9:25 p.m.: China on high bar: Again, very strong and difficult gymnastics that will score well. Like the British men, the Chinese don't take the risk the Germans and Americans do, but the routines have start scores that are equally high. That does it for podium training at this World Championships! Whew. And aside from poor Alicia Sacramone, there has been nary an injury so far.
Competition begins tomorrow with the first of two days of women's prelims, which will determine the eight teams who advance to team finals (and to the 2012 London Olympics). Teams who finish 9th-16th advance to the final team qualifier in London in January.
The first session of women's preliminaries features Mexico, Iceland, Guatemala, Egypt, Puerto Rico, Israel the Czech Republic and Trinidad and Tobago, and begins at 11:30 a.m. Tokyo time. Please check back for live-blogged coverage of that here on Examiner.com. Good night, everybody!
9:04 p.m.: China on parallel bars: The Chinese coaches (all in silver warmup pants! Very space-age) just stand against the vault podium and watch their creations. They don't speak, just watch, all lined up in a row. And it's great, as they knew it would be.
8:59 p.m.: Props to Belarus's Dmitri Kaspiarovich, another guy who does a double front side pass on floor (and really clean tumbling everywhere else, too.) Kaspiarovich, who is about 33, is another gymnastics stalwart who still cranks around an enormous vault and has super clean lines. So nice to see gymnastics done like that.
8:40 p.m.: Chen Yibing is really a beautiful gymnast. I wish he did all-around. Wonderful Tsuk 2.5 twist from him on vault, one of the best in the World on that vault. One of the best we've seen here in Tokyo, at least.
8:36 p.m.: Form. Zou Kai is doing a Tsuk 2.5 on vault. He's landing it well, but he needs to straighten his legs. Long Zhang Chenglong, the tallest of the Chinese, is doing a Randi with crunchy legs at the end. But as said before, the landings are really good, so I think they'll score well.
One of the guys from Belarus is doing a double front side pass on floor.
8:31 p.m.: So far the team from Belarus has been quite good in an old school eastern-bloc sort of way. Very good form but not enough difficulty to really contend. Did see a great triple back off high bar from them a few minutes ago, however.
8:28 p.m.: And there it was! Yang actually looked like he overrotated the front triple slightly, which is kind of hilarious. He put a hand down, but who cares -- it was a real front triple, and it was spectacular.
8:24 p.m.: To his teammates's cries of "Go Yang!" or something along those lines, Yang Hak Seon (I think it's him, anyway) works his second vault, which appears to be a Tsuk double full at this point. The guy after him, not a real natural vaulter, nevertheless sticks a DTY.
China on rings: Basically what you'd expect. Olympic champion Chen Yibing is as invincible as ever. Saw him stick one of his trademark flaired out double layouts, and it was amazing. He did not practice his fist pumping like he did last year in podium training, however.
8:21 p.m.: The Korean men, like the Korean women, have the misfortune of competing and training alongside the Chinese. Which is a shame, since Korea was the surprise team of 2010 and looks quite good here as well. They're on vault now, and doing extreme difficulty -- lots of Rudis. I'm on the lookout for Yang Hak Seon and his handspring triple front.
8:03 p.m.: China gets better and better on pommel horse as they move down their rotation. Teng Haibin, the 2004 Olympic champion on pommel horse (he won that title at 18 and then didn't compete outside of China for the next five years) looks like he'd like to win this event and regain some international recognition.
7:57 p.m.: China on pommel horse makes the same impression as China on floor: They are very, very strong, but not particularly elegant. But where the Chinese eat other teams alive -- and have for the past five years -- is that they do the most difficult routines, and do them well enough that the D-scores outweigh the fact that they're none too artistic. The strength events -- rings, pommel horse, vault -- will be where they're great.
7:46 p.m.: Chinese work corrections on their last tumbling passes, with an emphasis on sticking. Zou does his double double tuck last pass again. Stuck. Ditto Zhang Chenlong? on his triple full. Stuck. Man!
7:44 p.m.: Olympic champion Zou Kai on floor is just amazing. Layout double double like it was nothing. He could seriously add another full twist to that and be fine. Yes, he lacks refinement in his movements, but whatever. He ended with a tucked double double. More awesomeness.
7:41 p.m.: China on floor: Just saw a 1.5 to Randi opening pass. Front double full to Rudi, stuck. 2.5 to punch front full. Tucked Thomas. These guys don't quite have the elegance of the Japanese or the British for that matter, but they do have the skills. The gymnast currently performing (I can't see who it is), barely got his head down on his whip to layout Arabian 1 3/4. Beautiful triple full to end, however.
7:31 p.m.: The assessment of the Russian men from Rick was this: They were strong on vault (two Tsuk double pikes) and floor, but that they lacked a bit of fire, and perhaps a bit of discipline. This begins the final training session of the night, which includes China, Korea, Belarus, Finland, the Czech Republic, Mongolia, Iceland, Jordan, Chinese Taipei and Azerbaijan.
2:54 p.m.: Team Colombia, over on parallel bars, has to be told to "please stop training" four times at the end of the rotation. I feel kind of bad for the guys on pbars -- it take awhile to prepare the event, so some of the last guys in the lineup don't seem to get to do full routines. Or have to really hurry up. And those are the best routines!
2:47 p.m.: One of the guys in the mixed group on floor has wonderful tumbling on floor but is missing a good deal of it. He dismounts with an impressive double layout (hands down) with great body position.
2:40 p.m.: Filip Ude of Croatia cuts a very good figure on floor. Very clean twisting. However, an easier routine than he looks capable of.
The French look quite capable on pommel, as expected. Tommasone is of course the leader on this event, but Bouhail is doing his best and they just a very nice looking routine from Ait Said (I think).
2:27 p.m.: Wonderful double double tuck to open on floor from Bouhail. That was solid. Very good full performance from Tomassone as well. He's not a power gymnast, but he does seem to have added some muscle mass to that pencil thin frame...
Belgium on pommel horse was quite nice. They have one of the great European pommelists in young Donna Donny Truyens, and he looked on point here. Beautiful swing and form.
2:18 p.m.: Now in the gym: The French! The Belgians! The Mexicans! The Croatians (who are looking darn good on high bar). As well as several mixed groups, featuring Slovakia and Poland.
I wrote awhile ago that France, which pulled a surprising fifth place finish at the 2010 Worlds despite losing Benoit Caranobe early in the competition, could have a shot at a medal here. We'll see. They have two of the best vaulters in the world in Samir Ait Said (who's also good on rings) and defending World champion Thomas Bouhail. They have good pommel horse from all-arounder Cyril Tommasone. They have pbars and high bar from Yann Cucherat. They are capable. What they may not have is a second and third gymnast on every event.
1:04 p.m.: Whitlock (2010 Junior European champ on pommel horse) does a triple Russian between the pommels, the same as Keatings. Very nice routine as well.
Jovtchev trains layouts (and a long complicated flairs sequence) on floor. Strong layout Tkatchev half from Martinez on bars. Coaches cheering him on in Spanish throughout the routine.
1:02 p.m.: Bulgaria's Eddie Penev, who competes for Stanford, is just fantastic on floor. Opening run is a layout half in half out. Follows with 1.5? to Randi. Whip to triple full to end. Wonderful. Wonderful! On vault, he was the guy training the roundoff, half on, front double full off, as well.
1:00 p.m.: Keatings shows a triple Russian between the pommels during his horse routine. Struggles on his dismount a bit, but the interior was great. The Brits aren't weak here, that's for sure. I dunno...if they do what they're capable of, they could be looking at silver possibly, and depending on what China does, possibly even gold. They look that good.
12:56 p.m.: Kristian Thomas is the lead off on pommel horse, and hits his routine. Paul Hall, the British men's coach, was really happy. Oldham gets up and nails it too. That was really, really great stuff from him. Purvis gets through as well.
Over on high bar, Fabian Gonzalez (I think), catches a Kolman. The coach yells "Arriba!" as he launches himself on a hecht after a Takemoto.
12:45 p.m.: Max Whitlock: Impressive twisting but two OOBs. Really liked the 2.5 to Rudi and triple full to end!
12:44 p.m.: Daniel Purvis, floor: Arabian double front pike. 1.5 to front double full. 2.5 to front layout full, I think it was. But hand down on ending double Arabian.
12:36 p.m.: Daniel Keatings, floor: Very nice tucked double double. 2.5 to front tuck full, little hop. Arabian 1 3/4 side pass. Nice flairs. Press. Very awesome combo: Marinitch (front handspring kick to roll) and then steps out to roundoff, double full. Love that. Love it. Didn't see the last pass, but it was landed fine. And all that on an ACL torn less than a year and a half ago. Stunning.
Kristian Thomas: Front double full to front 1 3/4 roll out. Smart opening, saves him from having to land on his feet. Ends with a great Arabian double.
12:35 p.m.: Ruslan Panteleymonov, floor: Double front to punch front. Arabian double front half out. Roundoff double full to punch 1 3/4 to his stomach. 1.5 to weak front tuck half, that one a little blown. Ends with a good 2.5 twist. A fun routine -- not like everyone else's. How refreshing.
Sam Oldham, floor: Nice layout Thomas. 1.5 to front double full. Oldham is taller, very nice flairs, perhaps the influence of his Russian coach. Ro, bhs, double full, beautiful. 2.5 with a step forward, OOB to end.
12:27 p.m.: The British men don't have the extreme, high-flying difficulty of the Americans or the Germans on high bar, but maybe that's smarter. Unlike both aforementioned teams, none of these guys fell. That bodes well.
12:23 p.m.: Oldham had a bit of trouble on high bar. Thomas is not a streamlined gymnast because he is so tall, but he can still stick a full twisting double layout. Sheesh.
12:19 p.m.: As expected, Spain is excellent on vault. Lovely Tsuk 2.5 from Rafael Martinez. Another Spanish gymnast to watch is the refined Rafael Martinez, who won the European all-around in 2005 and is truly one of the continent's most underrated gymnasts. Kazakhstan on floor is also very impressive. The guy currently up dismounts with a full in tuck.
12:09 p.m.: Daniel Purvis: Hard routine. Well done. Max Whitlock goes up last. Highlight of that routine is his perfect English handstand. Funny to see two of those in an hour.
12:04 p.m.: Good hit routine with stuck double pike from Panteleymonov on pbars. The guy on floor, from one of the smaller countries without a team.
Wonderful pbars routine from Daniel Keatings. Great Britian is going to kill them all with their E-scores. Cleanest we've seen so far. As clean as Japan. Probably cleaner than China.
12:00 p.m.: Kristian Thomas on pbars: Long and difficult routine. Takes his time. Small struggle on a handstand early on, but swing through the rest very well.
The three Bulgarians look good on vault. Jovtchev is doing Tsuk timers. One of his teammates is doing a DTY, the other working a roundoff, half on, Rudi off. He's just upgraded to a roundoff, half on, front double full off, but doesn't quite have the height just now.
11:52 a.m.: Spotted on parallel bars from Kazakhstan: A giant to English handstand. Cool. End of rotation.
11:49 a.m.: The President of the Bulgarian Gymnastics Federation is all smiles after doing a partial routine on rings, sans dismount. "Looking good," one of the officials sitting around the rings podium makes a point of saying to Jovtchev, giving a thumbs up. He gets back up and does a single layout dismount and lands it a bit hard, then raises his hands in mock victory.
11:47 a.m.: Spain, with slightly shorter, stockier gymnasts, is, like the U.S., not really a pommel horse group. They're doing their best, though.
11:39 a.m.: Now on floor is one of Cal's Monteclaro twins. I'm not sure if it's Christian or Jean, but he is wearing his Cal duds with the name on the back. (I love it -- It would be easier to do this if more countries adopted putting their gymnasts's names on the backs of their shirts.) Anyways, very impressive tumbling: Arabian double pike to open, and fast and easy Russian flairs.
Britian on vault: Good Tsuk 2.5 from Keatings. Very powerful handspring double front from Thomas -- well done. I can't get over how fit and prepared they look. No waffling around. Great handspring double front from Panteleymonov as well. No question -- Britain looks really, really good so far.
Panteleymonov also shows a strong Tsuk 2.5 on vault. Whitlock: Solid DTY.
11:36 a.m.: Also impressive: Kazakhstan on vault. I saw a few Tsuk double fulls, more than one well-landed handspring double front and finally one of the guys started working either Tsuk double pikes or Yurchenko double pikes. Whoa.
11:33 a.m.: That was cool. Max Whitlock dismounted rings with a very seldom seem front 2.5 twist (Randi). That is one of the neater things I've ever seen done on rings (besides the strength stuff). Louis Smith went up last, allowing a partial look at the detailed tattoo across his back (you can't bandage it all for competition) and the interior of his routine was good, but he dismounts with a relatively easy front layout full.
11:30 a.m.: Bulgaria's Jordan Jovtchev, who with his gray hair and mature face looks more like the father of one of his teammates, is nevertheless a machine on pommel horse. Wonderful flairs and tons of sureness on this event. Born Feb. 24, 1973, he is the oldest gymnast competing at Worlds. And still putting the younger guys to shame!
11:25 a.m.: After clean routines from Daniel Keatings (much improved on his worst event; ACL surgery allows you time to work rings I guess) and Kristian Thomas, I'm really impressed by the Brits. They are one of the few teams that look like they're actually in competition here. But just as I write that, Panteleymonov has an especially rough go of it in his routine, falling out of a double front and not being able to come back to the support position. Very poor dismount with several steps back as well. And he's rather late in the lineup, too.
Daniel Purvis anchors with a difficult routine capped by a double double tuck dismount. Aside from Panteleymonov, the Brits have to be pleased with this. That being said, I'm not sure what their start values are, particularly those of the first two who competed. Purvis looked like he had to put in more effort than Oldham, but he's probably up last for a reason.
11:23 a.m.: Spain on floor is doing some lovely work. Both the Spanish men and women have exceptionally clean gymnastics. Young Fabian Gonzalez shows a good flairs sequence and a front double full final pass. Muy bien! exclaims the coach as Spain's next guy mounts with a great double double tucked.
11:19 a.m.: And you have to think about the younger guys, Sam Oldham and Max Whitlock, as well. Sam is first up on rings, which is not this team's strongest event, but he's moving very well so far. Very good swing and a full twisting double layout (excellent position) with a step forward. Sam won the 2010 Junior European title as a 16-year-old and was the alternate to last year's World team.
11:15 a.m.: Is there a team as currently deep as Britain? They rival the best in the world simply for the fact that they have so many talented young men to choose from. That's extraordinary if you think about where British gymnastics was, say, six years ago.
This team includes still-young veterans Daniel Keatings (only 21), and Daniel Purvis (20) as well as Olympic pommel horse bronze medalist Louis Smith, who also does rings and parallel bars. Kristian Thomas, another team stalwart, is said to have made great improvements. Ukrainian transplant Ruslan Panteleymonov is an exceptional gymnast, and at 28 he's the team's elder statesman.
TOKYO, 11:07 a.m.: In the first session of the final day of podium training, we'll see the much-anticipated British men, who have looked excellent in the training gym according to several sources. They'll be joined by Spain, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Tunisia, Norway and a mixed group that includes gymnasts from Thailand and the Philippines.
The Gymnastics Examiner will be in Tokyo for the duration of the 2011 World Gymnastics Championships, which are the first round of qualification for the 2012 Olympic Games. Please check back often for quick hits from training sessions and competition, interviews, videos and photogrpahs. Like The Gymnastics Examiner on Facebook, follow on Twitter, or click the "Subscribe" button above to receive the latest gymnastics news and results via e-mail.
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