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Simone Biles captured two more gold medals in the second day of event finals at the world championships in Stuttgart (GER) to break the all-time record of most medals in world championships history. The American tied Belarusian Vitaly Scherbo’s all-time record during day one of event finals at 23 medals, but now stands alone as the most decorated in world championships history with 25 medals, 19 of them gold.

On Sunday afternoon at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle the 22-year-old won both the balance beam and floor exercises titles by wide margins for her fourth and fifth gold medals in Stuttgart. Biles did not compete her double twisting double tuck beam dismount, which she debuted during the qualifications, but still produced the highest beam score of the championships at 15.066/6.4. On floor she did perform her triple twisting double tuck to post a 15.133/6.7 and outscore the silver medalist, teammate Sunisa Lee, by a full point. “Overall it was a very happy worlds, probably one of my best ones yet, so I feel pretty confident going into the next Olympic year. I couldn’t be more thrilled with my performance and it gives me confidence moving forward”, Biles reflected after the competition.

Chinese duo Liu Tingting and Li Shijia won the silver and bronze on the balance beam with 14.433/6.2 and 14.3/6.1. It was Liu second world medal on beam as she came in as the defending champion, while for Li it was her first ever medal from world championships. Sunisa Lee's second place on floor (14.133/5.7) made it her third medal in Stuttgart (team gold and uneven bars bronze), while Angelina Melnikova from Russia captured the bronze on the event, also her third medal of the championships (team sliver and all-around bronze), with a 14.066/5.8.

The Russian men dominated the vault final by taking the gold and the silver. Nikita Nagornyy stuck his Dragulescu and landed exceptionally well his Tsukahara double pike to edge teammate Artur Dalaloyan 14.966 to 14.933 and take the title, his third gold medal in Stuttgart (team and all-around). Dalaloyan, who was also the silver medalist a year ago, vaulted a Yurchenko triple twist and Blanik (front handspring front double pike) but took a very big step on his second vault. Posting an average of 14.749 third was Ukrainian Igor Radivilov who competed the same vaults as Nagornyy, but they weren’t landed as cleanly. “I didn’t expect that one. I thought that maybe I could take third place, but then the other competitors had some mistakes and that allowed me to win the gold medal”, all-around champion Nagornyy said after the vault final.

With Zou Jingyuan (China) and Oleg Verniaiev (Ukraine) absent from the parallel bars final, arguably the top p-bars workers in the world, Joe Fraser seized the opportunity to become the new world champion on the event. He posted 15.0 for the most difficult routine in the final 6.6 (Tanaka-giant Suarez front, peach back tuck to upper arms, giant to one bar to Healy from one bar, double front with a half twist) to capture second gold medal for Great Britain following Max Whitlock’s win on pommel horse. “I’m still trying to process it to be honest – just wow”, Fraser commented in regard to his title. Ahmet Onder took the silver with 14.983/6.2, to make it second medal for Turkey in Stuttgart after Ibrahim Colak captured the first ever medal for his country by winning the rings title on day one of event finals. Kazuma Kaya won the bronze with a 14.966/6.3, which was the sole individual medal for Japan this year.

The high bar final produced yet another brand new world champion for the men. It was Brazil’s Arthur Mariano who mastered the best routine of the day for 14.9/6.3 (layout Tkatchev to Tkatchev to Tkatchev half, Winkler-full twisting layout Jaeger, double twisting double layout). “I feel amazing, it’s like a dream come true”, the champion reflected afterwards. The gold medal was Mariano’s first ever medal from world championships. 2017 high bar gold medalist, Tin Srbic (Croatia) took the silver with a 14.666/6.2, while Artur Dalaloyan won the bronze with a 14.533/6.1. It was Dalaloyan’s fourth medal in Stuttgart, the most of any male gymnasts in the competition.

Following the event finals FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) officially updated the list of individual gymnasts who have earned a nominative place from the 2019 World Championships for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. To access the list click here, and follow (event files and then click show files).

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Five different nations were golden during the first day of event finals at the world championships in Stuttgart, Germany. On men’s floor exercise Carlos Yulo made history for the Philippines as the first ever-gold medalist at worlds. Yulo, who won the bronze a year ago, performed an impeccable routine (full twisting double layout, double front piked with a half turn, 2 ½ twists to Randi, 3 ½ twists punch front layout half, front full twist to front double twists and triple twist) to score 15.3 for his 6.5. Artem Dolgopyat from Israel matched his result from 2017 by winning the silver with a 15.2/6.4 (Zapata-1 ½ twisting double front first pass). Xiao Ruoteng posted 14.933/6.2 for the bronze. All-around champion Nikita Nagornyy (Russia) landed out of bound his Liukin (triple back) for seventh, while defending champion Artur Dalaloyan (Russia) missed his 2 ½ punch front double full, which lowered his start value and he placed fourth.

Simone Biles easily defended her gold medal on vault by performing superbly her Cheng (Yurchenko half on front handspring Rudi off) and Amanar (Yurchenko 2 ½ twists) vaults, which averaged 15.399. This was Biles’ third gold medal in Stuttgart, which raises her total to record 17 gold medals in her career, and ties the record of legend Vitaly Scherbo at 23 total medals overall. Jade Carey from the U.S. competed last in the final and matched her results on vault from two years ago by winning again the silver. Carey posted 14.833 for her Cheng and Amanar (.3 ND on her Amanar for a large step off the mat). Ellie Downie from Great Britain took the bronze with a Cheng and double twisting Yurchenko, which she performed exceptionally clean for 14.816. This was Downie’s first ever-individual medal from world championships.

In the pommel horse final Max Whitlock reclaimed his title by performing the most difficulty at 7.0 and posting 15.5 for the win. This was the Brit’s third world title after previously being victories in 2017 and 2019. Improving on the bronze medal from last year second was Lee Chih-kai from Chinese Taipei who performed his unique flair routine with superb amplitude (flair to handstand down to flair, spindle in flairs, travels in flairs). Lee posted 15.433/6.5 for the silver. Rhys McClenaghan won a historic bronze medal for Ireland scoring a 15.4/6.4. McClenaghan posted the highest execution score of the final (9.0).

On uneven bars Belgium’s Nina Derwael repeated as the champion earning 15.233/6.5 for her masterful routine (Nabieva, toe on Tkatchev half to Ezhova to stalder Shaposhnikova to Pak to Maloney half, toe full to full twisting double tuck stuck). “I am just really happy the routine I did today, with all the pressure and how I handled it”, she commented afterwards. Becky Downie from Great Britain went one better than her sister’s vault result by winning the silver on bars. Downie competed a 6.5 routine (most difficulty in the final along with Derwael) to post 15.0 and capture her first ever world individual medal as well. Third place finisher was Sunisa Lee from the U.S. posting 14.8/6.4.

There was a lot at stake in the rings final as five of the eight competitors in the field were seeking to capture the three available qualification spots to the Olympics. Top qualifier Ibrahim Colak topped the filed with a 14.933/6.2 for another historic achievement of the day, the first ever medal of any color for his native Turkey. “I am really happy right now, and I also made the Olympics”, he told the media after the competition. Marco Lodadio from Italy improved on his bronze medal from a year ago by taking the silver with a 14.9/6.3. Competing last in the final Samir Ait Said won the bronze with a 14.8/6.2. The three medalists earned the right to compete at next year’s Olympics in Tokyo. Three-time world defending champion Eleftherios Petrounias from Greece placed fourth after not executing to his best standards. Petrounias was making his return to competition following a shoulder surgery after last year’s world championships. He will now have to seek qualification to the Olympics through the individual event World Cup Series, which he must win, in order to qualify.

The world championships conclude tomorrow with the second day of the individual event finals (men’s vault, parallel bars and high bar, and women’s balance beam and floor exercise).

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