Hashimoto Wins Fourth Straight World All-Around Title by Largest Margin in 13 Years

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands: Daiki Hashimoto won his fourth consecutive world all-around gymnastics title on Thursday, and he won it by a distance. The 25-year-old Japanese star totaled 85.998 points in the men's all-around final at the World Championships in Rotterdam, finishing 1.799 points clear of China's Yang Haonan. NBC Sports reported that it is the largest margin of victory in a men's all-around at an Olympics or a world championships since Kohei Uchimura won by 1.958 points in 2013.

The title moves Hashimoto two short of the record of six world all-around titles shared by Uchimura and Simone Biles. Hashimoto, who also won the Olympic all-around gold medal in Tokyo, had played down the streak before the championships. "I know everyone talks about the streak," he said, according to Olympics.com reporting carried by NBC Sports. "They ask me what it means to be defending champion or what I think about trying to win four in a row. But to be honest, I think less and less about things like that with each year."

A final he controlled

Hashimoto qualified second for the final with 84.632 points, behind his teammate Shinnosuke Oka. In the final he left no room for a contest. Yang, the 23-year-old Chinese national champion, took silver with 84.199 points in his first World Championships. Britain's Joe Fraser won bronze with 83.531. Russia's Daniel Marinov was fourth with 83.297, and Colombia's Angel Barajas fifth with 83.232, according to the final standings reported by USA Today.

The favourite who fell away

Oka, the 2024 Olympic all-around champion, had qualified first with 85.098 points and looked like Hashimoto's main threat. His final came apart on two apparatus. NBC Sports reported that Oka fell on his vault, his fourth routine, and again on high bar, his last routine. He finished eighth with 82.165 points. China's Zhang Boheng, Hashimoto's main rival over the last five years and the man who beat both Hashimoto and Oka at the Asian Games on September 21, did not compete at these championships.

Where the rest finished

American Frederick Richard, the 2023 bronze medalist, placed ninth with 82.165 points. NBC Sports noted that he is the first U.S. man to finish in the top 10 at more than one world championships since Sam Mikulak, who was sixth in 2013 and fifth in 2018. The second American in the final, Danila Leykin, was 12th with 79.665. Canada's Samuel Zakutney finished 19th with 77.432. The gold adds to a strong week for Japan, whose men also won the team title in Rotterdam.

What comes next

The championships continue on Friday with the women's all-around final. Skye Blakely and Claire Pease carry the American hopes in that final. NBC Sports reported that at least one U.S. woman has reached the Olympic or world all-around podium at every global championship dating back to 2003, a run of 23 championships that Blakely and Pease will try to extend. Apparatus finals follow later in the championships, where Richard is due to contest the floor exercise final and Patrick Hoopes the pommel horse final for the United States.