Son Yeon-jae finished a career-high fifth in the individual all-around competition on Friday at the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Kiev, Ukraine.

The 19-year-old earned a total of 70.332 points from four apparatus -- hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon -- for her first top-10 finish at the world championships. There were 24 finalists.

Son was fifth in ball with 17.683 points and in clubs with 17.350 points. She was sixth overall in ribbon with 17.516 points, and seventh in hoop with 17.783 points.

At the previous world championships held in 2011 in Montpellier, France, Son ended in 11th place.

Son, the reigning Asian all-around champion, was the second best from the continent this time, right behind Deng Senyue of China, who earned 70.374 points.

Yana Kudryavtseva of Russia claimed the all-around title with 73.866 points. She led the field in hoop, ball and clubs, and was second in ribbon. Ganna Rizatdinova of Ukraine took second place overall with 73.041 points, followed by Melitina Staniouta of Belarus with 72.166 points.

Earlier at this year's worlds, Son had qualified for finals in ball, hoop and clubs, becoming the first South Korean to reach the finals in individual apparatus events, but fell well short of a medal in all three.

At the London Olympics last year, Son finished fifth in the all-around event, the best performance by a South Korean rhythmic gymnast. During this year's FIG World Cup season, Son won four silver and three bronze medals, and also claimed gold medals in all-around, hoop and clubs at the Asian championships in June in Tashkent, Ukraine.

Son is one of the most popular athletes in South Korea and has appeared in a series of television commercials. Last year, she was voted national athlete of the year in a survey, beating out more accomplished athletes, such as Olympic swimming gold medalist Park Tae-hwan and reigning Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-na. (Yonhap)