Kohei Uchimura missed his 11th straight national championship victory in April, but said the taste of defeat propelled him to his 10th straight NHK Cup crown on Sunday.

The 29-year-old finished third at the nationals, suffering a shocking defeat to Kakeru Tanigawa, who is 10 years younger than the two-time defending Olympic champion.

"I won today because I lost at the nationals. If I had won, maybe today's results wouldn't have happened," Uchimura said. "After the loss, I started over, re-examining everything, and that led to today's win."