Enlarge image
Lukas Dauser
Photo: KENZO TRIBOUILLARD / AFP
Lukas Dauser is the first German gymnast to win gold at the World Championships in 16 years. He won the parallel bars at the World Championships in Antwerp on Sunday. Second place went to Shi Cong from China ahead of Japan's Kaito Sugimoto. The last German World Champion was Fabian Hambüchen on the high bar in 2007.
The 30-year-old Dauser is only the second German parallel bars world champion. At the 1985 World Championships in Montreal, Sylvio Kroll from Cottbus won for the GDR.
Dauser had already received the highest scores of all starters in his three previous appearances in Antwerp in the context of all-around competitions. The gymnast, who is considered a perfectionist and has been living in Halle/Saale for several years and training with Hubert Brylok, did not see himself as a top contender for the title. "There are eight people in the final, the best eight people in the world on this machine. We're all half a point apart. Every little mistake can be decisive. That's why I don't see myself as a favourite," he said before the final.
ngo/dpa