(Reuters) - Russia's men led on day three of the qualification events at the world championships in Stuttgart, with their combined scores dominating the field on the six apparatus on Sunday.
Nikita Nagornyy, the 2019 European champion, topped the all-around standings with a total score of 87.333 while world champion Artur Dalaloyan (second) and Ivan Stretovich (fourth) ensured Russia finished the day with a team score of 259.928.
Chinese Taipei (250.093) finished second while Brazil (247.236) were third after a late surge up the table. Spain were fourth, hosts Germany fifth and Italy sixth with very little to separate the three nations.
However, the standings are bound to change as teams from the U.S., China, Japan and Britain are in action on Monday.
Israel's Artem Dolgopyat (15.033) was the only gymnast to score over 15 on the floor, while Ireland's Rhys McClenaghan (15.200) and Germany's Lukas Dauser (15.033) achieved the same on the pommel horse and parallel bars respectively.
Turkey's Ibrahim Colak led the standings in the rings, Dalaloyan led the field in the vault and Chinese Taipei's Tanh Chia-Hung had the highest score on the horizontal bar.
The Russian, Chinese, and Japanese men have already earned a team berth at the Tokyo Olympics next year by placing in the top three at last year's worlds in Doha.
The top eight teams after Monday's sub-divisions qualify for the team final while the nine best teams after Russia, China and Japan also qualify for Tokyo 2020.
The top 24 gymnasts also qualify for the men's individual all-around final, with a maximum of two gymnasts from each nation making the cut.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Ken Ferris)