Japan's Olympic champion Daiki Hashimoto successfully defended his men's all-around title at the world gymnastics championships in Antwerp on Thursday.
Hashimoto scored 86.132 points to finish over a point ahead of Ukraine's Illia Kovtun, who moved up from 19th in qualifying to win silver (84.998), with American teenager Frederick Richard taking a surprise bronze (84.332).
Hashimoto, 22, started his evening with an almost perfect floor routine but took a big step forward on his final landing. But he pulled out an otherwise faultless performance that assured him victory.
First at the end of qualifying, Japanese teammate Kenta Chiba failed to finish on the podium.
Hashimoto and Chiba had helped Japan regain the men's team title on Tuesday, dethroning China less than 10 months ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Richard, 19, also won bronze with the US men's team.
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