Kitakyushu, Japan, October 24, 2021: Mai Murakami (JPN) and Urara Ashikawa (JPN) brought the host country two World titles - a best ever result for the Japanese women - on the final day of competition at the 50th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Kitakyushu on Sunday.
Hu Xuwei (CHN) added two of his own on parallel bars and horizontal bar to bring China’s total for the meet to five, and Carlos Yulo (PHI) captured the World title on vault, two years after becoming the first Filipino gymnast to win a world title - on men’s floor exercise in Stuttgart.
Two-time Olympian Murakami, 25, scored 14.066 to edge all-around champion Angelina Melnikova (RGF) for gold by 0.066 - Murakami’s second world title in four years on floor exercise.
Ashikawa won the balance beam title with 14.100 for her first gold, ahead of 2017 World champion Pauline Schaefer-Betz (GER) and Murakami. Ashikawa’s is the first Japanese gold on the apparatus since Keiko Tanaka-Ikeda in 1954.
Hu, 24, has competed sparingly at the international level before coming to Kitakyushu but became the only athlete to win multiple golds – on horizontal bar (15.166) and parallel bars (15.466).
Hu joined Zhang Boheng (men’s all-around), Wei Xiaoyuan (uneven bars) and Lan Xingyu (still rings) as the gold medallists from China at these championships.
Carlos Yulo (PHI) averaged 14.916 to win gold in the men’s vault – and followed up with a silver in parallel bars for his fourth World medal.
“I feel extremely happy right now. I really did my best. All the hard work has paid off. But still I’m not satisfied,” said Yulo. “I won the gold and it was another achievement for me in the parallel bars, but there’s always something more... I want to reach my full potential as a gymnast.”
In all, gymnasts from 11 nations ended up on the podiums over the 12 finals contested in Kitakyushu.
