NANNING, China (AP) — Hong Un Jong of North Korea won the vault event on Saturday, denying Simone Biles of the United States a third gold medal at the gymnastics world championships.
Hong received 15.599 points to secure North Korea’s first medal at the meet. Biles, who won her second all-around title on Friday and also won gold from the team event, took silver with 15.554 points. Mykayla Skinner of the United States was third with 15.366 points.
Hong, the defending bronze medalist, didn’t attempt the triple-twisting back somersault that she had submitted for evaluation, but she still performed the highest-valued pair of vaults in the final.
Biles took silver with a pair of high, clean vaults. Although she outscored Hong in execution on both attempts, she yielded 0.800 points in difficulty to the North Korean on her second vault.
In the men’s floor exercise, Dennis Abliazin of Russia won gold with 15.750 points, beating out Japanese teenager Kenzo Shirai by .017 points. Diego Hypolito of Brazil secured the bronze with 15.700 points
Abliazin successfully landed all of his complicated tumbling skills, then watched as Shirai stepped out of bounds on one of his tumbling sequences. Shirai was given a deduction of 0.100 points and the mistake dropped his score to 15.733 points.
Krisztian Berki of Hungary won gold in the men’s pommel horse final with 16.033 points. Filip Ude of Croatia took silver with 15.783 while Cyril Tomassone of France claimed bronze with 15.600 points.
In the uneven bars final, China’s Yao Jinnan and Huang Huidan took first and second with 15.633 and 15.566, respectively. Russia’s Daria Spiridonova was the bronze medalist with 15.283.
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