Japan's Hashimoto wins second all-around world title

[October 06, 2023]  (Reuters) - Japanese Olympic champion Daiki Hashimoto claimed a second all-around men's title with a 86.132 total score on Thursday at the World Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp.  

The 22-year-old showed great control on the parallel bars to take the lead after a slow start on the floor. He secured the gold on the final rotation with a score of 14.500 on the horizontal bar, the same exercise on which he locked up Japan's men's team gold on Tuesday.

Gymnastics - 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships - Sportpaleis, Antwerp, Belgium - October 5, 2023 Gold medallist Japan's Daiki Hashimoto celebrates on the podium with his medal after winning the men's individual all-around final alongside silver medallist Ukraine's Illia Kovtun and bronze medallist Frederick Richard of the U.S. REUTERS/Yves Herman

Ukraine's Illia Kovtun capitalised on his performance on the parallel bars and took second place with 84.998, highlighted by a solid floor routine.

World debutant Kenta Chiba, 27, fell one short of the podium after a fall on the horizontal bar before repeating the exercise with a score of 12.633 for a total of 83.464, giving bronze to American Frederick Richard.

The 19-year-old Richard, who excelled on vault and parallel bars, also fell on the horizontal bar but took a surprising third place with 84.332 points.

The women's individual all-around final takes place on Friday.

(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City, editing by Ed Osmond)

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