Artistic Gymnastics World Championships 2019 | Day 8 as it happened

Welcome to the Olympic Channel's live blog coverage of the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships 2019. We're on the ground in Stuttgart, Germany, to bring you all the latest news and updates.

European champion Nikita Nagornyy of Russia, who clinched men's team gold on Wednesday, beat out his teammate and defending champion Artur Dalaloyan to become the new world champion. Ukraine's Olympic parallel bars champion Oleg Verniaiev won bronze.

While you're here, you may also want to check out yesterday's blog.

You can watch the Championships on Olympic Channel. Please note coverage is subject to territorial restrictions and may not be available in your territory.

Don't worry if there isn't, just scroll down for all the text commentary and updates.

All times below are Central European Summer Time (UTC+2 hours). Latest updates first.

8:35 pm – Two days left

Can you believe it? There are just two days left of this meet.

Today, Nikita Nagornyy is king of men's gymnastics after taking the all-around crown from his friend and team-mate Artur Dalaloyan.

Tomorrow, he returns to the arena for a shot at the floor exercise title.

Join us then!

8:30 pm – Verniaiev on having doubts after returning from injury

"Listen, such thoughts happened all the time after all the injuries because... sport works in a way that when you are leaving something, someone new is arriving.

"The thoughts were there but they left. I think now they won't appear again and we will start fully preparing for Tokyo."

8:25 pm – Dalaloyan on rebounding from sitting down on vault

"The main goal of an all-around athlete, in such a sport, you have to fight from start to finish.

"From the first to the last apparatus. It doesn’t matter if there are some minor or serious mistakes, you have to keep working, keeping your, so to say, dignity."

8:20 pm – Nagornyy on Russia's return to dominance

The champion Nagornyy was asked about Russia's return to the top of men's gymnastics, with team gold and individual gold and silver.

Russia have now won two individual all-around titles in a row for the first time since the Soviet Union fell.

"It's a different era, get used to it."

8:15 pm – Nagornyy 'emotionally tired'

After two gold medals in the span of 48 hours or so, Nikita Nagornyy has good reason to feel mentally drained.

"We were emotionally tired, emotion-wise it was… there was a lack of it (emotion).

"At the same time, the audience was the greatest, and so was the organisation."

7:50 pm – Mikulak on 'elegance' prize: "It's so fancy!"

As the men's winner of the prize for elegance shown during his all-around final, Mikulak was awarded a watch by the competition sponsors.

"Right? It's so fancy! I'm definitely going to rock it, if it just sits there and collects dust I'll feel like I'm just wasting it.

"I'll pull it out for special occasions and just showcase it elsewhere."

Mikulak will turn 27 on Sunday, the day he competes in the horizontal bar final.

"I don't want to put too much power out there, but I would like to come away with the medal for my birthday."

7:45 pm – Mikulak discusses rivals' higher difficulty levels

"They definitely got a little more difficulty but what I do is make up in execution," said Mikulak, who finished seventh after a fall on pommel horse in his fifth rotation.

"I was in the running. If [his pommel horse skill] had been perfect, I would have been second or third. It was a roll of the dice kind of moment and it didn't roll in my favour.

"Last year was very demoralising because I changed the way I trained, this time I competed exactly how I trained and I was just one skill off, away, from what my true potential really was.

"[…] After a rough qualifications, it feels good to bounce back from that."

7:33 pm – Xiao links fall off high bar to added difficulty

Xiao Ruoteng, the 2017 champion who finished fourth after a fall in his final rotation today, has been talking about that.

"Actually, today through my first five rotations I showed quite a high standard. I wanted to add difficulty to my all-around, and going to high bar I was trailing by about 0.5 so I was weighing up adding difficulty and I decided to do so.

"I'd decided beforehand, that if I was trailing, I would add difficulty."

Asked which of his opponents is most like him and gives him the most thought, Xiao said: "To be honest, I'm closest to Nagornyy in terms of level. My other rivals are also strong, but not as good as him. His execution is great, he's very stable."

7:14 pm – Handshakes

The top eight are all exchanging handshakes after the podium ceremony. Nice to see.

You can read our report on the final here.

All the reaction to come.

7:06 pm – Victory ceremony

Time for the victory ceremony.

As with yesterday, the top eight gymnasts will all be honoured.

7:00 pm – Prizes for elegance

The prizes for the gymnast who has shown the "most remarkable grace and elegance" in the all-around finals go to Sam Mikulak (USA) and Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos (France).

6:52 pm – Final standings

🥇GOLD Nikita Nagornyy (Russia) 88.772

🥈SILVER Artur Dalaloyan (Russia) 87.165

🥉BRONZE Oleg Verniaiev (Ukraine) 86.973

Fourth place: Xiao Ruoteng (China) 86.690

Fifth place: Sun Wei (China) 86.523

Sixth place: Kazuma Kaya (Japan) 85.899

Seventh place: Samuel Mikulak (USA) 85.691

Eighth place: Joe Fraser (Great Britain) 85.098

6:48 pm – Nikita Nagornyy is your new world champion

No scares for Nagornyy, lots of shouts of "davai" from the crowd, sticks his landing with a backwards hop but he'll be the new world champion!

He's got a Russian flag around his shoulders, as does Dalaloyan, standing next to him. The two friends have big grins and are chatting away.

UPDATE (6:50 pm): There it is! 14.166 on high bar, 88.772 total, Nagornyy is world champion!

Nagornyy goes over to Verniaiev, who congratulates him. All three men are posing for photos.

6:45 pm – Dalaloyan ahead of Verniaiev

A small hop back for Artur Dalaloyan to end his rings routine, he waves to the crowd. I think he knows he's not defending his title, but you never know with Nagornyy also on the high bar to come.

The Russian one-two is still on…

Yes it is, he's guaranteed at least silver! 14.233, 87.165 total, with one man left to come!

All Nagornyy needs is 12.560 to win gold.

6:42 pm – VERNIAIEV GUARANTEED MEDAL

Verniaiev gets 14.166 on floor and he's guaranteed a medal!

He's delighted, he can't finish lower than third now.

86.973 total.

6:37 pm – XIAO OFF THE HIGH BAR!!

The 2017 world all-around champion, who was in second coming into this last rotation, has come off the horizontal bar!

Hits the second half of that routine but that could be a big opening for Dalaloyan and Verniaiev!

Here they both come – Verniaiev on floor and he's taken an extra step at the end of his first pass, was that out of bounds?

12.666 for Xiao – just ahead of teammate Sun. 86.690 total for Xiao.

6:34 pm – Sun moves ahead of Mikulak

14.000 for Sun, and Mikulak's already-dim hopes of a medal have reduced even further.

Kazuma Kaya of Japan follows Sun and he is pumped! Lets out a huge roar after nailing the dismount with his team-mates and parents yelling encouragement from the stands. 13.733 for him and it looks like Mikulak will finish in seventh.

6:29 pm – Mikulak ends on a high note

Sticks his rings dismount!

Sam Mikulak will go into the lead for now, but with all his rivals still to compete after him.

An unfortunate error in the fifth rotation may well have cost him a medal.

14.000 for Mikulak, the fourth-best of the day, and a final total of 85.691. That's lower than his combined score from the team final.

A 13.169 for Sun Wei, now on high bar, will see him overtake Mikulak.

6:23 pm – One rotation left

Mikulak's error on the pommel horse looks like it'll cost him.

15.233 for Dalaloyan and he's back in the medal positions!

Nagornyy 74.606, Xiao 74.165, Dalaloyan 72.932, Verniaiev 72.807, Sun 72.523 (Mikulak in seventh on 71.691)

Mikulak is up first on rings. Verniaiev goes fifth on floor, Sun second on high bar, Xiao fourth on high bar, Dalaloyan fifth on high bar, and Nagornyy last on high bar.

6:18 pm – Xiao into second

All eyes on Xiao, who was the only man still doing a routine in that rotation.

A small hop backwards on his landing off parallel bars but that should keep him in the medal positions. In fact it's 15.266, a big score to jump him ahead of Verniaiev!

Mikulak has also been overtaken by Sun Wei and Kazuma Kaya.

Still one man left in this rotation: defending all-around champion Artur Dalaloyan on parallel bars.

6:14 pm – Xiao and Verniaiev look to extend lead

Xiao Ruoteng on parallel bars and Oleg Verniaiev on high bar have a big opportunity to open a gap on Mikulak here.

Verniaiev nails it! He looks delighted. A hug for his coach and he salutes the crowd. Big grins all around.

13.666 to keep him in second.

6:04 pm – Nagornyy sticks parallel bars dismount

Nikita Nagornyy made that look easy. Stuck his parallel bars dismount for 15.300, the third-best score on that apparatus today.

Sam Mikulak has come off the pommel horse!

Just 13.000 for Mikulak.

5:55 pm – Four rotations down

Nagornyy 59.306

Verniaiev 59.141

Xiao 58.758

Mikulak 58.691

Dalaloyan 57.699

5:49 pm – Mikulak shouts encouragement

Sam Mikulak is watching team-mate Yul Moldauer on parallel bars and shouting lots of encouragement.

"Let's do it, kid! Yeah!"

5:41 pm – Mikulak stays in medal contention

A 14.400 on floor for the American means he's still easily in medal contention. That will slot him into third behind Nagornyy and Verniaiev.

But Xiao Ruoteng pushes him down into fourth by nailing his vault. It's really tight at the top.

5:38 pm – HUGE from Verniaiev on parallel bars

He's the Olympic champion on that apparatus for a reason.

A huge 15.475 score to keep pace with Nagornyy, less than two-tenths behind.

5:35 pm – Nagornyy gets a full point more

Nagornyy scores 15.066, a full point more than his team-mate, on vault.

Stuck his landing on the Dragulescu.

5:33 pm – Dalaloyan falls backwards on vault

That's a hand down from Artur Dalaloyan on his vault landing – in fact did he sit down? That could be the end of his challenge today to defend his crown.

14.066 for him.

5:24 pm – Halfway scores

Three rotations down, three to go.

Mikulak 44.291, Nagornyy 44.240, Xiao 43.958, Verniaiev 43.666, Dalaloyan 43.633

5:18 pm – Mikulak hits high bar!

He knows it too! Tiny step back on the dismount but that should put him in the lead!

14.700, 44.291 total, Mikulak leads at half-way!

5:13 pm – Nagornyy into the lead!

It's 14.633 for Nagornyy to move him above Xiao – but here comes Mikulak on the high bar…

5:07 pm – Can Xiao hold on?

'Just' 13.933 for Xiao on rings. That may open the door for Mikulak and Souza on this rotation. Nagornyy and Dalaloyan are both also on rings.

The top score so far on that apparatus is 14.000 by Oleg Veniaiev, who just scored 14.800 on vault to move behind Xiao.

14.433 for Dalaloyan will leave him behind Verniaiev after this rotation.

5:00 pm – Scores after two rotations

Xiao 30.025, Nagornyy 29.607, Mikulak 29.591, Dalaloyan 29.200, Souza 29.066

Mikulak is heading to perhaps his strongest apparatus, the high bar.

4:55 pm – Mikulak overtakes Dalaloyan

Sam Mikulak wobbled a bit on his dismount from parallel bars but he stuck it.

Is the American finally going to make an all-around podium?

He's told us before that he doesn't like not hitting when it matters.

Today could be the day…

15.325! Into third!

4:46 pm – Xiao into first

15.000 for the Chinese on pommel horse, which puts him provisionally first. Artur Dalaloyan follows…

Lots of "davai" shouts from the crowd and the Russian delegation near us. It looks clean.

It's 14.000 for Dalaloyan and he's about eight-tenths behind Xiao now.

Nikita Nagornyy comes after and gets 14.566, meaning Xiao, the 2017 World champ, has a lead of about 0.4.

4:41 pm – Moldauer pumped up after rings

I think Yul Moldauer was happy with his still rings routine – first pumping and clapping after his dismount.

13.733 for the American.

Here comes defending pommel horse champion Xiao Ruoteng on pommel horse – an apparatus he fell off in qualifying.

4:34 pm – Scores after one rotation

Dalaloyan 15.200, Nagornyy 15.041, Xiao 15.025, Lee 15.000, Verniaiev 14.866.

The Spanish men's team have just showed up and taken seats near us to cheer on Néstor Abad.

4:30 pm – Nagornyy lands triple back

He pulled it off during the team final, and there it is again today – Nagornyy's triple back on floor.

15.041 slots him in just behind his teammate.

4:28 pm – Dalaloyan leads!

It's big for Artur Dalaloyan, 15.200! Time for Nagornyy to respond.

4:26 pm – Small delay

All the scoring displays on the field of play have had to be reset. There are a few concerned faces among the officials.

Have to feel for the athletes waiting to perform – Nikita Nagornyy on floor and Andreas Toba on pommel horse.

4:24 pm – Huge score for Lee on pommel horse

Lee Chih Kai of Chinese Taipei absolutely nails his routine to score 15.000 on pommel horse, the top score on that apparatus so far.

Still waiting for Dalaloyan's floor score, we've had a really long wait.

4:19 pm – 2017 world champ Xiao leads

It's 14.266 for Sam Mikulak on vault. He took a big extra step forward after his landing. That's second-best of those who went on that apparatus in the first rotation, behind Caio Souza of Brazil.

Meanwhile, Xiao Ruoteng scores 15.025 on floor to jump into the overall lead.

Oleg Verniaiev hits his pommel horse routine to score 14.866 and slot in behind Xiao. Artur Dalaloyan is currently on floor.

4:14 pm – A few dodgy vaults

Not the best of starts on vault, as Milad Karimi and Lee Junghyo appear to have issues. Karimi landed heavily while Lee took big steps after landing.

Meanwhile, Yul Moldauer scores a low 13.133 on pommel horse for USA after appearing to struggle on his dismount.

3:59 pm – Time for the gymnasts

It's time for the introductions!

The 24 finalists, including Tvorogal replacing Larduet, are about to make their entrance. The arena is fairly full, though not as packed as it was yesterday.

3:54 pm – Theme song performance

As has happened every day since finals started, we're now hearing this year's theme song, called Set New Signs, performed live by its singer-songwriter, Lukas Fischer.

Fischer was the European silver medallist on parallel bars in Moscow in 2013 representing Switzerland.

Some people have all the talent…

3:30 pm – Starting rotations

On floor exercise: Sun Wei (China), Kazuma Kaya (Japan), Xiao Ruoteng (China), Artur Dalaloyan (Russia), Nikita Nagornyy (Russia), Petro Pakhniuk (Ukraine)

On pommel horse: Oliver Hegi (Switzerland), Yul Moldauer (USA), Pablo Brägger (Switzerland), Oleg Verniaiev (Ukraine), Lee Chih Kai (Chinese Taipei), Andreas Toba (Germany)

On still rings: Néstor Abad (Spain), Carlos Edriel Yulo (Philippines), Loris Frasca (France), Joe Fraser (Great Britain), Tang Chia-hung (Chinese Taipei), James Hall (Great Britain)

On vault: Milad Karimi (Kazakhstan), Ludovico Edalli (Italy), Lee Junghyo (South Korea), Caio Souza (Brazil), Robert Tvorogal (Lithuania), Samuel Mikulak (USA)

3:25 pm – Remember yesterday?

Yesterday, of course, we saw the incomparable Simone Biles win her fifth world all-around title.

Re-live it all here.

3:20 pm – Stuttgart in the sun

Hello and good afternoon from sunny Stuttgart, where after a week of rain we've finally got warm weather!

Unfortunately we won't get to enjoy it too much, but there's a good reason for that—we're in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle arena to bring you the men's individual all-around final from the 2019 World Championships.

The favourites for the title are defending champion Artur Dalaloyan and European champion Nikita Nagornyy of Russia, who both clinched men's team gold on Wednesday. China's Xiao Ruoteng, the 2017 world champion, qualified in third and should also be a factor, while USA's Sam Mikulak—the last qualifier for the final—had a day to remember in the team final, when his personal score would have been good enough for second in the qualification round.

There has been a late change to the start list: Cuba's Manrique Larduet has withdrawn, and he's been replaced by Robert Tvorogal of Lithuania.