Joe Fraser was denied a podium place in the men’s all-around gymnastics final as gold went to Daiki Hashimoto of Japan.
The Birmingham-born 22-year-old began the competition with high hopes of squeezing into the top three after qualifying in fifth place but an early fall on the pommel effectively put paid to his chances.
Fraser, who is due to contest the individual parallel bars final next week, also stepped out on landing his vault but he rallied to take ninth place with a total score of 84.499, one behind fellow Briton James Hall.
Fraser said: “I knew if I wanted to break into the medals I had to go all in and push the boat out on every apparatus, and I didn’t want to think I hadn’t done that.
“I made two mistakes but these things happen. I picked it up on the other apparatus and I’m overall very happy with the way I performed.
“I will go into the parallel bars final to enjoy every moment. I’ve worked my whole life to get where I am today. I’ll train as hard as I can for the next six days, and I’ll be all in for Tuesday.”
The dependable Hall improved on half of his qualifying scores and ended with a strong floor routine to total 84.598 and narrowly eclipse his team-mate.
Due to coronavirus protocols, Hall will have to fly home before Fraser and Max Whitlock contest the individual apparatus finals but he believes Fraser is continuing to underscore his reputation as one of the stars of the future.
Hall said: “Joe did amazingly, I think he had a couple of mistakes. He really is the future of British gymnastics.
“He’s unbelievable, he hasn’t got a weak piece. All it takes is a little more consistency, but he’s got time and I’m excited to see what he comes up with.”
Xiao Ruoteng took a 0.334 lead over reigning world champion Nikita Nagornyy into the final rotation, with Hashimoto, who topped the qualifying standings, in third.
Xiao maintained his slender advantage after the concluding high bar, before Hashimoto stepped up with a score of 14.933 to take gold and emulate his compatriot and double defending champion Kohei Uchimura.
Injuries had put paid to Uchimura’s hopes of claiming a third straight all-around title, and his aspirations of ending his career with a high bar medal were dashed by a fall in qualifying.
