Olympic Men's Gymnastics 2016: Qualification Scores, Results and Reaction

Qualification for the men's artistic gymnastics competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place Saturday in Rio de Janeiro. The athletes who earn berths in the discipline and all-around finals will return to action on Monday to go for gold.

Kohei Uchimura of Japan entered the Games as the all-around favorite after winning each of the last six World Championships in the event. He didn't look unbeatable during his qualifying run, however, leaving the door open for the rest of the field, including Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev.

Let's check out the top finishers from each subdivision during Saturday's action, which will get updated with the conclusion of every round. Each table will be followed by a recap of the results. For a complete set of scores for every gymnast, visit the Olympics' official site.

Subdivision 1

Event	Top Finisher	Country	Score
Team	Japan	-	269.294
All-Around	Kohei Uchimura	JPN	90.498
Floor Exercise	Kohei Uchimura	JPN	15.533
Pommel Horse	Andrey Likhovitskiy	BLR	15.233
Rings	Eleftherios Petrounias	GRE	15.833
Vault	Kenzo Shirai	JPN	15.283
Parallel Bars	Manrique Larduet	CUB	15.766
Horizontal Bars	Epke Zonderland	NED	15.366

There are two ways to view the qualification round for Uchimura. On one hand, he finished first in his subdivision in the all-around rankings, as expected. Yet he's going to need a much cleaner effort during the final in order to guarantee his spot atop the podium.

He's set such a high standard over the past handful of years that observers are usually left searching for even minor mistakes. Alas, Nick Zaccardi of NBC Olympic Talk noted the Japanese superstar's routine on the high bars today featured a rare major error:

Elsewhere, Eleftherios Petrounias of Greece put together an outstanding display on the rings to edge a highly competitive group that featured five gymnasts with a score above 15. Arthur Zanetti of Brazil, who won gold in the discipline four years ago, finished second in the group.

Petrounias, who won gold in both the World and European Championships last year, knows he'll need to take his performance up another notch in the final, as noted by the European Union of Gymnastics:

Manrique Larduet of Cuba was the other big name in the opening subdivision. He shined on the parallel bars to top those standings and finished third on the horizontal bars. Japan's Ryohei Kato was the only one to come close to matching those pair of results.

Larduet's performance in the vault could end up dooming him in the all-around competition, though. Dawn Rhodes of the Chicago Tribune summed up that lackluster showing:

Despite the slip-up Larduet managed to qualify for the all-around competition, albeit in a disappointing 15th place.

Ultimately, Uchimura's fall may end up generating the most attention, but his chances of claiming all-around gold will go up if Larduet doesn't pick up the slack. He was viewed as one of the select few athletes with a chance to take down the Japanese favorite.

Subdivision 2

Event	Top Finisher	Country	Score
Team	United States	-	270.405
All-Around	Nile Wilson	GBR	89.240
Floor Exercise	Samuel Mikulak	USA	15.800
Pommel Horse	Max Whitlock	GBR	15.800
Rings	Samir Ait Said	FRA	15.533
Vault	Se Gwang Ri	PRK	15.433
Parallel Bars	Danell Leyva	USA	15.600
Horizontal Bars	Fabian Hambuchen	GER	15.533

The United States solidified itself as a contender for the team gold medal by besting Japan's score from earlier in the day during the second subdivision. It was truly a team effort with only one American, Samuel Mikulak, ranking in the top 10 of the individual all-around standings through two rounds.

Team USA received strong efforts from Mikulak and Jacob Dalton in the floor exercise, Alexander Naddour on the pommel horse and Danell Leyva on the parallel bars. Dalton also sat inside the top five of the vault heading into the final qualification round tonight.

Nick McCarvel of USA Today highlighted the team's more positive, confident attitude this time around, as relayed by Leyva:

Great Britain's Max Whitlock didn't have his best all-around day. He lacked execution on the vault and horizontal bar while falling below his usual standards in several other disciplines. But he came up with a clutch effort to put himself atop the pommel horse list.

Like Uchimura earlier, however, all bad days are relative. Even though his performance leaves plenty of room for improvement heading into the finals, Nancy Armour of USA Today noted he likely still gave himself a chance at multiple medals:

Unfortunately, one medal hopeful won't be able to go for gold after a gruesome injury. Samir Ait Said of France, who was the subdivision's top performer on the rings, suffered a severe leg injury while trying to land his vault.

Armour reported a loud crack was heard throughout the arena as Ait Said clutched for his left leg. He was immediately treated at the scene before getting stretchered off to receive further medical treatment. French teammate Cyril Tommasone explained how tough it was to push on after that, per USA Today.

"It was very difficult, very emotional," he said. "It's very hard for the French and for him. Very difficult."

The Rio 2016 organizing committee sent along its condolences after the injury:

All told, the United States exited the second subdivision as the biggest winner, both on an individual and a team basis. Great Britain still has several medal chances, as well. But everybody's thoughts are surely with Ait Said as he begins the road to recovery.

Subdivision 3

Event	Top Finisher	Country	Score
Team	China	-	270.461
All-Around	Oleg Verniaiev	UKR	91.964
Floor Exercise	Rayderley Miguel Zapata	ESP	15.083
Pommel Horse	Oleg Verniaiev	UKR	15.566
Rings	Yang Liu	CHN	15.900
Vault	Denis Abliazin	RUS	15.416
Parallel Bars	Oleg Verniaiev	UKR	16.166
Horizontal Bars	Oleg Verniaiev	UKR	15.133

While all eyes were on Uchimura entering the games, Verniaiev stole the show in the third subdivision by qualifying first in the all-around with a score of 91.964.

Verniaiev beat Uchimura by nearly 1.5 points, and as Tumaini Carayol of Eurosport pointed out, the margin between the two gymnasts was even greater than the deduction Uchimura received for falling:

The 22-year-old Verniaiev finished just 11th in the all-around at the 2012 London Olympics, but he has progressed significantly since then.

The Ukrainian star won all-around gold at both the European Championships and European Games last year, and he proved capable of knocking off Uchimura Saturday, although he will need a repeat performance when the scores count toward medals.

Regardless of how he performs, former Welsh gymnast Harry Owen was taken aback by what he did in qualifying:

In addition to qualifying first for the all-around, Verniaiev was first in the parallel bars, and he qualified for the apparatus finals in the pommel horse, vault and horizontal bars.

Ukraine barely qualified for the team competition in seventh despite Verniaiev's efforts, which spoke to his teammates' struggles, per Rhodes:

While Verniaiev was fantastic individually, China stood out from a team perspective in Subdivision 3, as it qualified first for the team competition by barely edging out the United States.

China was powered by a number of strong performers, including Yang Liu, who qualified in the top spot on the rings.

Verniaiev and China may very well have established themselves as the new favorites in the premier events of men's gymnastics, but the pressure of medals being on the line could significantly alter the scores and showings with qualifying now officially in the books.

Qualifying List

Place	Gymnast	Country
Team
1	China	-
2	United States	-
3	Russia	-
4	Japan	-
5	Great Britain	-
6	Brazil	-
7	Ukraine	-
8	Germany	-
All-Around
1	Oleg Verniaiev	UKR
2	Kohei Uchimura	JPN
3	David Belyavskiy	RUS
4	Sudi Deng	CHN
5	Nile Wilson	GBR
6	Ryohei Kato	JPN
7	Samuel Mikulak	USA
8	Sergio Sasaki	BRA
9	Nikolai Kuksenkov	RUS
10	Chaopan Lin	CHN
11	Arthur Mariano	BRA
12	Max Whitlock	GBR
13	Jossimar Orlando Calvo Moreno	COL
14	Bart Deurloo	NED
15	Manrique Larduet	CUB
16	Andrey Likhovitskiy	BLR
17	Christopher Brooks	USA
18	Oleg Stepko	AZE
19	Pablo Braegger	SUI
20	Marcel Nguyen	GER
21	Axel Augis	FRA
22	Andreas Bretschneider	GER
23	Eddy Yusof	SUI
24	Marios Georgiou	CYP
Floor Exercise
1	Samuel Mikulak	USA
2	Jacob Dalton	USA
3	Kohei Uchimura	JPN
4	Diego Hypolito	BRA
5	Max Whitlock	GBR
6	Kenzo Shirai	JPN
7	Kristian Thomas	GBR
8	Arthur Mariano	BRA
Pommel Horse
1	Max Whitlock	GBR
2	Louis Smith	GBR
3	Cyril Tommasone	FRA
4	Harutyun Merdinyan	ARM
5	Oleg Verniaiev	UKR
6	Nikolai Kuksenkov	RUS
7	Alexander Naddour	USA
8	David Belyavskiy	RUS
Rings
1	Yang Liu	CHN
2	Eleftherios Petrounias	GRE
3	Hao You	CHN
4	Denis Abliazin	RUS
5	Arthur Zanetti	BRA
6	Samir Ait Said	FRA
7	Dennis Goossens	BEL
8	Yuri Van Gelder	NED
Vault
1	Se Gwang Ri	PRK
2	Denis Abliazin	RUS
3	Kenzo Sirai	JPN
4	Igor Radivilov	UKR
5	Marian Dragulescu	ROU
6	Nikita Nagornyy	RUS
7	Oleg Verniaiev	UKR
8	Tomas Gonzalez	CHI
Parallel Bars
1	Oleg Verniaiev	UKR
2	David Belyavskiy	RUS
3	Shudi Deng	CHN
4	Manrique Larduet	CUB
5	Hao You	CHN
6	Danell Leyva	USA
7	Ryohei Kato	JPN
8	Andrei Vasile Muntean	ROU
Horizontal Bars
1	Fabian Hambuechen	GER
2	Nile Wilson	GBR
3	Epke Zonderland	NED
4	Danell Leyva	USA
5	Francisco Barretto Junior	BRA
6	Samuel Mikulak	USA
7	Oleg Verniaiev	UKR
8	Manrique Larduet	CUB