Takeru Kitazono

Kitazono was selected to represent Japan at the third Youth Olympics Games. While there he won an unprecedented five gold medals – in the all-around, floor exercise, rings, parallel bars, and horizontal bar – beating the previous record of three gold medals won by Nikita Nagornyy and Giarnni Regini-Moran at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games. He finished sixth on pommel horse.[3] In addition to his five gold medals, Kitazono also received a silver medal in the mixed multi-discipline team (teams were randomly composed of gymnasts from various countries and various disciplines). Kitazono was assigned to the named after British gymnast Max Whitlock.

Kitazono later competed at the All-Japan Team Championships where he helped his club finish seventh.[5]

Takeru Kitazono at a 2019 Junior World Artistic Gymnastics Championships victory ceremony.

In January Kitazono competed at the RD761 Junior International Cup where he helped Japan win gold and individually he placed first in the all-around and on pommel horse, rings, and parallel bars and he placed seventh on horizontal bar and sixth on floor exercise.[6]

Kitazono was selected to represent Japan at the inaugural Junior World Championships alongside Ryosuke Doi and Shinnosuke Oka. While there the team won gold in the team final finishing nearly 3 points ahead of second place Ukraine. Although Kitazono recorded the third-highest all-around score of the day, he was left off the podium due to both teammates scoring higher and the two-per-country rule taking place.[7] During event finals he won gold on pommel horse and parallel bars and placed seventh on floor exercise.[8]