Kohei Uchimura (JPN)

At 5ft 3inches tall, Kohei Uchimura has dominated gymnastics for five consecutive years in an unstoppable and groundbreaking run of glory. He’s won four consecutive all-around world titles and took the 2012 Olympic All-Around title in London. He’s known for his dominance in the AA along with his unique style, humble nature, and brilliance mixed with consistency. On top of this, regardless of any situation, he competes his most difficult routines even when he doesn’t need to. In the past, there have been unfortunate mistakes from other competitors and Uchimura has had the opportunity to water down his routines in order to minimize risk and perform a solid routine to claim the title. Yet, Uchimura being the King he is, never decides to play it safe, but goes above and beyond with confidence and performs his routines with absolute beauty and no mistakes. He won last years all-around title by almost two full marks. He’s a class of his own and admired by many who consider him to be the greatest gymnast of all time. He’s been given the name “King Kohei” for a reason and everyone hopes to follow in his footsteps. Can anyone touch him this year or will he continue to make history with a sixth consecutive win?


Sam Mikulak (USA)

At his first ever World Championship appearance last year, Sam Mikulak was a contender looking forward to giving Uchimura a run for his money in the all-around. After qualifying second to the finals, Mikulak had an exceptional competition on his first five events. However, after an unfortunate struggle on his last event, the high bar, he placed in a still very impressive sixth place in the AA. He came away with a great attitude and smile on his face, expressing in a post-competition interview how proud he was of his performance in his first ever championships. The competition was a learning experience and has no doubt given him the motivation and hunger to come back again this year with even bigger goals and expectations. Will he accomplish his goal of wanting to be the best gymnast in the world this year? 
 

Ryohei Kato (JPN)

Ryohei Kato came second, behind teammate Uchimura, at last years World Championships. He is also another gymnast with an incredible mix of brilliance, style and consistency. Kato also has a nice array of difficulty and extremely clean, beautiful lines giving away minimal deductions. Earlier this year, he took third in the all-around behind Uchimura and Hambüchen at the Tokyo Cup in April. With the championships in Asia this year, Japan will be looking to dominate. 


Fabian Hambüchen (GER)

Fabian Hambüchen won silver in the all-around at Worlds in 2007 and he came third last year in Antwerp. Hambüchen is a strong contender for the all-around and last year he did well coming from the shadows into the sunlight after progressing in the standings after each event. This year he will be looking to do the same and take a place on one of the final all-around podiums. At Europeans this year, he competed on five events, contributing to the teams fourth place finish, and at the 2014 AT&T American Cup he placed fourth in the all-around. He also placed second at the Tokoya Cup improving his position ahead of Kato, who beat him in the AA at worlds last year. Hambüchen has many years of international experience and knows what it takes to be the best.


Max Whitlock (GBR)

Max Whitlock had an incredible year in 2013. After winning a bronze on the pommel horse in the 2012 Olympics, he expressed how he wanted to improve on all six events in order to become a top all-around gymnast, rather than just a specialist. At Europeans, he proved this and won silver in the all-around. At his first world championships last year, he won silver on the pommel horse and came fourth in the AA. So far in 2014, he claimed the Commonwealth All-Around Champion in Glasgow, and has his eyes set on winning his first all-around medal at the up-coming World Championships. He's likely to be a dark horse so be sure to keep an eye out for this young British star.

Related:
2014 World Championships Nominative List Announced
Global Guys: Athletes to Watch at the 2014 World Championships