2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships: Japan's men post top qualifying score as Paris 2024 quotas obtained
Nine NOCs, led by the United States and Canada, secured five-man team quotas for next year's Olympic Games in Antwerp
Artistic Gymnastics
Japan topped the team standings at the completion of all six men's qualifying sessions on Sunday (1 October 2023) at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Belgium.
The Japanese, in search of their first world team title since 2015, posted a total of 258.228 ahead of USA (254.628) with Great Britain (254.193) just behind in third.
Reigning champions the People's Republic of China lie seventh on 248.163 with 2021 world all-around champion Zhang Boheng - who took silver in last year's all-around, opting to compete in the Asian Games on home soil.
Nine NOCs obtained five-man team quota spots for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games: the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Türkiye, the Netherlands, and Ukraine.
China, Japan and Britain obtained their quota spots by winning medals in the men's team final at last year's Worlds.
Brazil, the Republic of Korea and Belgium each secured one quota spot after finishing 13th, 14th and 15th, respectively.
Milad Karimi of Kazahkstan, Artur Dolgopyat of Israel, Artur Davtyan of Armenia, Krisztofer Meszaros of Hungary, Lee Junho of Korea, Diogo Soares of Brazil, Luka van den Keybus of Belgium and Andrei Muntean of Romania obtained individual quota spots, as well.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Team Canada provided the big surprise of the second day of competition in Antwerp. The squad, which has not sent a full team to the Games since Beijing 2008, capitalised on clean routines across the six apparatus to soar to fourth in the standings.
Women's qualifying continues later on Sunday with seven-time Olympic medallist Simone Biles making her return to the global stage for the first time since the Tokyo 2020 Games.