Korolyov was coached by Alexander Fedorov at the Spartak club. Among the qualities most associated with his gymnastics and as a competitor in general, he has been described as
both a consummate all-arounder and cool competitor. His routines were…often were completed with a cat-like dismount landing. His contemporary, Olympic Champion USA gymnast
Bart Conner said about him
nobody can out compete him. As Korolyov had been winning many titles and medals for years as a Junior at such competitions as the Jr. USSR Championships and Jr. European Championships, it was no surprise that his senior debut in 1981 would be quite major. At that year's 1981 European Gymnastics Championships in
Rome, where he became the first gymnast to compete in a triple back dismount from the Rings In the event finals at these 1981 World Championships, in addition to his all-around victory, he also won two medals in the apparatus finals, both being ties - gold on floor with China's
Li Yuejiu, who in 1983 in
Budapest,
Hungary would help his team to their first-ever world championship team title, and bronze on pommel horse with Hungary's
György Guczoghy (winner of 13 medals at the continental, World Championship, and Olympic level). Korolyov was the youngest Men's World All-Around Artistic Gymnastics Champion up to that point. The next year, he continued to be the first, or of among the first, male gymnasts to successfully compete more difficult moves, such as doing a handstand in the middle of a Pommel Horse routine as well as doing consecutive repetitions of the Tkatchev release move on High Bar at the
1982 World Cup in
Zagreb,
Yugoslavia (today’s
Croatia), where yet more strong performances helped him to 3rd place in the All-Around competition behind
PRC gymnasts
Li Ning (1st) and
Tong Fei (2nd). He would also take 5 out of a possible 6 medals in the event finals (Parallel Bars title, plus 3 silvers and a bronze). In 1983, he managed to place 2nd to Bilozerchev in the All-Around at that year's European Championships in
Varna, as well as winning 2 event titles (floor, shared with
Plamen Petkov of
Bulgaria, and parallel bars). But a disastrous performance on high bar (score of 8.85) in the team compulsories segment of competition at that year's
World Championships in Budapest dropped him to 5th on the Soviet team, although his 6-event team composite score in team optionals was second, among his teammates, to Bilozerchev's. Not being among the top 3 men on his team, he did not qualify to the individual all-around final, nor did he win a medal on any of the 3 individual event finals to which he qualified. Interesting to note is that although the Soviet team was able to throw out Korolyov's 8.85 high bar score (their other 5 scores were all 9.7 or above), they still lost the world team title to China by only .100 (a very small margin in a team competition), and this was the only
World or
Olympic team title the Soviet men would lose at a non-boycotted world championships or Olympics from 1979 to 1992. In 1984, any hopes Korolyov would have realistically entertained about any Olympic successes were dashed by
the Soviet-led boycott. Subsequently, his father's death prevented him from participating in the
Alternate Olympics later that year. ==1985–1989==