Japan's double Olympic gold medalist Daiki Hashimoto won his maiden men's individual all-around world championship Friday in Liverpool.
Hashimoto became the second Japanese gymnast ever to become both Olympic and world champion in the event, following in the footsteps of icon Kohei Uchimura.
The 21-year-old is Japan's fifth men's individual all-around world champion, with Uchimara the most recent to achieve the feat in 2015, when he won his sixth straight.
Hashimoto, who won gold in the individual all-around and horizontal bar at last year's Tokyo Games, totaled 87.198 points to beat reigning champion Zhang Boheng of China, who scored 86.765. Japan's Wataru Tanigawa placed third with 85.231, as two Japanese took the podium for the first time since 2014.
"I didn't worry too much about the points and managed to do each thing I'd prepared carefully," said Hashimoto. "I was in good condition and could control myself."
Hashimoto scored 14.333 to top the second apparatus, the pommel horse, redeeming himself from a fall during qualifying. He remained in first place the rest of the way.
The dominant performance included a 15.000 in the parallel bars before he secured the title with a mistake-free horizontal bar routine -- landing perfectly with a slightly easier dismount after falling from the apparatus during the men's team final.
"I felt over the moon the moment I landed it. I could tell that was when I'd sealed the deal," said Hashimoto, who was narrowly beaten for the title by Zhang last year in Kitakyushu after stepping out on his final landing.
Hashimoto lived up to his billing as heir to two-time Olympic individual all-around gold medalist Uchimura, but resisted comparisons to the all-time great following his win.
"Kohei is Kohei and I am myself. I want to keep coming up with performances that I'm happy with each year," said Hashimoto.
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