“Five golds would be a dream come true,” said Wieber.
Ninth is an excellent result for Whelan, who improved markedly on her 2010 displays on three of the four pieces of apparatus.
She believes the top eight is well within her grasp at the Olympic Games, but must improve on bars (where she scored just 13.258 here, with others in the high 14s and beyond) to stand a chance.
“Bars is one of my weak pieces so I’ll definitely go back and work on that,” she said.
Wieber’s winning all-around score was 59.382, ahead of Komova’s 59.349. China’s Yao Jinnan took bronze with 58.598 and Whelan scored 56.124.
Three British chances for medals remain, beginning with Dan Purvis in the men’s all-around final on Friday.
Purvis, 20, is one of British Gymnastics’ lesser-known successes and has a genuine chance of an Olympic medal in 2012 if he continues to progress.
He finished fifth in last year’s world all-around final in Rotterdam, less than a mark outside the medals, and has once again squeezed into the lead group of the top six qualifiers this year.
Louis Smith follows Purvis in Saturday’s pommel horse final, but told BBC Sport he has yet to decide whether to play it safe or attempt his hardest routine – the most difficult in the world.
“I really want to do my hardest routine in the final but my coach isn’t too sure,” said Smith.
“My coach says if I do my normal routine, I’m guaranteed a medal. But I’m not looking at it like that, I’m looking at what I need to do at 2012 to get a gold medal and that’s to do my hardest routine.
“There’s no better time to do it than a world championship final.”
Beth Tweddle completes the triumvirate in Sunday’s floor final, a title she won in London two years ago.
Tweddle cannot defend her uneven bars world title after errors in qualifying saw her fail to progress, but she compensated for that with a superb bars routine in Tuesday’s team final, as Britain came fifth to record their best-ever finish.
The 26-year-old said she was keen to “prove a point” ahead of the Olympics and will look to do the same on Sunday.
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