Stuttgart (Germany) (AFP)

Russian doubles in the all-around competition: Nikita Nagornyy was crowned world champion for the first time, ahead of fellow countryman Artur Dalaloyan, in Stuttgart (Germany) on Friday, less than ten months before the 2020 Olympics.

Nagornyy (22), reigning European champion, already crowned in front of Daloloyan, totaled 88.772, more than one point and a half ahead (1.607 precisely) on his compatriot (87.165). The Ukrainian Oleg Verniaiev (86.973), double European champion of the general competition (2015 and 2017), completes the podium.

"Gold and silver instead of gold and bronze is even better than last year," smiled Nagornyy, who was on the third step of the all-around podium a year ago.

It should be noted that the Japanese Kohei Uchimura, crowned six times world champion in the competition between 2009 and 2015 - a record - but struggling to regain its best level after several seasons enamelled with injuries, is absent from the Worlds-2019.

For Nagornyy, this is already the second gold medal of the week since it was the Russians who won the team competition 48 hours earlier.

Like Wednesday, it is still the young Russian who concluded the competition, the latest competitor to move to the bar with gold at the end of his fiscal year. And like Wednesday, he did not fail in getting a score of 14,166. In total, Nagornyy has accumulated three scores above 15, on the floor, jump and parallel bars.

- Xiao fall to the bar -

Off the podium after four of six rotations due to a poorly secured jump (14.066), Dalaloyan (23) has recovered in his last two performances at bars. And took advantage of a fall and a redhibitory note (12.666) to the bar of the Chinese Xiao Ruoteng, who failed at the foot of the podium of the general competition for less than three tenths, two years after being crowned champion of the world.

It was already this apparatus that had been fatal to the Chinese (but Sun in this case) at the end of the team competition two days earlier.

"I still thought 100% of the possibility of being medalist after my mistake, it just pushed me to work even harder, to deliver an even better performance," says Dalaloyan.

At 26, Verniaiev, operated an umpteenth time of ankle at the beginning of the year, climbs him on his first world podium of the general competition.

The only Frenchman in the final, Loris Frasca, was 18th (81.864).

For Nagornyy, the harvest may not be over: the Russian is qualified for two apparatus finals, on the ground and on the jump. Dalaloyan will play three this weekend: on the ground, where he will defend his world title, jump and bar.

© 2019 AFP