Shinnosuke Oka’s fairytale debut Olympics got even better on Monday as the Japanese gymnast added horizontal bar gold to his team and all-around titles.
Oka, brimming with confidence after he won gold in the team and all-around events as well as a bronze on the parallel bars earlier in the day, stuck his landing for a score of 14.533.
While 17-year-old Barajas equalled his mark, Oka remained ahead of him due to his higher execution score.
More than half of the field came off the apparatus mid routine or suffered falls and stumbles on dismount in what was a messy conclusion to the men’s artistic gymnastics in Paris.
Reuters reports that a new champion was guaranteed in the event after Tokyo gold medallist Daiki Hashimoto of Japan failed to qualify for the final.
China’s Zhang Boheng and Taiwan’s Tang Chia-Hung shared bronze.
In a sign of how errors played their part in the 2024 final, Oka’s score in Paris would only have won bronze at the Covid-delayed Games three years ago.
