■Nathan Shiga: April 29

Kakeru Tanigawa, sophomore of Juntendo Univ., came from behind to register 172.496 to win the national title in All-Japan Gymnastics Championship, April 29. The legendary Kohei Uchimura placed third in the race scoring 171.664 and failed to stretch his winning streak to eleven. Kenzo Shirai was runner-up at 172.164.

Tanigawa has thus become the youngest national champ at age 19 years and 2 months. In the final round on April 29, Tanigawa constantly marked over 14 points in five of the six events, scoring 13.900 on the final horizontal bar to snatch the title.

Tanigawa commented:

“I thought I was doing fine throughout the elimination rounds with fewer errors. I did rather well on the pommel horse and that gave me some momentum.

“Now that I’ve won the title, I want to do my best in upcoming competitions leading up 2020. Too late to make efforts in 2020, no?”

Kohei Uchimura said he felt relieved to see a younger gymnast fast coming right behind him but vowed to keep up his own efforts to stay alert and competitive.

Kenzo Shirai commented:

“I was surprised at Tanigawa’s workmanship in expressing details – something I’m afraid I ‘m no match for him. It’s great for Japan to have a new type of gymnast fast coming up.”

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