Carlos Yulo
Athletes competing in men’s artistic gymnastics from 20 countries set, matched, or broke records for their nations at the world championships in Kitakyushu, Japan, making history in the sport and inspiring future generations of athletes to follow in their footsteps.
A full list of every nation’s top all-around, apparatus, and team rankings in world championships history is available here.
AUSTRIA
Two gymnasts from Austria made history at this world championships.
- Vinzenz Höck became the first Austrian gymnast to qualify to the still rings final, setting the record on this event with his fifth place finish.
- Alexander Benda finished 24th in the all-around final, tying the record set by Willy Welt in 1950. Benda is also the first Austrian gymnast to reach this final in the current 24-man qualification system.
BRAZIL
Caio Souza became the first gymnast from Brazil to qualify to the parallel bars final, setting the record on this event with his seventh place finish.
CANADA
William Emard broke two world records for the Canadian men.
- Emard finished eighth in the all-around final, breaking the ninth place record set by Adam Wong in 2006.
- He was also the first Canadian to qualify to the still rings final, setting the record on this event with his seventh place finish.
CHINA
The Chinese men have won multiple gold medals in every possible category, and the gymnasts in Kitakyushu picked up another four to add to the total.
- Zhang Boheng finished first in the all-around final to become the fifth world all-around champion from China, following Li Xiaoshuang (1995), Feng Jing (2001), Yang Wei (2006, 2007), and Xiao Ruoteng (2017).
- Lan Xingyu finished first on still rings to become the sixth world champion from China on this event, following Li Ning (1985), Dong Zhen (1999), Chen Yibing, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011), Yan Mingyong (2009), and Liu Yang (2014).
- Hu Xuwei finished first on parallel bars to become the 12th world champion from China on this event, following Lou Yun (1983), Li Jing (1989, 1991, 1992), Huang Liping (1994), Zhang Jinjing (1997), Li Xiaopeng (2002, 2003), Yang Wei (2006), Weng Guanyin (2009), Feng Zhe (2010), Lin Chaopan (2013), You Hao (2015), and Zou Jingyuan (2017, 2019).
- Hu also finished fifth on high bar to become the fifth world champion from China on this event, following Tong Fei (1985), Li Chunyang (1989), Zou Kai (2009, 2011), and Zhang Chenglong (2010).
CYPRUS
Ilias Georgiou became the first gymnast from Cyprus to qualify to the high bar final, setting the record on this event with his eighth place finish.
ECUADOR
Israel Chiriboga finished 42nd in all-around qualifications, breaking his own 106th place record from 2018.
FINLAND
Emil Soravuo finished third to take the bronze on floor exercise, becoming the first world medalist from Finland on this event.
GREECE
Nikolaos Iliopoulos finished 19th in the all-around final, matching Christos Lympanovnos’ record from 2006.
INDIA
Yogeshwar Singh finished 30th in all-around qualifications, breaking his own 41st place record from 2017.
ISRAEL
Andrey Medvedev finished third to take the bronze on vault, becoming the first world finalist and medalist from Israel on this event.
ITALY
Nicola Bartolini finished first to take the gold on floor exercise, becoming the first world champion from Italy on this event. He is also the first Italian man to win a gold medal since Yuri Chechi won on rings in 1997, and the first floor medalist for Italy since Franco Menichelli won bronze in 1966.
KAZAKHSTAN
Two of the men from Kazakhstan’s team made history at world championships this year.
- Nariman Kurbanov finished fourth in the pommel horse final, matching Valeri Liukin’s record from 1993, the first year Kazakhstan competed at worlds.
- Milad Karimi finished fifth in the high bar final, breaking Sergei Fedorchenko’s sixth place record from 1996 and 1997.
LITHUANIA
Robert Tvorogal finished 15th in the all-around final, breaking his own 17th place record from 2017.
PANAMA
Pablo Broszio became the first man from Panama to compete at world championships, and set the program’s first record by finishing 52nd in all-around qualifications.
PHILIPPINES
Though he missed out on defending his title on floor after some mistakes in the final, Carlos Yulo still set two huge records for the Philippines and for himself.
- Yulo finished first to take the gold on vault, becoming the first world finalist, medalist, and champion from the Philippines on this event all at once.
- On parallel bars, Yulo finished second to win the silver medal, also making history as the first world finalist and medalist for his country here.
SOUTH KOREA
Ryu Sunghyun finished fourth in the floor exercise final, breaking Kim Hansol’s fifth place record from 2014.
TURKEY
Ahmet Önder finished fifth in the all-around final, breaking his own ninth place record from 2017.
UKRAINE
Illia Kovtun finished third to take the bronze in the all-around final, matching Oleg Verniaiev’s record from 2019.
UNITED STATES
Stephen Nedoroscik finished first to take the gold in the pommel horse final, becoming the first world champion for the United States and breaking Kurt Thomas’ second place record from 1979.
VIETNAM
Nguyen Van Khanh Phong finished 34th in all-around qualifications, breaking Le Thanh Tung’s 59th place record from 2019.
Article by Lauren Hopkins