A decade after her World Championships debut, Sugihara Aiko of Japan has finally got her gold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final three men\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zhang Qingying of China maintained her world-beater status on Balance Beam to earn China\u2019s first world title on the apparatus since 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ten years of growth, and now dominance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n During Sugihara\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am so happy!\u201d exclaimed the exuberant Sugihara, who was at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics but just missed out on being selected for Paris last summer. \u201cWithout worrying about medals or results I focused on myself, concentrated on the performance, and really enjoyed it, which led to this result,\u201d she added. \u201cI was able to enter the zone \u2014 that was the best part.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI didn\u2019t even dare to imagine this,\u201d said Zhang, who also won All-Around bronze Thursday. \u201cAlthough I thought about wanting to win, I was always afraid that if I thought about it too much, it wouldn\u2019t 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\u2019s how it went.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But with a medal on the line Saturday, the routine was flawless all the way through. \u201cI am extremely happy with the routine I did today. More than the score, more than the medal, I\u2019m 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 \u2014 truly a dream. It\u2019s different from a medal on Uneven Bars, because it\u2019s one I\u2019ve never had.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yulo, Zou, and Malone all hold on for gold<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Olympic champion Yulo shocked everyone \u2014 including himself \u2014 by sticking his piked Dragulescu first Vault, setting him up to win his second World title four years after his last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe I stuck that landing,\u201d Yulo marveled afterward. \u201cI can\u2019t do that vault every day, but today I did it and I was really happy and grateful to God that we\u2019re safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Asked how he manages to stay on top, the 25-year-old was philosophical. \u201cThe way I see it, I\u2019m a student and I always find good things to add,\u201d Yulo said. \u201cI just want to keep learning. For me, I\u2019m a challenger. Last time I did win in the Olympics, but that\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n With a steady Dragulescu and Kasamatsu double twist, Nazar Chepurnyi (UKR) landed his second consecutive bronze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI feel very touched,\u201d said Zou, who thanked all of his supporters for encouraging him in the leadup to the final. \u201cIt\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think this result is also a recognition of my hard work,\u201d he added. \u201cDay after day I\u2019ve been refining and improving myself, trying to push my own limits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cToday 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,\u201d Malone said. \u201cTo be able to come back and sneak into the final the way I did and win the gold medal at the World Championship, I\u2019m just super grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Malone said watching teammate Donnell Whittenburg win the Still Rings title Friday fired him up for today\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOh my gosh, I think I was more nervous watching him yesterday than I was for myself today,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m always like that \u2014 when I\u2019m in the stands and I can\u2019t control anything, I get more nervous. He told me yesterday when I saw him, \u2018it\u2019s your turn tomorrow.\u2019 That really pumped me up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s fifth of the championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI definitely believed it could be done,\u201d said Fraser, who has been balancing running his own recently opened gymnastics club with training. \u201cIt\u2019s been a real big challenge. We\u2019ve got nearly 700 kids a week,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019m 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A decade after her World Championships debut, Sugihara Aiko of Japan has finally got her gold. The two-time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[134],"class_list":["post-5180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-gymnastics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Carlos_Yulo_at_the_2019_SEA_Games.png",801,507,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Carlos_Yulo_at_the_2019_SEA_Games-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Carlos_Yulo_at_the_2019_SEA_Games-300x190.png",300,190,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Carlos_Yulo_at_the_2019_SEA_Games-768x486.png",640,405,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Carlos_Yulo_at_the_2019_SEA_Games.png",640,405,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Carlos_Yulo_at_the_2019_SEA_Games.png",801,507,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Carlos_Yulo_at_the_2019_SEA_Games.png",801,507,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Carlos_Yulo_at_the_2019_SEA_Games.png",801,507,false],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Carlos_Yulo_at_the_2019_SEA_Games-590x410.png",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Carlos_Yulo_at_the_2019_SEA_Games.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5181,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5180\/revisions\/5181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}