Russia top women's team qualification at expense of hosts on opening day of Artistic Gymnastics World Championships

Russia's Viktoria Komova helped her team finish top of the women's team qualification after the opening day of competition ©Getty Images

Olympic silver medallists Russia produced a typically composed performance to top the qualification leaderboard in the women’s team event and deny hosts Britain a fairytale beginning to the 2015 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships here today.

The team of Ksenila Afanaseva, Maria Kharenova, Viktoria Komova, the all-around silver medallist at London 2012, Maria Paseka, Daria Spiridonova and Seda Tutkhalyan finished with a combined score of 231.437 points.

Komova exhibited her prowess on the uneven bars, recording a score of 15.300, while Paseka led the way in the vault, her preferred discipline following her bronze-medal winning display at London 2012, with a total of 15.666.

Russia, bronze medallists in the team competition at the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, China, did enough to edge the home nation, who had delighted the decent-sized crowd inside the venue with a total of 227.162 and had led going into the evening session, despite successive falls from Ellie and Rebecca Downie on the uneven bars.

Britain, whose team also included Claudia Fragapane, who won four golds in the same arena at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Ruby Harrold, Kelly Simm and Amy Tinkler, should have done enough to secure a spot in the final.

Ellie Downie's vault of 15.066 was the hosts’ headline performance of the day, yielding a score of 15.066 from the judges, while Harrold excelled in the uneven bars, so often one of the trickiest events to master, with a total of 14.666.

"As soon as we warmed up we felt good, the crowd gave us energy and it felt great to make a solid start," Harrold said.

"Hopefully we’ll make that top eight, we’ve done a great job and we’ll be watching the scores closely."

The Italian squad of Erika Fasana, Carlotta Ferlito, Vanessa Ferrari, Elisa Meneghini, Lara Mori and Tea Ugrin are third on 224.452, with Japan fourth and Canada fifth.

Britain's Claudia Fragapane enjoyed her return to a venue where she took four Commonwealth Games golds as she scored 14.600 for her floor routine ©Getty Images

The top eight teams over the two days of qualifying will progress to the final and will also seal an all-important Rio 2016 Olympic Games berth.

One nation who surprisingly look likely to miss out on the next round is Romania, whose team failed to be inspired by the presence of five-times Olympic champion Nadia Comăneci, considered one of the all-time greats of the sport, as they languished down in seventh place.

Their disappointing performance came despite their side including 2014 World Championships all-around silver medallist Larisa Iordache, who was reduced to tears following the completion of Romania’s routines.

Gymnastics powerhouses and defending champions the United States, who include two-times world all-around champion Simone Biles as well as double Olympic gold medallist Gabrielle Douglas in their six-strong outfit, and China make their entrance tomorrow, with both among the favourites to clinch a top-eight position.

Canadian Elsabeth Black, who claimed three golds at the Pan American Games on home soil in Toronto in July, managed to produce consistent scoring to help her to the summit of the individual all-around qualification standings on 57.299 points, with Tutkhalyan second on 56.599.

The gymnasts who finish in the top 24 will reach the all-around final, while their scores registered today also act as qualification for the respective individual apparatus finals, where eight spots are available for each discipline.