Sunderland Echo

Fraser lands knockout blow to win Britain’s second gold medal

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Joe Fraser claimed Great Britain's second gold medal at the World Gymnastics Championsh­ips in Stuttgart with victory in the men's parallel bars final.

The 20-year-old from Birmingham nailed his routine to score 15.0 then watched as a series of rivals failed to live up to his total.

Turkey's Onder Ahmet took the silver medal with a score of 14.983 ahead of Japan's Kaya Kazuma, who won bronze with 14.966.

Fraser's success took Britain's total medal tally at the Championsh­ips to four after pommel gold for Max Whitlock on Saturday, as well as silver and bronze for sisters Becky and Ellie Downie on bars and vault respective­ly.

Fraser said: "It is unbelievab­le to be world champion. I have worked really hard on the parallel bars and I had hoped for a medal, but gold is crazy."

Fraser, who had not previously won an individual apparatus medal at a major championsh­ip, also became Britain's first major medallist in the discipline.

British Gymnastics performanc­e director James Thomas said: "We've had an outstandin­g World Championsh­ips and seen really encouragin­g performanc­es across the board which ahead of Olympic year is exactly what we wanted to achieve."

Meanwhile two more gold medals for Simone Biles made the American the most decorated athlete in World Gymnastics Championsh­ips history.

Biles took gold on both beam and floor to take her career total to 25 world medals, in the process surpassing the previous record held by Vitaly Scherbo.

Biles scored 15.066 to win her fourth gold of the 2019 Championsh­ips on beam, then repeated the feat to beat 16-year-old compatriot Sunisa Lee and take floor gold with a score of 15.133.

Whitlock said: "I don't even know what to say, this time for some reason I'm speechless. I can't believe it. I feel so emotional, I'm so happy with that. This one meant so much for so many reasons."

Downie said: "It just means so much. It's taken so many years. I can't believe I've done it. It's a routine I've been working on for so long. I'm just super proud of the performanc­e. I've put my heart and soul into it."

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