Leyva's score of 15.633 put him one-tenth ahead of Vasileios
Tsolakidis of Greece. There were still four gymnasts left to go, however,
including all-around champion Kohei Uchimura of Japan. But none could catch
Leyva.
"It feels amazing to do a routine like I did and get a
gold medal," Leyva said. "It's pretty amazing, to be honest. I've
always wanted to win but I didn't think I was going to." It is the first US
men's gold at a worlds since Paul Hamm won the all-around and floor exercise titles
in 2003, and the first medal on parallel bars since Sean Townsend won gold in
2001. It also gives Leyva two medals at worlds — the US men won the bronze in
the team competition — most by a US man at a world championships since Hamm won
three in 2003.
Jordyn Wieber (balance beam) and Aly Raisman (floor) added
bronzes Sunday, giving the Americans seven medals at worlds, four of them gold.
China also won four gold medals after Zou Kai won the high
bar title and Sui Lu took the balance beam crown. Sui also won a silver on
floor exercise behind Kseniia Afanaseva of Russia.
"If I got the two gold medals at one competition, it's
not interesting, right?" Sui said through an interpreter. "I will try
to get more from now on." Also on Sunday, Yang Hak-seon of South Korea won
the men's vault title with the hardest vault ever attempted, and Kohei Uchimura
won a bronze on high bar to give him four medals at these worlds — and complete
his set. Yang's handspring front triple twist — twisting three times while
doing a somersault in a stretched-out position — has a start value of 7.4,
two-tenths of a point higher than any other vault done, and four-tenths higher
than the vault most of the top men do. He needed only a small step to steady
himself.
He took a big step back on the landing of his second vault,
but it hardly mattered. His score of 16.566 was two-tenths ahead Russia's Anton
Golotsutskov, the Olympic bronze medalist. It was South Korea's first vault medal
in 15 years. Makoto Okiguchi of Japan was third.
Kohei Uchimura didn't win any more golds, but a bronze on
high bar gave him a full set. He became the first man to win three all-around
titles, added another gold on floor and won a silver in the team competition.
"I don't think about winning golds," Uchimura said
through an interpreter. "I'm just concentrating about my performance. As a
result, it's good to win the gold medals."
