Daiki Hashimoto defended his world all-around title

Japanese Daiki Hashimoto cemented his status as the current king of artistic gymnastics by winning the individual all-around at the World Championships for the second time in a row. Hashimoto, however, got to the gold of the championship, which takes place in Antwerp, with adventures and could well have remained without even participating in the final competitions.

One nuance added additional value to this success of Daiki Hashimoto in the most prestigious gymnastics discipline. It was once ruled by his outstanding compatriot Kohei Uchimura. Uchimura’s series of victories in the “absolute” at world championships stretched for six years – from 2009 to 2015. But after him, a real king, someone who not only won the title, but defended it at least once, did not appear in artistic gymnastics. At each of the next four championships there was a new gold winner. Twice it went to representatives of China – Xiao Ruoteng and Zhao Boheng, twice it was won by Russian athletes – Arthur Dalaloyan and Nikita Nagorny, who were cut off from recent top tournaments due to international sanctions.

The king appeared unexpectedly, one might say, out of nowhere. Before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, then 19-year-old Daiki Hashimoto was not on the short list of favorites: too young, too little experience, too unstable. But the Japanese managed to outpace all famous opponents in the individual all-around, including Nagorny, who was left with silver. Confirming that his rise was no accident, Hashimoto won the overall title at last year’s World Championships in Liverpool, and has now become the first gymnast in eight years to defend the prestigious title.

Moreover, its Antwerp gold has a special shade. The fact is that Hashimoto got to him through such terrible adventures that few champions have ever experienced.

To begin with, he basically miraculously ended up in the finals. One might say that he ended up there not entirely on sporting grounds. In qualifying, Hashimoto took third place, behind two compatriots – Kenta Chiba and Kazuma Kaya. And according to the regulations, only two athletes from one country can compete in the final competitions. But the Japanese delegation, not caring about the results, unhooked Kaya from them in order to give the formal leader a chance. And Daiki Hashimoto started in the finals in such a way that one would think that everyone who voted for his inclusion in it would immediately resign, unable to bear the shame and admitting a monstrous mistake. Hashimoto stumbled during the floor exercises, made false connections and ended up in 14th position after them. It seemed that it would no longer be possible to rise high from it.

But Daiki Hashimoto again showed that his strengths also include a strong nervous system, which already in his teens helped him cope with Olympic fever. The Japanese digested the nightmare of the free people surprisingly easily, as if something like that was in his plans. In the other five disciplines he was practically flawless. And his composure was especially striking against the background of the jitters that gripped all the main competitors. Seeing a medal in front of them, maybe even a gold one, Chiba, the Chinese Sun Wei, and the young American Fred Richard had breakdowns. Richard eventually made it to the sensational bronze, which illustrated, whatever one may say, not so much his class as the lack of psychological stability among seasoned opponents. As, indeed, was the silver of the low-rated Ukrainian Ilya Kovtun.

And above them all towered a real king, with both class and stability in perfect order. Hashimoto, despite the failed freestyle, overtook Kovtun by a point with a decent makeweight. And this lead seems to hint that fighting him at the Olympics in Paris in the summer of 2024 is useless, at least for today’s squad of opponents, which lacks a powerful Russian component. Domestic gymnasts will be able to resume participation in international tournaments after the New Year.

Alexey Dospehov