NANNING (China): Japan’s Kohei Uchimura claimed a record-extending fifth consecutive men’s all-around title at the Gymnastics World Championships on Thursday.

The reigning all-around Olympic champion, who led every event except the pommel horse, totalled 91.965 points to finish 1.492 ahead of Briton Max Whitlock who did not originally qualify for the final but entered the field after team-mate Nile Wilson withdrew through injury.

Japan’s Yusuke Tanaka took bronze with a score of 90.449 at the Guangxi Sports Centre Gymnasium. Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine was fourth with 90.298 points, followed by David Belyaskiy of Russia with 89.765.

Uchimura, nicknamed ‘King Kohei’ in the world of gymnastics, proved his superiority again and was the only gymnast to score at least 15 on each apparatus, but the 25-year-old was still not fully satisfied with his performance.

“I am really pleased because this [winning the title] is what I was aiming for, but there are aspects [of my performance] that mean I can’t be genuinely happy,” Uchimura said.

“Looking at the result itself I have won the gold medal and a fifth straight title so I am happy with that, but it was hard on the parallel bars and the high bar. I feel like I didn’t perform that well.

“I was doing well until the vault and lost a bit of momentum and I feel I still have a way to go,” he added.

After his second apparatus, the pommel horse, Uchimura never gave up his lead although 21-year-old Whitlock, the 2014 Commonwealth all-around champion, came 0.067 points behind him after the third rotation.

He topped the table on floor exercise and vault with flawless landings while Whitlock dominated the pommel horse with 16.000 points.

Uchimura was the night’s last performer and he steadily handled the high bar in complicated aerial moves. He slightly stepped ahead in landing but it did not affect his overall lead at all.

Arguably the greatest all-around gymnast of all time, Uchimura has been unbeaten since he finished runner-up to China’s now-retired Yang Wei at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Uchimura became the first gymnast, male or female, to win four world all-around titles last year in Antwerp, Belgium, breaking a tie with Svetlana Khorkina of Russia.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2014