The artistic gymnastics competition at the Tokyo Olympics begins on Friday with the men’s qualifying session.

The men’s qualification is divided into three subdivisions for the competition. The United States is in subdivision 3 and will start on parallel bars, then go through the apparatus in Olympic order (floor exercise, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar).

Full field:

• Subdivision 1: Mixed Group 1 (Romania, Croatia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Belarus, Ireland), Ukraine, Russian Olympic Committee, China, Mixed Group 3 (Netherlands, Israel, Cyprus, Egypt), Spain
• Subdivision 2: Switzerland, Brazil, Great Britain, Mixed Group 6 (Hong Kong, Mexico, Armenia, Canada, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Greece), Japan, Mixed Group 4 (Vietnam, Australia, Kazakhstan, Sweden, Albania, Cuba)
• Subdivision 3: Germany, Chinese Taipei, Mixed Group 5 (Turkey, Italy, Philippines), Mixed Group 2 (France, Uzbekistan, Norway, Lithuania, Azerbaijan), United States, South Korea

Each gymnast, whether competing for a team or as an individual, participates in the qualifying round, as it serves as a qualifier for the team final, the all-around final and the event finals. Any athlete attempting to qualify for the All-Around Final must complete all six events in order to obtain a cumulative all-around score. Otherwise, they will only compete for the Individual Finals and / or Team Finals if they compete as part of a team.

Gymnasts perform an apparatus routine, with an exception on vault – if a gymnast wants to make the final of the individual event on vault, he must do two different vaults, with the scores averaged, to be in contention. In this case, only the score of the first jump will count towards their qualification for the team and / or the all-around final.

The qualifying scores (which are not carried over to the final) determine the following results:

1. The top eight teams advance to the team finals.
2. The best 24 individual gymnasts qualify for the all-around finals, with a maximum of two gymnasts per NOC.
3. The best eight individual gymnasts on each apparatus qualify for the respective event finals, with a maximum of two gymnasts per NOC and per event.
4. The final rankings of the individual all-around competition 25th and under will be determined.
5. The final rankings of the 9th-12th team will be determined.

On the men’s side, Japan, China and the Russian Olympic Committee are expected to lead the way in the team qualification. The American team of Brody Malone, Sam mikulak, Yul Moldauer and Shane Wiskus are looking to advance to the final and aim for the country’s first men’s team medal since 2008, when the team won bronze.

As for the prospects for individual events for the United States, veteran Mikulak and escape star Malone is likely to advance to the final on high bar. Mikulak, who is competing in his third and final Olympics, has yet to win a medal and finished fourth on the apparatus in 2016. Also note: Kohei Uchimura, the Japanese star with seven Olympic medals, competes only on high bar at these Games and is expected to advance to the final.

Additionally, Alec yoder, the American pommel horse specialist, will be racing to qualify for the final in his only event.