Gold for Japan’s Men at Artistic Gymnastics World Championship; High Scores in High Bar Sees Japan Leapfrog China

By Tsukasa Oya / Yomiuri Shimbun Sportswriter

15:20 JST, October 4, 2023

ANTWERP, Belgium — Japan’s men’s team won the gold medal in the all-around event at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, on Tuesday. This was its seventh gold medal in the event and the first in eight years since Glasgow, United Kingdom in 2015.

The five-member team included Daiki Hashimoto, 22, who won two individual gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Japan took the top spot in the qualifying round held on Saturday and Sunday.

Eight teams competed in the final, in which gymnasts performed on six apparatuses. In the pommel horse, the second of the six, Japan’s team made errors including falling off. But the team recovered as all members stuck their landings in the high bar, the final apparatus.

Japan’s finished with a total score of 255.594, 1.8 points ahead of silver medal winner China.