GYMNASTICS: Russia leads first men’s qualifying group at World Champs

The 2018 FIG World Championships are underway at the Aspire Dome in Doha (QAT), with the men’s team qualifying competition.

After the first four groups out of 10, Russia leads at 258.402, followed by the Netherlands (245.663) and Switzerland (245.186). The remaining men’s groups will compete on Friday.

The top individuals in the All-Around so far are Russian: Nikita Nagornyy (RUS) at 87.098, then Artur Dalaloyan (84.572) and David Belyavskiy (83.332). Ukraine’s Oleg Verniaiev, the Rio silver medalist in the All-Around, had a bad performance on the Pommel Horse and sits seventh at 80.522 and very likely will not qualify for the final in that event.

The U.S. announced its line-ups for the qualification competitions; four of the five-person team will compete in each event, and three scores will count:

Men: Sam Mikulak, Alec Yoder, Akash Modi, Yul Moldauer, Colin Van Wicklen (Alternate: Allan Bower).

Women: Simone Biles, Riley McCusker, Kara Eaker, Morgan Hurd, Grace McCallum (Alternate: Ragan Smith).

The schedule:

∙ 26 October: Men’s Team qualification
∙ 27 October: Women’s Team qualification
∙ 28 October: Women’s Team qualification
∙ 29 October: Men’s Team final
∙ 30 October: Women’s Team final
∙ 31 October: Men’s All-Around final
∙ 01 November: Women’s All-Around final
∙ 02 November: Apparatus finals
(Men: Floor/Pommel Horse/Rings; Women: Vault/Uneven Bars)
∙ 03 November: Apparatus finals
(Men: Vault/Parallel Bars/Horizontal Bar; Women: Beam/Floor)

The NBC Olympic Channel will have coverage from Doha beginning next Monday; there is also streaming coverage this weekend on NBCSports.com/live. Look for results here.