China claims first Youth Olympic gymnastics mixed team gold

Yang Lanbin and Chen Ziyan helped China win the first-ever Youth Olympic mixed team gymnastics gold medal in Dakar on Wednesday.

This category of gymnastics was held at an Olympic event for the first time. Its introduction to the Youth Olympics served as a dress rehearsal before it makes its full Olympic debut in two years' time at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. 

Chen scored 13.866 points on the balance beam before Japan's Ikki Nishihara responded well on the horizontal bar with 13.900.

Yume Minamino then needed a clean uneven bars routine to keep Japan in the gold medal race, but she had to settle for 12.066 after releasing late on a somersault and sitting on the bar.

Yang, the last gymnast of the night, scored 13.966 for the floor exercise routine, fueling China to a competition-high 27.832 points.

"We went for stability today and saved our strongest apparatus for the last round to fight for the gold," China coach Zhang Xia said.

Japan took silver on 25.966. Israel claimed bronze and Italy finished fourth.

Twelve teams contested the event, each featuring a fixed pair of one man and one woman. Scores were wiped after each of the three rounds, and every pair switched apparatus every round, with eight teams qualifying for the second round, and the last four vying for the medals in the third round.

The men chose among floor exercise, parallel bars and horizontal bar, while the women's options were uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise, with the two not allowed to take floor in the same round.

The final opened with the first major shock. Daniil Smirnov, who won the men's all-around on Tuesday, fell on the horizontal bar and just scored 11.533, as Russia finished bottom among the 12 teams and exited along with Britain, Canada and France.

In the second round, Egypt's Tia Elmidany fell on the beam, Australia's Elijah Wu came off the horizontal bar twice, and Spain's Otger Carreres fell on the parallel bars. Belgium's Maxime Rolin and Emma Sneessens managed only 12.433 on horizontal bar and 11.266 on floor.