Saito became the first gymnast from Japan to win a World Championships gold medal in the non-Olympic discipline when he triumphed in the men's competition in Incheon two years ago.

He was among the favourites this time around and duly justified his pre-event billing with a superb routine which yielded an impressive score of 22.800 points.

It completed a clean sweep of the individual titles for Japan after Riri Kitazume triumphed in the women's event yesterday.

Hungary's Daniel Bali also produced an excellent display but fell 0.150 short of gold as he took the silver medal.

Ivan Veloz of Mexico claimed World Championships bronze for the second consecutive edition of the event as he was third, having scored 22.300 points.

Michela Castoldi and Davide Donati of Italy retained their mixed pairs title with a dominant performance, beating nearest challengers Andreea Bogati and Nicolae Barna of Romania by nearly 0.500.

The formidable Italian pairing cemented their status as the best mixed pairs aerobic gymnasts in the world with a routine which was rewarded with a commanding score of 22.500.

The Romanian team took silver and bronze went to Hungary as Bali added to his individual medal by partnering Fanni Mazascs to bronze on 21.850 points.

China also won gold in the same event for the second World Championships in a row as they topped the podium in the group competition.

The Chinese team scored 22.333 to beat Romania and Russia, silver and bronze medallists respectively.

Russia sealed the aerobic step crown with a total of 18.000 as China claimed silver and Ukraine the bronze.