American wins gymnastics world title

STUTTGART, Germany, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- American Shawn Johnson had the best balance beam and floor exercise routines Friday to win the all-around gold medal at the World Gymnastics Championship.

Johnson, 15, became the fourth American to claim the world title and established herself as the favorite for the top spot at next summer's Olympics in Beijing.

She compiled 61.875 points, while Steilana Nistor of Romania took the silver medal with 60.625. There was a tie for the bronze between Brazil's Jade Barbosa and Italy's Vanessa Ferrari at 60.550.

Johnson earned a score of 15.900 on the beam, .2 of a point better than Barbosa. The new world champion then received 15.425 points with her floor exercise, which was .125 of a point better than Ferrari.

The men's all-around gold medal went to Yang Wei of China, while Fabien Hambuechen of Germany grabbed the silver and Hisashi Mizutori of Japan took the bronze.

American Jonathan Horton finished fourth, just .2 of a point out of a medal position.