Zhang Boheng: ‘I hope this gold medal marks the beginning of my all around era’

After coming so close to becoming Chinese National Champion last year, Zhang Boheng finally clinched the all-around gold in Hangzhou, making this his very first national all-around title. The final all-around standings were calculated by combining each gymnast’s qualification and all-around final totals.

Zhang Boheng expressed that even though winning titles at international competitions have more prestige, he still felt equally happy winning the Chinese National title because the competitors within China are so impressive. 

“I hope this gold medal marks the beginning of my all-around era,” Zhang said. “In the all-around final my goal was to surpass my qualifications score, my wishes were to be the best I can be. In the end, I didn’t perform as well as in qualifications, which was a little sad.” 

He mentioned he still has a lot of areas he wants to continue improving: “This is just winning one championship, this does not mean that in the future I will continue being the champion. I will continue improving my difficulty, details, etc. There is still a lot I would like to improve.”  

Zhang won his first national all-around title as the reigning World all-around champion. At the World Championships this past year he faced stiff competition from reigning Olympic all-around champion, Hashimoto Daiki, but was still able to come out on top in a nail-biter competition that was separated by only 0.017.  

“Actually going against Hashimoto was kind of an amazing victory. Learning how to adjust your mentality when the scores are so close, how to cleanly finish your routine when you have made a mistake, how to continue doing high-quality routines afterward, these all come with experience,” Zhang said.

In the lead-up to the World Championships in Liverpool next month Zhang recited his goals for the competition, making it clear that the team result was of utmost importance:

“The most important is the team competition, first we need to qualify for the Olympic Games. I will put my individual goals last. The team result is the most important,” Zhang said. “My routines will not change a lot, but instead I will continue my pace of training and make some minor adjustments. Additionally, I will keep making improvements to my mentality.”

Photo: 华声在线

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