The Russian team, comprising Sergei Azarian, Andrey Yudin, Dmitrii Ushakov and Mikhail Melnik, managed to do what many thought was unthinkable, scoring a total of 178.065 for the win.

China’s quartet, made up of London 2012 Olympic champion Dong Dong, 2014 world champion Tu Xiao, Gao Lei and Xiao Jinyu, finished second with 178.025.

Completing the podium was Belarus’ foursome of Uladzislau Hancharou, Mikalai Kazak, Aleh Rabtsau and Artsiom Zuk with 172.585.

Victory for Russia marks their first world team title since 2001, when the World Championships were last held in Odense.

First place appeared to be in Japan’s grasp for a moment, but a fall by veteran anchor Yasuhiro Ueyama ended their dream of winning.

The Russian upset came a few hours after Azarian and Melnik had combined to give the top performance in men’s synchro trampoline qualifications, passing reigning world champions Tu and Dong.

Meanwhile in the women’s team final, China made no mistakes as He Wenna, Li Dan, Liu Lingling and Zhong Xingping registered a winning score of 165.235.

By the time Liu stepped up to anchor her team in the final, all she had to do was complete her routine to assure gold.

The reigning world champion performed flawlessly, just as He and Li had before her, bringing gold back to China four years after the country’s previous victory in the team event.

Belarus, who finished third in Sofia two years ago, moved up a spot in the rankings thanks to their team of Maryia Lon, Palina Badyhina, Hanna Harchonak and Tatisana Piatrenia. 

Meanwhile, Russia claimed their first world medal in women’s team competition since 2009 courtesy of Nadezhda Glebova, Victoria Voronina, Anna Kornetskaya and Yana Pavlova.

Canada were knocked out of contention after a botched routine from three-time Olympic medallist Karen Cockburn, who appeared to be in pain as she walked away from the trampoline.

Elsewhere on the first day of finals, China claimed their third successive women's team tumbling title with 103.500 as Great Britain and Russia secured the silver and bronze medals respectively.

As for the men's double-mini team event, Russia came out on top with 117.700 ahead of Canada and the United States in a tie for the runners-up spot. 



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