Colombian gymnast Ángel Barajas, 16, is the new floor world champion in the junior division. This is his second medal in the Antalya (Turkey) championships, after his silver in the general competition on Friday.
Barajas received a score from the judges of 13,900, which was out of reach for its competitors. The two closest competitors were Italian Tommasso Brugnami with 13,333 and German Timo Eder with 13,500.
The gymnast born in Cúcuta on August 2, 2006 began the hardest exercise, 5,100, and tied with Tommaso among the eight floor finalists.
With an execution score of 8,800 (8,233 for the Italian) significantly higher than all of them, Barajas added the 13,900 points needed to win gold.
By winning seven gold medals at the South American Youth Games the previous year, Barajas established himself as a top prospect in Colombian gymnastics, and has since been determined to have the best projection around the world. Since he will compete in the parallel and barre finals this Sunday, he still has a chance to win two more medals in Antalya. With 80,199 points against 80,131 for the Colombian in the general final, he was only surpassed by the Chinese Guohuan Qin.
Barajas will face a challenge this year trying to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, for which he would barely meet the minimum age requirement: Olympic men’s gymnasts must have been born before December 31, 2006 to compete.