Daiki Hashimoto managed to defend his title of world champion in all-around, the Japanese won a gold medal at the World Gymnastics Championship in Antwerp (Belgium). It is interesting that he did not qualify directly for the finals.

Daiki HashimotoPhoto: Kenjiro Matsuo / AFLO / Profimedia

Reigning Olympic champion Daiki did not make it to the grand final. He was the third Japanese in qualifying, and each country can have a maximum of two athletes in the final action.

The Japanese delegation decided to send Hashimoto to the finals at the expense of Kazuma Kai (he had a higher score). The regulation provides for such a maneuver.

Hashimoto (22) scored a total score of 86.132 to win the gold medal.

The Japanese is followed by Ukrainian Ilya Kovtun – 84,998 points (20 years old) and American Frederick Richard (19 years old) – 84,332 points.

The U.S. hasn’t won a medal in men’s singles since 2010.

Daiki Hashimoto currently holds two Olympic titles and two world titles.

Individual ranking among men, final rating

1. Daiki Hashimoto (Japan) 86.132 points

2. Ilya Kovtun (Ukraine) 84.998

3. Richard Frederick (USA) 84,332

4. Kenta Chiba (Japan) 83.464

5. Milad Karimi (Kazakhstan) 82,931

6. Yumin Abbadini (Italy) 82.832

7. Wei Sun (China) 82.698

8. Noah Seifert (Switzerland) 82.431