be in third:
Russia in 4th, same as the women, but I'm actually pleased with what they had achieved because they looked like they were really fighting right till the end. Especially Ablyazin with the incredible floor routine to redeem himself from the self-destruction that happened during qualifications. Also, that Ri vault by Ablyazin was simply incredible, I look forward to watching him during the vault finals.
Brazil didn't feed off their excitement from qualifying to Rio too well... perhaps they got a little too excited. At least they'll be competing on home turf for the Olympics... it should give them the same boost as Glasgow did for team GB.
Final note, F.I.G.s commentator for this championship needs to brush up... on everything. I could hear, in the background, so much more coming from, what I assume, was the BBC commentary. Not every vault is a Yurchenko-entry vault!! Know the names of elements and PLEASE, take time to look at someone's name before you pronounce it during the live broadcast. No more Uchimuri, funky Chinese names or Whilcock (Seriously? Even your own countrymen?!!)
