Japan Retains World Gymnastics Team Gold and Secures LA28 Place in Rotterdam

Japan wins gold after a tense final rotation

Japan retained the men's team title at the 2026 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam on Tuesday, 20 October, scoring 251.928 points to secure its eighth world team gold and a place at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. The victory came despite a fall on high bar in the final rotation, with Hashimoto Daiki completing the last Japanese routine for 14.866.

World Gymnastics 2, the neutral team of Russian gymnasts, won silver with 250.329, finishing 1.599 points behind Japan. The People's Republic of China took bronze with 249.193. All three medal winners earned Olympic team quotas for five men, giving their national programmes an early qualification breakthrough with two years remaining before LA28.

Japan's latest success follows its world title in Antwerp in 2023 and Olympic team gold at Paris 2024. Led by Olympic all around champions Hashimoto and Oka Shinnosuke, the team has now won three successive Olympic or world team competitions, its longest such sequence since its dominant run from 1960 through 1978.

What the final standings show

The championship's official men's team results place Great Britain fourth, Switzerland fifth and the United States sixth. The Olympics website's event account lists the Americans seventh, but the timing service records them sixth with 245.161, ahead of the Netherlands and Colombia.

The full standings show how the eight finalists finished:

• Japan: 251.928, gold.
• World Gymnastics 2: 250.329, silver.
• People's Republic of China: 249.193, bronze.
• Great Britain: 247.395.
• Switzerland: 246.497.
• United States: 245.161.
• Netherlands: 241.294.
• Colombia: 240.093.

Japan finished 2.735 points ahead of China, while the gap between silver and bronze was 1.136. Great Britain missed the podium and an early Olympic team place by 1.798 points.

How Hashimoto closed out the title

Japan moved into the lead after the fifth rotation, scoring 42.099 on parallel bars. Shohei Kawakami contributed 14.566 on that apparatus, helping put the defending champion in front before the teams moved to their final events. At that stage, fewer than one point, 0.967, separated first from fourth.

Kawakami, competing at his first world championships, then fell from high bar and scored 13.100. Fusuke Maeda followed with 14.333, leaving Hashimoto to complete Japan's competition. Hashimoto, who performed on all six apparatus, finished his routine with a secure landing and received 14.866.

The sequence explains why the final score alone gives an incomplete sense of the contest. Japan eventually won by more than a point and a half, yet the leading four teams had entered the last rotation closely grouped. Japan's earlier scoring and its final two high bar performances gave it enough room to absorb Kawakami's mistake.

Hashimoto also contributed 14.466 on pommel horse earlier in the final, while Ryosuke Doi scored 14.100. Those routines helped Japan stay near the front through a competition in which the lead changed as teams moved between apparatus.

A winning sequence nearly five decades in the making

Japan's eighth world team title was its second in succession. The three years between Antwerp and Rotterdam reflect the championship programme: Antwerp in 2023 was the previous world championships to include a team competition. Japan also won the Olympic team event in the intervening period.

The International Olympic Committee's championship account identifies Hashimoto and Oka as the Olympic all around champions leading the Japanese squad. The all around competition measures an individual gymnast across all six men's apparatus, while the team event combines routines from several gymnasts into a national total.

Japan last put together at least three consecutive Olympic or world team titles during the period from 1960 to 1978, when it won all 10 such competitions. The current sequence is shorter, but it represents Japan's longest uninterrupted run at the top of these events since that era.

Silver for the neutral Russian team

World Gymnastics 2 finished between Japan and China in the timing results. World Gymnastics lists the silver medal under Russia's RUS country code on its championship event page. The two labels refer to the same team, whose gymnasts competed as neutrals.

Rotterdam marked the Russian gymnasts' first team appearance at a global championship since their victory at the Tokyo Olympics. Their return ended with both a silver medal and one of the three Olympic team quotas awarded in this final.

Their competition included a fall on the rings dismount by Ilia Zaika, who scored 13.300. In the last rotation, Arseniy Dukhno scored 14.500 on floor exercise, helping the team finish ahead of China. Like Japan, the silver medallists recovered from an earlier mistake rather than completing an error free final.

China and Britain lose ground late

China moved ahead after a strong rings rotation, with Lan Xingyu scoring 14.733, Zou Jingyuan 14.033 and Yang Haonan 14.000. Zou later delivered 15.366 on parallel bars, one of the standout individual scores recorded during the team final.

Errors elsewhere reduced that advantage. Li Hongyan scored 13.066 after a vault fall and 13.033 following a fall on high bar. In the last rotation, Yang put his hands down on his closing floor tumbling pass and received 12.466. China nevertheless held third place and secured Olympic team qualification.

Great Britain also spent part of the final in the lead. Jake Jarman opened with 14.500 on floor, and Harry Hepworth scored 14.600 on vault. Later falls proved costly: Courtney Tulloch received 12.233 on parallel bars, and Joe Fraser scored 12.000 after falling on high bar in the final rotation.

Britain's fourth place left it ahead of Switzerland by 0.898 points. Switzerland's performances included a 14.000 high bar routine from Noe Seifert, helping it finish fifth and 1.336 points clear of the United States.

American mistakes leave qualification for 2027

The United States arrived as the reigning world and Olympic team bronze medallist but finished 4.032 points behind China's bronze medal total. Sixth place was its lowest world championships finish since 2006, when the Americans placed 13th in qualifying and missed the team final.

Frederick Richard was the only returning member of the American team that won bronze at Paris 2024. He scored 14.233 on parallel bars and 14.100 on high bar in Rotterdam, but a fall on pommel horse left him with 12.866 on his final apparatus.

Danila Leykin's high bar routine brought another major loss. He fell on a release skill, then lost his swing later in the routine, receiving 11.466. Shane Wiskus supplied 14.333 on parallel bars, while Patrick Hoopes produced the team's highest individual score of the final, 14.833 on pommel horse.

Hoopes' performance came too late to lift the Americans above Switzerland. The United States will now seek an Olympic team place at the 2027 world championships in China, where the remaining nine men's team spots are due to be decided. Great Britain, Switzerland and the other teams outside Rotterdam's podium also face the next qualification stage.

A rare home final for the Netherlands

The Netherlands finished seventh with 241.294, having qualified seventh with 242.995. The home squad included Elijah Faverus, Amine Abaidi, Loran de Munck, Jermain Grünberg and Casimir Schmidt.

Rotterdam was only the second time the Dutch men had reached a world team final. Their previous appearance came in Doha in 2018, when Schmidt was also part of the squad. Reaching the last eight again gave the host nation a result it had achieved only once before.

Faverus and Grünberg also qualified for the men's all around final, placing 17th and 24th respectively on the list used to select that field. No Dutch gymnast qualified for an individual apparatus final. Colombia completed the team final standings in eighth with 240.093, with Angel Barajas contributing a 14.900 high bar routine.

The championship schedule and next milestones

The Rotterdam championships run from 17 to 25 October. The men's team result settled the first three Olympic team places, while the remaining competition includes team, all around and individual apparatus medals.

The key dates connect Japan's title defence with the qualification contest still facing the other finalists:

• 2023: Japan won the world team title in Antwerp, the previous world championships with a team event.
• 2024: Japan won Olympic team gold in Paris.
• 20 October 2026: Japan retained the world title in Rotterdam; the three medal winners secured LA28 team quotas.
• 21 October 2026: The women's team final is scheduled, with China having led qualification and the United States seeking an eighth successive world team title.
• 22 October 2026: The men's all around final is scheduled.
• 2027: The world championships in China will decide the remaining nine men's Olympic team places.

Japan leaves the team final with its title retained and its Olympic team place secured. For the United States and the other finalists outside the medals, the next world championships will carry the added pressure of securing a team berth for Los Angeles.

Key Points

• Japan won its eighth men's world team title with 251.928 points.
• Hashimoto Daiki scored 14.866 on the final high bar routine to close out victory.
• World Gymnastics 2 won silver with 250.329; China took bronze with 249.193.
• All three medal winners earned Olympic team quotas for five men at LA28.
• The official timing results place the United States sixth with 245.161.
• The remaining nine men's Olympic team places will be decided at the 2027 world championships.