Carlos Yulo (Photo PSC)
A decade after her World Championships debut, Sugihara Aiko of Japan has finally got her gold.
The two-time Olympian was the breakout star on the final day of the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, winning her first World title on Floor Exercise and adding bronze on Balance Beam in the extremely competitive finals.
The final three men’s titles were all won by gymnasts who have held them before: 2021 world champion Carlos Yulo of the Philippines reigned on Vault, 2022 world champion Brody Malone of the USA picked up a second title on Horizontal Bar, and Parallel Bars king Zou Jingyuan of China grabbed World title number four.
Zhang Qingying of China maintained her world-beater status on Balance Beam to earn China’s first world title on the apparatus since 2018.
Ten years of growth, and now dominance
During Sugihara’s time on the national team, the Japanese women have reached their greatest heights in half a century. Murakami Mai and Watanabe Hazuki have captured historic world titles and the Japanese have risen as high as fourth in the Olympic team competition.
But Sugihara never had a crowning moment of her own on the world stage until Saturday. Fittingly, it came for her autobiographical Floor Exercise routine, which tells the story of her early successes, later struggles, and ultimate triumph, and in the final it earned 13.833 points. That was enough to best Olympians Ruby Evans and Abigail Martin, whose 2-3 finish gave Great Britain two on a Floor podium for the first time.
“I am so happy!” exclaimed the exuberant Sugihara, who was at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics but just missed out on being selected for Paris last summer. “Without worrying about medals or results I focused on myself, concentrated on the performance, and really enjoyed it, which led to this result,” she added. “I was able to enter the zone — that was the best part.”
Sugihara also took bronze in a highly competitive Balance Beam final, won by top qualifier Zhang with 15.166 points for a magnificent exercise filled with unusual combinations.
“I didn’t even dare to imagine this,” said Zhang, who also won All-Around bronze Thursday. “Although I thought about wanting to win, I was always afraid that if I thought about it too much, it wouldn’t happen, so when I stepped up to the podium I was actually a bit nervous, but my coach kept encouraging me. He said not to overthink it. The more you think, the less you get, and told me to just focus on remembering the movements. So I performed as I had practiced. And that’s how it went.”
Kaylia Nemour of Algeria hit the harder iteration of her beam routine for silver, a relief for the 18-year-old who wants to be known for more than Uneven Bars. Beam has been a battle for Nemour at this championships: she fell on her wolf turn in qualification and barely grabbed the last place into the final, then fell again on the same skill in the All-Around final.
But with a medal on the line Saturday, the routine was flawless all the way through. “I am extremely happy with the routine I did today. More than the score, more than the medal, I’m so happy because I barely got into the final. I was just happy to be here, I just wanted to do what I know how to do. Having the silver medal is a dream — truly a dream. It’s different from a medal on Uneven Bars, because it’s one I’ve never had.”
Yulo, Zou, and Malone all hold on for gold
Olympic champion Yulo shocked everyone — including himself — by sticking his piked Dragulescu first Vault, setting him up to win his second World title four years after his last.
“I couldn’t believe I stuck that landing,” Yulo marveled afterward. “I can’t do that vault every day, but today I did it and I was really happy and grateful to God that we’re safe.”
The effort helped him fend off a challenge from two-time Olympic medallist Artur Davyan of Armenia, who stunned the Indonesia Arena crowd by stepping forward to stick both his Dragulescu and handspring front layout 2.5 twist.
Difficulty made the difference for Yulo, though it was a narrow victory. The Olympic champion earned an extra 0.4 over for his piked Dragulescu, helping him earn a 14.866 average. Davtyan, renowned for his execution, made up some of the difference with 0.1 bonuses for sticking both landings of his vaults. He wound up with a 14.833 average, just 0.034 shy of gold.
Asked how he manages to stay on top, the 25-year-old was philosophical. “The way I see it, I’m a student and I always find good things to add,” Yulo said. “I just want to keep learning. For me, I’m a challenger. Last time I did win in the Olympics, but that’s about it. I value the journey more than the result, so whatever happens, I will keep trying and I will keep proving that my gymnastics is beautiful.”
With a steady Dragulescu and Kasamatsu double twist, Nazar Chepurnyi (UKR) landed his second consecutive bronze.
Elsewhere, two-time Olympic champion Zou Jingyuan continued his long reign on Parallel Bars by recapturing the world title after skipping the 2023 World Championships to compete at the Asian Games.
Back after a post-Olympic hiatus, 27-year-old Zou proved once more that he is the unparalleled king of the bars, scoring 15.300. Newcomer Tsunogai Tomoharu of Japan took silver in his first world final, and Daniel Marinov (AIN) earned bronze.
“I feel very touched,” said Zou, who thanked all of his supporters for encouraging him in the leadup to the final. “It’s been two Olympic cycles now, and many friends have been with me. Coming to the World Championships feels like being part of a big family.”
“I think this result is also a recognition of my hard work,” he added. “Day after day I’ve been refining and improving myself, trying to push my own limits.”
2022 World Horizontal Bar champion Malone also regained his title. The first to perform in the final, Malone received credit for his opening skill, a full-twisting release named for Daniel Winkler of Germany, which had been lacking from his qualification routine. It proved the difference for Malone, who scored 14.933, and All-Around champion Hashimoto Daiki of Japan, who had 14.733.
“Today it was just about making sure that I got that skill as straight as possible so that I would get credit for it, and it worked out,” Malone said. “To be able to come back and sneak into the final the way I did and win the gold medal at the World Championship, I’m just super grateful.”
Malone said watching teammate Donnell Whittenburg win the Still Rings title Friday fired him up for today’s competition.
“Oh my gosh, I think I was more nervous watching him yesterday than I was for myself today,” he said. “I’m always like that — when I’m in the stands and I can’t control anything, I get more nervous. He told me yesterday when I saw him, ‘it’s your turn tomorrow.’ That really pumped me up.”
Briton Joe Fraser hit a sky-high triple pike dismount on Horizontal Bar for bronze, his first world medal on the apparatus and Great Britain’s fifth of the championships.
“I definitely believed it could be done,” said Fraser, who has been balancing running his own recently opened gymnastics club with training. “It’s been a real big challenge. We’ve got nearly 700 kids a week,” he added. “I’m really looking forward to getting home, going to the gym, and showing the medal to the kids. It means more to me this time than it has before.”
