Last year's men's team medallists at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Liverpool - China, Japan and Britain - were already assured of Paris 2024 places, and joined by the next-best nine teams at Antwerp Sportpaleis.

Japan led qualification for the final in Antwerp with 258.228 points, followed by the United States on 254.628, who were the highest-placed team to qualify for the Olympics.

Britain were third with 254.193, followed by Canada with 249.260.

René Cournoyer, Félix Dolci, William Émard, Jayson Rampersad, Zachary Clay and Yanni Chronopoulos ensured Canada's return to the men's team competition at Paris 2024, ending what will be a 16-year absence from the Games.

Only Cournoyer has prior Olympic experience from Tokyo 2020, although Dolci won two silver medals at last year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

Germany ranked fifth with 248.862 to earn a Paris 2024 place, and were joined by Italy who scored 248.796 in the final subdivision.

Switzerland were seventh with 248.192, and defending champions China with 248.163 were the final team to earn a place in the final in the Belgian city of Antwerp, due to be held on Tuesday (October 3).

Four teams who missed out on the final were able to claim Paris 2024 places - Spain with 247.795, Turkey with 247.692, The Netherlands with 246.028 and Ukraine with 245.461.

Eight athletes whose teams did not qualify earned a Paris 2024 individual all-around place.

Milad Karimi of Kazakhstan was the top performer among them with 83.232, followed by Tokyo 2020 medallists in floor exercise champion Artem Dolgopyat of Israel on 82.999 and vault world champion Artur Davtyan of Armenia on 82.032.

Krisztofer Mészáros of Hungary, South Korea's Lee Jun-ho, Diogo Soares of Brazil, Luka Van den Keybus of Belgium and Romania's Andrei Muntean joined them in earning Olympic tickets.

Soares in 26^th with 81.064 was the lowest ranked of the 24 athletes who qualified for the World Championships all-around final on Thursday (October 5), with a limit of two competitors per nation.

The Philippines' star Carlos Yulo, a six-time World Championships medallist, missed out on automatic all-around qualification, but earned a Paris 2024 place in the floor exercise by placing third with 14.600 behind Dolgopyat and Frederick Richard of the US.

That means Yulo is able to compete in the floor exercise at Paris 2024.

Women's qualification began today in Antwerp, with Simone Biles of the US marking her return to the World Championships, where she has won 19 gold medals throughout her career, by becoming the first woman to land a Yurchenko double pike vault.

Biles is making a return to international competition for the first time since Tokyo 2020 after a two-year break to focus on her mental health.

She leads the all-around qualification after three subdivisions, with a sublime performance earning her 58.865, and topped the scoring on the vault with her 15.266 routine, the balance beam with 14.566 and floor exercise with 14.633.

Compatriot Shilese Jones ranked second in the all-around with 56.932, and led on the uneven bars with 14.833.

Britain's Jessica Gadirova was third in the all-around with 56.766.

In the team standings, the US led with 171.395, followed by Britain with 166.130 and Italy with 162.230.

The remaining seven subdivisions in women's qualifying are due to be held tomorrow at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, deciding who joins the US, Britain and China in the team event at Paris 2024.