The Hungarian, unable to defend his title at Rio 2016 due to injury, scored a formidable 15.766 points on his preferred apparatus to secure victory at the Lausitz Arena Cottbus.

Berki’s total proved far too strong for the rest of the field as Naoto Hayasaka of Japan scored 15.000 points, while bronze went the way of Croatia’s Robert Seligman.

The Croatian gymnast had topped the qualification standings but Berki saved his best routine for the final and it paid dividends as he got his Individual Apparatus World Cup campaign off to the perfect start.

Hayasaka did manage to finish on top of the podium today as he beat World Championships silver medallist and European Games champion Rayderley Miguel Zapata of Spain in the floor event.

The Japanese was given 15.433 points by the judges for his performance and it was a score Zapata could not match as his efforts yielded 15.166.

Slovenian veteran Rok Klavora won the bronze medal.

Igor Radivilov of Ukraine, Olympic bronze medallist at London 2012 on the vault, took the rings honours as his score of 15.433 points was enough to overcome the challenge posed by Japan’s Yuya Kamoto, a three-time Asian Games champion.

Nick Klessing picked up the host nation’s first medal as he finished in third place.

Rio 2016 Olympian Zsófia Kovács added to the Hungarian success on day one as she easily came out top in the parallel bars event with a score of 14.133 points. 

Her compatriot Dorina Boeczoego sealed the silver medal but she was nearly a point adrift of the winning total.

The Hungarian pair were not able to add another one-two in the vault, however, as Australia’s Emily Little took gold on 14.299 points.

Boeczoego finished second once again, with Kovács rounding off the podium by clinching the bronze medal. 

The first FIG Individual Apparatus World Cup of the season is due to conclude in the German city tomorrow.