Japan’s Olympic all-around gymnastics champion Daiki Hashimoto said on Friday that he believes he will be in top shape to defend his title in Paris after injuring a finger last month.
Hashimoto, also the two-time defending world champion, damaged a ligament in the middle finger of his right hand while practising for his final competition before next month’s Games.
He said at Japan’s national training base that he was feeling at 60 percent fitness after resuming practice two weeks ago.
The 22-year-old is confident he will recover fully in time for the Paris Olympics, where he hopes to match Japanese gymnastic legend Kohei Uchimura by winning the all-around title for a second time.
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“I think it’s looking good, but my finger still isn’t 100 percent so I can’t let my guard down,” Hashimoto told reporters after working out with his Japan team-mates.
“On top of that, I’m feeling some fatigue after practising for the first time in a while.
“Hopefully I can work through that next week and then get some good practice in at the camp the week after, just before we leave.”
Hashimoto won gold at the pandemic-postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 ahead of China’s Xiao Ruoteng and Russia’s Nikita Nagornyy.
In doing so, he became the youngest men’s all-around champion in Olympic history at the age of 19.
Hashimoto also picked up a silver medal as part of the Japan team that finished behind champions Russia.
Japan won the team title at last year’s world championships in Belgium and Hashimoto said they are shaping up well ahead of the Paris Games.
“We all practised today, and we were able to work on the things that our coach gave us to work on,” he said.
“It was a really good practice individually and as a team with one month to go.”
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