AFTER an action-packed four days of qualification which saw almost 600 gymnasts from 87 countries battling it out, tomorrow will see the first of the medals decided at the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow.

Great Britain’s women will return to the SSE Hydro as the team finals get under way. The six-strong team of Becky and Ellie Downie, Claudia Fragapane, Ruby Harrold, Kelly Simm and Amy Tinkler finished third in qualifying with only USA and Russia above them.

Favourites for the title are defending champions USA. Led by double world all-around gold medallist Simone Biles, the team includes Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman, both part of the "Fierce Five" that took victory at London 2012, alongside Maggie Nichols and Madison Kocian.

While there was palpable rivalry between Douglas and Raisman as they duelled for the remaining individual all-around spot behind Biles at the weekend, personal ambitions will be set aside as the Team USA juggernaut revs back into gear tomorrow.

Douglas insisted the team chemistry remained good. “I was supporting Aly along the road,” said the reigning Olympic champion, who will compete in Thursday’s sold out all-around final.

“I wasn’t going to be like: ‘Fall, fall, fall.’ I was like: 'Come on, Aly, you've got this.’ We're not like that. We don't pull each other down. That's not cool and just mean.”

China – who finished in fourth after a series of uncharacteristic errors – will also be in the fight for a podium finish. Italy, Japan, Canada and the Netherlands make up the rest of the top eight.

The surprise omission from that list is Romania who after a disastrous qualification session on Friday morning finished down in 13th.

As the final day of qualifying drew to a close, the Great Britain men confirmed their place in the team final on Wednesday – and their ticket to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

With only three more teams to compete this evening – Italy, Romania and Chinese Taipei – Great Britain currently sit in third place overall.

Scotland’s Daniel Purvis is among the top qualifiers for the men’s individual all-around final on Friday. He will be joined by team-mate Max Whitlock who pipped fellow Great Britain gymnast Nile Wilson by a whisker – a mere 0.133 – to take the second of two available spots.

“I’m really happy with that,” said Purvis. “I was focused on the team performance and trying to hit my routines. To come out on top gives me massive confidence.

“All the trials we’ve had it has been Nile, Max, Brinn [Bevan] and I that have been pretty close every time, so it was hard to tell which of us was going to come through in the top two.”

Japan topped the men’s team standings with reigning world champions China in second. Russia and USA – bronze medallists in Nanning last year – are also in the mix.

Today, though, saw a depleted USA men’s team in action. Three-time US national champion Sam Mikulak is out through an ankle injury and was replaced on the team by Chris Brooks making his first competitive outing at the world championships since 2010.

Jake Dalton, a former world medallist on vault and floor, was not selected after missing the US national championships due to a shoulder injury.

They still pulled off some impressive performances led by Danell Leyva who scored a huge 15.633 on parallel bars and 15.566 on high bar.

European all-around and world parallel bars champion Oleg Verniaiev (Ukraine) posted 90.131 in his individual qualification. Only five-time world and reigning Olympic all-around gold medallist Kohei Uchimura (Japan) has scored higher during this competition.

“I don’t want to guess anything right now,” said Verniaiev. “We’ll have to see on the day because in the [all-around] final we will both start from zero. I have a few plans for the final, but those plans also bring risks.”