LONDON (AFP) - China's Deng Linlin produced an excellent beam routine packed with difficulty to claim gold at the World Gymnastics Championships at London's O2 Arena on Sunday.
Deng, who won team gold with the Chinese at last year's Olympic Games in Beijing, picked up her first major individual title with a fantastic score of 15.000 points.
The 17-year-old was run close by Australia's Lauren Mitchell, who grabbed silver with 14.875 pts, and Ivana Hong of the United States was third.
Deng, a specialist on the beam, threw in a mix of gymnastic and acrobatic elements to her routine, with one move - a double back-flip and high straight back-somersault - midway through particularly impressing the crowd.
She also nailed the landing to her finishing move, which consisted of two back-flips and a double-pike dismount.
It was the fourth individual gold won by China at these championships, adding to the three won on Saturday by He Kexin, Zhang Hongtao and Yan Mingyong.
Romanian prodigy Ana Porgras topped qualification but fell off the beam during her first routine in the final.
That shattered the 15-year-old's confidence and she almost tumbled off a further three times as she ended seventh.
Earlier, Romania's Marian Dragulescu claimed his second gold medal at this year's championships by winning the men's individual vault title.
The 28-year-old added to the floor gold he picked up on Saturday by nailing two difficult attempts on the vault in sublime style.
Dragulescu has now won four world vault titles in his career, and eight world golds overall - the other four coming on the floor.
Flavius Koczi grabbed silver to make it a Romanian 1-2 while Anton Golotsutskov got the bronze, the same medal the Russian claimed at the Olympics last year.
Dragulescu, who only recently came out of retirement which had been brought on by neck and back problems, scored 16.550 with his first vault, ?The Dragulescu'.
He then trumped that with a second attempt that earned him 16.600 and blew away opposition that did not include Poland's Leszek Blanik, the Olympic and 2007 world champion.
North Korea's Ri Se Gwang was tipped to challenge for the medals but he fell onto his face on landing on his first vault, forcing him out of contention.
