Taiwan gymnast Shiao Yu-jan wins gold at Cottbus World Cup

Taipei, Feb. 23 (CNA) Taiwan's Tokyo Olympian Shiao Yu-jan (蕭佑然) won a gold medal in the men's pommel horse competition at the 2025 Cottbus World Cup in Germany on Saturday.

Shiao secured the gold with a score of 14.433 points, marking the first World Cup-level gold of his career.

A first-year doctoral student at the University of Taipei, Shiao ranked third in the qualifying round with a difficulty score of 5.400, an execution score of 8.800 and a total of 14.200 to advance to the final.

Shiao's coach Cheng Kun-chieh (鄭焜杰) told CNA that judges assigned an initial difficulty score of 5.600, but that after he protested, it was increased to 5.700, which meant Shiao won gold.

Cheng said that it was a pity that the scoring standards in the final were stricter, otherwise, "I think the total score would have been above 14.600," he said.

Shiao said that winning the gold medal boosted his confidence, "proving that I had a good start to the new year."

Cheng pointed out that the victory shows that their training and gymnastic choreography are moving in the right direction and that the trip helped them learn about scoring methods.