With "King" Kohei Uchimura having stepped down, there will be slot online a new Olympic all-around men's gymnastics champion crowned at the Tokyo Games on Wednesday (Jul 27), with Russia, Japan and China set for a royal rumble to decide who claims the sport's most prized title.
Olympic all-around champion in 2012 and 2016, Uchimura chose not to defend his title in Tokyo, leaving Japan's hopes resting with his young heir apparent, 19-year-old Daiki Hashimoto, who underscored his credentials by posting the top marks in last Saturday's qualification round.
But Russia, competing in Tokyo as representatives of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) because the country was stripped of its flag and anthem for doping offences, will send out the lethal one-two combination of Nikita Nagornyy and Artur Dalaloyan, world all-around champions in 2019 and 2018 respectively.
The last Russian to stand at the top of the podium was the great Alexei Nemov at the 2000 Sydney Games.
China will also field two seasoned contenders in 2017 world all-around champion Xiao Ruoteng and Sun Wei, who placed third and fourth in qualifying.
After clinching the team gold for Russia on Monday with a pressure packed floor exercise, Nagornyy will ride a massive wave of momentum that would make Olympic surfers down the coast envious.
The last man to compete with top spot on the podium on the line, the 24-year-old Russian showed he is built for the big moments, delivering when it counted most.