Uchimura Kohei delivers on high bar as Hashimoto Daiki leads all-around standings at World Gymnastics Championships

Back-to-back, Japanese gymnastics superstars Hashimoto Daiki and Uchimura Kohei delivered high-flying routines on the horizontal bar Wednesday (20 October) at the 2021 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Kitakyushu, Japan.

The two, who could not have had more different Tokyo 2020 experiences, seem likely to share the same fate in Kitakyushu: a trip to the event final on Sunday (24 October).

"Being in the same final with the person I’ve looked up to all my life is definitely something I look forward to," said Hashimoto. "It didn’t happen at the Tokyo Olympics, but we have an opportunity here at the world championships. I hope the two of us together can make that final day special and exciting for everyone."

Hashimoto, the reigning Olympic champion on the event, leads the event standings with a 14.633 ahead of China's Hu Xuwei (14.533). Uchimura is fifth at 14.300.

In the all-around standings, Hashimoto also sits atop the leader board. He earned a total score of 88.040 to hold off China's Zhang Boheng. Zhang scored 87.897 during his qualifying session on Tuesday. Turkey's Adem Asil posted the third best score in the all-around with an 84.430 total.

"I’m not a morning person so it was tough to be out there first thing but I got through all six in decent shape so I’m happy about that," Hashimoto said. "It was pretty tough, to be honest, but I finished the day pleased with the high bar, and I’m on top of the standings right now. I think I had a good day."

Picking up where he left off

Despite telling reporters after official practice Sunday that he felt unprepared for competition, Hashimoto looked to be in near Olympic form.

"I did feel some fatigue but when I got here today I didn’t feel that bad. The recovery worked," he explained. "The tiredness I had after podium training didn’t linger."

The 20-year-old started with a strong routine on the floor exercise, scoring a 14.733 behind a double-twisting double back opening tumbling pass and triple full dismount.

On the pommel horse in the second rotation, he put aside troubles he was having in training to deliver a huge 15.075 – the second-best score on the apparatus so far – when it counted. He earned scores of 13.333 and 15.066 on the still rings and vault, respectively. He vaulted a stuck Kasamatsu double twist.

He closed out his competition in strong fashion with a 15.200 on the parallel bars, before taking the all-around lead with his horizontal bar routine.

Tokyo rebound

If Hashimoto was building off the momentum of winning two Olympic gold medals earlier this year, Uchimura was flipping the script after missing out on the final at the Games.

Wednesday in Kitakyushu, Uchimura missed his double-twisting double back release element, a Bretschneider, in the one-touch warm-up just prior to competition.

But in competition, the experienced gymnast made sure to catch, bringing the element slightly too close to the bar and forcing him to bend his arms on the outswing. The rest of the routine was vintage Uchimura, however, and he scored 14.300. That score puts him third in the standings after three subdivisions.

"The performance wasn’t great but I think it’s good enough to get me to the final," said Uchimura. "So mission accomplished for now."

Despite knowing he had to deliver, he kept his calm.

"I wasn’t nervous but I thought to myself, ‘Man if I blow this, I’m done’. I went into competition with a sense of resolve I don’t usually have. I was determined to finish the performance no matter what," he explained. "I had some real strong feelings. I wasn’t worried about the score. If I did what I set out to do, I would probably qualify for the final. So it was good - for now anyway."

There has been much speculation about Uchimura’s future in the sport, including that these worlds may be his finale. The gymnastics legend dominated the sport from 2009 when he won his first world all-around title through to a second-straight all-around gold at Rio 2016.

But since those Rio Games, he’s been dogged by injuries including ankle injuries during competition at the 2017 Worlds and throughout the 2018 season. In 2019, shoulder injuries hampered him and, ultimately, he missed the world championships.

After deciding to focus his efforts on just the horizontal bar, he told media in 2020 that he was finally pain free.

His Tokyo 2020 came to an abrupt end after he missed a pirouetting element early in his routine, scoring just 13.866.

If Kitakyushu, the city where he was born 32 years ago, is to end his career, Uchimura will go out in style.

"I can’t begin to describe how good it feels to perform in front of a crowd," Uchimura said. "This is my birthplace and I could feel their warmth. It felt like they were waiting for me all long. The feeling was like no other."

Fellow Japanese Tokyo 2020 Olympian Hatakeda Hitomi was forced to pull out of the women's all-around final after suffering a spinal injury in a training fall on Wednesday (20 October).