United States spring above China at worlds

By Sonia Oxley

STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) - A mixture of daring moves and dynamic choreography sent the United States to the top of the women's team standings in qualification at the world gymnastics championships on Sunday.

China had set a top score of 241.175 on Saturday, which no team had been able to match for more than 24 hours until the Americans tumbled, flipped and jumped better to notch 245.025.

Romania qualified for the team final in third, followed by Russia and Italy. Joining them were Britain, France and Brazil.

The Stuttgart championships also serve as Olympic qualifiers and so Ukraine, Germany, Australia and Japan tempered their disappointment at not reaching the team final here by booking their tickets to Beijing with top-12 finishes.

Americans Nastia Liukin and 15-year-old Shawn Johnson recorded the second and third best scores to sit just behind Romania's Steliana Nistor in the individual standings.

Johnson lived up to her billing as a contender for the all-round crown and hid any feelings of being awestruck at her first world championships behind a huge smile throughout her floor routine.

"It was very nerve-wracking. I just came here thinking 'oh my God, world championships!'. I just tried to concentrate," said Johnson, who won the all-round title at the U.S. nationals and four golds at the Pan American Games this year.

Countries can only have two gymnasts in the all-round final, meaning American Shayla Worley, who finished eighth, will miss out even though she beat the highest-placed Chinese gymnast, Yang Yilin.