# World Artistic Gymnastics Championships – Men's parallel bars

The men's parallel bars competition was an inaugural event at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. It has been held in every year since its inception.
The first event was in 1903, and followed every other year until and including 1913. Competitions were not held during World War I, ultimately returning in 1922, and was then held every fourth year, until and including 1942. Competitions resumed after World War II, starting in 1950. It continued every fourth even year until and including 1978. The next event was held a year later, when the schedule was switched to an every-odd year until and including 1991. It then became an annual event, until and including 1997. It was next held in 1999. During the 21st century, the World Championships became an annual event held each non-Summer Olympic year.
Three medals are awarded: gold for first place, silver for second place, and bronze for third place. Tie breakers have not been used in every year. In the event of a tie between two gymnasts, both names are listed, and the following position (second for a tie for first, third for a tie for second) is left empty because a medal was not awarded for that position.

## Medalists

Bold numbers in brackets denotes record number of victories.
| Year | Location | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| 1903 | Antwerp | François Hentges Joseph Martinez | — | André Bordang Eugène Dua |
| 1905 | Bordeaux | Marcel Lalu Joseph Martinez | — | Pierre Payssé |
| 1907 | Prague | Joseph Lux | Josef Čada | František Erben Louis Ségura |
| 1909 | Luxembourg | Joseph Martinez (3) | Josef Čada Auguste Castille Marco Torrès | — |
| 1911 | Turin | Giorgio Zampori | Dominique Follacci | Antoine Costa Jules Labéeu Jules Lecoutre Paolo Salvi Ferdinand Steiner Stane Vidmar |
| 1913 | Paris | Guido Boni Giorgio Zampori | — | Pierre Hentges |
| 1915–1917 | Not held due to World War I | Not held due to World War I | Not held due to World War I | Not held due to World War I |
| 1922 | Ljubljana | Leon Štukelj | Stane Derganc Stanislav Indruch Miroslav Klinger Vladimir Simončič Stane Vidmar | — |
| 1926 | Lyon | Ladislav Vácha | Jan Gajdoš | Leon Štukelj |
| 1930 | Luxembourg | Josip Primožič | Alfred Krauss | Ladislav Vácha |
| 1934 | Budapest | Eugen Mack | Josef Walter | Walter Bach |
| 1938 | Prague | Michael Reusch | Alois Hudec | Josip Primožič |
| 1942 | Not held due to World War II | Not held due to World War II | Not held due to World War II | Not held due to World War II |
| 1950 | Basel | Hans Eugster | Olavi Rove | Raymond Dot |
| 1954 | Rome | Viktor Chukarin | Josef Stalder | Helmut Bantz Hans Eugster Masao Takemoto |
| 1958 | Moscow | Boris Shakhlin | Takashi Ono | Pavel Stolbov |
| 1962 | Prague | Miroslav Cerar | Boris Shakhlin | Yukio Endō |
| 1966 | Dortmund | Sergey Diomidov | Mikhail Voronin | Miroslav Cerar |
| 1970 | Ljubljana | Akinori Nakayama | Eizō Kenmotsu Mikhail Voronin | — |
| 1974 | Varna | Eizō Kenmotsu | Nikolai Andrianov | Vladimir Marchenko |
| 1978 | Strasbourg | Eizō Kenmotsu | Nikolai Andrianov Hiroshi Kajiyama | — |
| 1979 | Fort Worth | Bart Conner | Kurt Thomas Aleksandr Tkachyov | — |
| 1981 | Moscow | Alexander Dityatin Kōji Gushiken | — | Nobuyuki Kajitani |
| 1983 | Budapest | Vladimir Artemov Lou Yun | — | Kōji Sotomura Tong Fei |
| 1985 | Montreal | Sylvio Kroll Valentin Mogilny | — | Kōji Gushiken |
| 1987 | Rotterdam | Vladimir Artemov | Dmitry Bilozerchev | Sven Tippelt |
| 1989 | Stuttgart | Vladimir Artemov (3) Li Jing | — | Andreas Wecker |
| 1991 | Indianapolis | Li Jing | Ihor Korobchynskyi | Guo Linyao |
| 1992 | Paris | Li Jing (3) Aleksey Voropayev | — | Valery Belenky |
| 1993 | Birmingham | Vitaly Scherbo | Ihor Korobchynskyi | Valery Belenky (UNA) |
| 1994 | Brisbane | Huang Liping | Rustam Sharipov | Alexei Nemov |
| 1995 | Sabae | Vitaly Scherbo | Huang Liping | Hikaru Tanaka |
| 1996 | San Juan | Rustam Sharipov | Alexei Nemov Vitaly Scherbo | — |
| 1997 | Lausanne | Zhang Jinjing | Li Xiaopeng | Naoya Tsukahara |
| 1999 | Tianjin | Lee Joo-hyung | Alexei Bondarenko Naoya Tsukahara | — |
| 2001 | Ghent | Sean Townsend | Erick López | Ivan Ivankov |
| 2002 | Debrecen | Li Xiaopeng | Mitja Petkovšek | Alexei Sinkevich |
| 2003 | Anaheim | Li Xiaopeng | Huang Xu Alexei Nemov | — |
| 2005 | Melbourne | Mitja Petkovšek | Li Xiaopeng | Yann Cucherat |
| 2006 | Aarhus | Yang Wei | Hiroyuki Tomita Yoo Won-chul | — |
| 2007 | Stuttgart | Kim Dae-eun Mitja Petkovšek | — | Anton Fokin |
| 2009 | London | Wang Guanyin | Feng Zhe | Kazuhito Tanaka |
| 2010 | Rotterdam | Feng Zhe | Teng Haibin | Kōhei Uchimura |
| 2011 | Tokyo | Danell Leyva | Vasileios Tsolakidis Zhang Chenglong | — |
| 2013 | Antwerp | Lin Chaopan Kōhei Uchimura | — | John Orozco |
| 2014 | Nanning | Oleg Verniaiev | Danell Leyva | Ryōhei Katō |
| 2015 | Glasgow | You Hao | Oleg Verniaiev | Deng Shudi Oleg Stepko |
| 2017 | Montreal | Zou Jingyuan | Oleg Verniaiev | David Belyavskiy |
| 2018 | Doha | Zou Jingyuan | Oleg Verniaiev | Artur Dalaloyan |
| 2019 | Stuttgart | Joe Fraser | Ahmet Önder | Kazuma Kaya |
| 2021 | Kitakyushu | Hu Xuwei | Carlos Yulo | Shi Cong |
| 2022 | Liverpool | Zou Jingyuan (3) | Lukas Dauser | Carlos Yulo |
| 2023 | Antwerp | Lukas Dauser | Shi Cong | Kaito Sugimoto |

## All-time medal count

Last updated after the 2023 World Championships.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | China | 17 | 8 | 4 | 29 |
| 2 | Soviet Union | 8 | 8 | 2 | 18 |
| 3 | Japan | 5 | 5 | 12 | 22 |
| 4 | France | 5 | 4 | 7 | 16 |
| 5 | Yugoslavia | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| 6 | Switzerland | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| 7 | United States | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 8 | Italy | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 9 | Ukraine | 2 | 5 | 0 | 7 |
| 10 | Belarus | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 11 | Slovenia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 11 | South Korea | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 13 | Czechoslovakia | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| 14 | Germany | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 15 | East Germany | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 15 | Luxembourg | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 17 | CIS | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 18 | Great Britain | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 | Russia | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 20 | Bohemia | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 21 | Philippines | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 22 | Cuba | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Finland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Greece | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 | Turkey | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 | Austria-Hungary | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 26 | Azerbaijan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 26 | Belgium | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 26 | Uzbekistan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 26 | West Germany | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| – | Unattached athlete | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (30 entries) | Totals (30 entries) | 61 | 55 | 52 | 168 |

### Notes

* ^[a] Official FIG documents credit medals earned by athletes from Bohemia as medals for Czechoslovakia.
* ^[b] Official FIG documents credit medals earned by athletes from Austria-Hungary as medals for Yugoslavia.
* ^[c] Official FIG documents credit medals earned by athletes from former Soviet Union at the 1992 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Paris, France, as medals for CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States).
* ^[d] At the 1993 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Birmingham, Great Britain, Azerbaijani-born athlete Valery Belenky earned a bronze medal competing as an unattached athlete (UNA) because Azerbaijan did not have a gymnastics federation for him to compete. Later, official FIG documents credit his medal as a medal for Germany.

## Multiple medalists

| Rank | Gymnast | Nation | Years | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Vladimir Artemov | Soviet Union | 1983–1989 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 1 | Li Jing | China | 1989–1992 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 1 | Joseph Martinez | France | 1903–1909 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 1 | Zou Jingyuan | China | 2017–2022 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 5 | Li Xiaopeng | China | 1997–2005 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 6 | Eizō Kenmotsu | Japan | 1970–1978 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Mitja Petkovšek | Slovenia | 2002–2007 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | Vitaly Scherbo | Belarus | 1993–1996 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 9 | Giorgio Zampori | Italy | 1911–1913 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Oleg Verniaiev | Ukraine | 2014–2018 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 11 | Lukas Dauser | Germany | 2022–2023 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | Feng Zhe | China | 2009–2010 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | Huang Liping | China | 1994–1995 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | Danell Leyva | United States | 2011–2014 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | Boris Shakhlin | Soviet Union | 1958–1962 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | Rustam Sharipov | Ukraine | 1994–1996 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 17 | Miroslav Cerar | Yugoslavia | 1962–1966 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 17 | Hans Eugster | Switzerland | 1950–1954 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 17 | Kōji Gushiken | Japan | 1981–1985 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 17 | Josip Primožič | Yugoslavia | 1930–1938 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 17 | Leon Štukelj | Yugoslavia | 1922–1926 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 17 | Kōhei Uchimura | Japan | 2010–2013 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 17 | Ladislav Vácha | Czechoslovakia | 1926–1930 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 24 | Alexei Nemov | Russia | 1994–2003 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 25 | Nikolai Andrianov | Soviet Union | 1974–1978 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 | Josef Čada | Bohemia | 1907–1909 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 | Ihor Korobchynskyi | Soviet Union Ukraine | 1991–1993 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 | Mikhail Voronin | Soviet Union | 1966–1970 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 29 | Shi Cong | China | 2021–2023 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 29 | Naoya Tsukahara | Japan | 1997–1999 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 29 | Stane Vidmar | Austria-Hungary Yugoslavia | 1911–1922 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 29 | Carlos Yulo | Philippines | 2021–2022 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 33 | Valery Belenky | CIS Unattached athlete | 1992–1993 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |