Zhang Boheng
The newly-crowned Olympic all-around champion Hashimoto Daiki of Japan and China’s rising star Zhang Boheng came into world championships as the ones to beat, and with their prelims performances over three points ahead of the rest of the field, the pair exceeded expectations.
Hashimoto, 20, earned an 88.040, while Zhang, 21, finished just over a tenth behind him with an 87.897 after both performed magnificently across the board. While Hashimoto was a little weak on rings and not at a hundred percent on high bar, the rest of his day went very well, and while Zhang was a few tenths behind Hashimoto on most events, with rings one of his strengths, he was able to make nearly all of that up on that event alone to finish right at Hashimoto’s heels.
The two also both reached a number of apparatus finals, with Hashimoto qualifying on floor, pommel horse, parallel bars, and in first place on high bar, while Zhang reached the finals on rings and parallel bars, and getting the first reserve spots on pommels and high bar.
Hashimoto and Zhang represent the dawn of a new era in men’s gymnastics, and tomorrow’s all-around final, where the two should get the gold and silver barring any disaster, is only the beginning for what could be a thrilling rivalry over the next couple of quads.
There was a four-point gap between the top and the rest of the field for most of the competition, but Adem Asil of Turkey was able to close it slightly with his all-around performance, finishing third with an 84.430. He won’t challenge the leaders in the all-around final, and he’s also not as “guaranteed” for a medal in comparison with several guys close enough behind him to knock him out of contention, especially if some of those who struggled in qualifications come back with stronger work in the final. But Asil also has lots of room for improvement, and it would be awesome to see an all-around medalist from a country that hasn’t done it before.
Rounding out the top eight were Shi Cong of China in fourth with an 83.898, Illia Kovtun of Ukraine in fifth with an 83.565, Krisztofer Meszaros of Hungary in sixth with an 82.6632, Ilias Georgiou of Cyprus in seventh with an 82.364, and Ahmet Önder of Turkey in eighth with an 82.065.
Of these, I was so excited to see Meszaros do so well, though I do think he is close to being maxed out for what he’s capable of, and Georgiou could probably add a point or so on a perfect day, but I don’t think either will have enough to be in podium contention. The rest, though, all have a lot they can do to climb the ranks after counting multiple falls or otherwise bigger mistakes than they’re used to.
I’m looking for Kovtun to add at least a point on pommels, and he can also improve on his p-bars execution, where he should have one of the best sets in the field on a good day. Shi had a few spotty areas in prelims that can be tweaked for the better, while Önder can add tenths on pretty much every event if he can clean up tomorrow. Kovtun probably has the best chance to break into the top three, but so many of the guys are so close, a brilliant day from one of the overall weaker guys could do it over a hit but otherwise mediocre day from Kovtun, or even Asil.
There are a few guys capable of scoring quite a bit higher than they did in prelims. My favorite for big moves include William Emard of Canada (11th with an 81.498), Yul Moldauer of the United States (13th with an 81.064), Milad Karimi of Kazakhstan (16th with an 80.706), Caio Souza of Brazil (17th with an 80.598), and Nikita Ignatyev of Russia (23rd with a 77.939).
Emard competed three of his strongest events (rings, vault, and p-bars) at the start of the meet, and at the halfway point, he was actually right up there with Hashimoto and Zhang in the standings, which was incredible. But with generally lower-difficulty high bar and pommels routines in addition to some rough landings on floor that limited his overall score there as well as a hard fall on pommels, he ended up dropping a bit. I think if he can hit a fully clean competition, he can end up around an 83 or so, as can Moldauer, who had two falls on pommels after an otherwise great day.
Thankfully, Karimi hit his two best events, floor and high bar, to qualify near the top of both, but he had a rough pommels set, a weaker than usual rings routine, and he missed his vault, while Souza struggled on pommels, and Ignatyev was a bit of a mess in general with mistakes on the majority of his events, so I’d say he has the most he can do to make up for prelims, where his 23rd-place ranking was kind of a shock.
Also qualifying to the final were Joel Plata of Spain, Robert Tvorogal of Lithuania, Luka van den Keybus of Belgium, Henji Mboyo of Switzerland, Joshua Nathan of Great Britain, Nestor Abad of Spain, Sofus Heggemsnes of Norway, Jossimar Calvo of Colombia, Oskar Kirmes of Finland, Eyal Indig of Israel, and Noah Kuavita of Belgium.
However, there was a bit of drama following the fifth subdivision, causing more than an hour delay as the competition hall was sanitized due to a positive COVID-19 test from one of the athletes in that group. We later found out that the athlete in question was Calvo, who will have to miss the final due to the test, with Alexander Benda of Austria, who was 25th with a 77.597, taking his place.
One big miss for this final was Germany’s Carlo Hörr, who is capable of hitting above an 80, but with several mistakes, including on pommels and high bar, he only managed a 76.498, placing 31st. Other than that, I don’t think there were many surprises, though it looks like David Rumbutis of Sweden departed the competition after missing his vault and injuring his knee, which was unfortunate. He wrote on Instagram that this year has had the highest of highs and lowest of lows, and he’s going home feeling “disappointed” in himself “again” after also having a rough Olympics qualification.
I’ll get more into the apparatus situation, including a little about who made each event as well as who missed out, as I preview these going into the weekend, but for now, the standings are below, along with the all-around standings.
ALL-AROUND STANDINGS
1. Hashimoto Daiki JPN 88.040
2. Zhang Boheng CHN 87.897
3. Adem Asil TUR 84.430
4. Shi Cong CHN 83.898
5. Illia Kovtun UKR 83.565
6. Krisztofer Meszaros HUN 82.632
7. Ilias Georgiou CYP 82.364
8. Ahmet Önder TUR 82.065
9. Joel Plata ESP 81.898
10. Robert Tvorogal LTU 81.766
11. William Emard CAN 81.498
12. Luka van den Keybus BEL 81.098
13. Yul Moldauer USA 81.064
14. Henji Mboyo SUI 80.965
15. Joshua Nathan GBR 80.765
16. Milad Karimi KAZ 80.706
17. Caio Souza BRA 80.598
18. Nestor Abad ESP 80.498
19. Sofus Heggemsnes NOR 80.498
20. Jossimar Calvo COL 80.065
21. Oskar Kirmes FIN 79.298
22. Eyal Indig ISR 79.099
23. Nikita Ignatyev RUS 77.939
24. Noah Kuavita BEL 77.632
R1. Alexander Benda AUT 77.597
R2. Robert Kirmes FIN 77.564
R3. Nikolaos Iliopoulos GRE 77.431
R4. Andres Martinez COL 77.398
Jossimar Calvo of Colombia tested positive for COVID-19 following qualifications and will have to withdraw from the final. Alexander Benda of Austria will take his place.
FLOOR EXERCISE STANDINGS
1. Carlos Yulo PHI 15.166
2. Nicola Bartolini ITA 14.966
3. Minami Kazuku JPN 14.966
4. Milad Karimi KAZ 14.941
5. Hashimoto Daiki JPN 14.733
6. Ryu Sunghyun KOR 14.600
7. Hayden Skinner GBR 14.566
8. Emil Soravuo FIN 14.533
R1. Yul Moldauer USA 14.433
R2. Illia Kovtun UKR 14.333
R3. Ivan Stretovich RUS 14.266
Kaya Kazuma of Japan (14.566) is not included in the standings due to the two-per-country limitations.
POMMEL HORSE STANDINGS
1. Weng Hao CHN 15.600
2. Stephen Nedoroscik USA 15.366
3. Alec Yoder USA 15.300
4. Hashimoto Daiki JPN 15.075
5. Joshua Nathan GBR 15.033
6. Nariman Kurbanov KAZ 15.000
7. Kaya Kazuma JPN 14.933
8. Filip Ude CRO 14.866
R1. Zhang Boheng CHN 14.666
R2. Harutyun Merdinyan ARM 14.666
R3. Loran de Munck NED 14.566
STILL RINGS STANDINGS
1. Lan Xingyu CHN 15.266
2. Zhang Boheng CHN 14.866
3. Vinzenz Höck AUT 14.766
— Grigorii Klimentev RUS 14.766
— Ibrahim Colak TUR 14.766
6. William Emard CAN 14.733
7. Courtney Tulloch GBR 14.666
— Salvatore Maresca ITA 14.666
R1. Marco Lodadio ITA 14.600
R2. Adem Asil TUR 14.533
R3. Ali Zahran EGY 14.233
VAULT STANDINGS
1. Nazar Chepurnyi UKR 14.833
2. Yang Hakseon KOR 14.833
3. Carlos Yulo PHI 14.633
4. Yonekura Hidenobu JPN 14.783
5. Andrey Medvedev ISR 14.716
6. Thomas Grasso ITA 14.599
7. Courtney Tulloch GBR 14.566
8. William Emard CAN 14.533
R1. Adem Asil TUR 14.499
R2. Nicola Bartolini ITA 14.433
R3. Mukhammadzhon Yakubov RUS 14.416
PARALLEL BARS
1. Carlos Yulo PHI 15.566
2. Zhang Boheng CHN 15.300
3. Hu Xuwei CHN 15.233
4. Hashimoto Daiki JPN 15.200
5. Yul Moldauer USA 14.866
6. Christian Baumann SUI 14.841
7. Kaya Kazuma JPN 14.833
8. Caio Souza BRA 14.800
R1. Marios Georgiou CYP 14.800
R2. Ilias Georgiou CYP 14.766
R3. Isaac Nunez MEX 14.733
Shi Cong of China (15.200) is not included in the standings due to the two-per-country limitations.
HIGH BAR STANDINGS
1. Hashimoto Daiki JPN 14.633
2. Hu Xuwei CHN 14.533
3. Milad Karimi KAZ 14.433
4. Brody Malone USA 14.366
5. Uchimura Kohei JPN 14.300
6. Carlo Macchini ITA 14.266
7. Ilias Georgiou CYP 14.233
8. Illia Kovtun UKR 14.200
R1. Zhang Boheng CHN 14.166
R2. Andreas Bretschneider GER 14.100
R3. Noah Kuavita BEL 14.066
Article by Lauren Hopkins