Valeri Belenki was in a chatty mood. “Great praise goes to the team. They did a great job today,” said the national coach after his gymnasts had celebrated a successful start at the European Championships in Antalya with no mistakes and with an unmistakably great team spirit.
The squad around veteran Andreas Toba from Hanover was in first place in the team competition after two of three rounds, finished fifth and qualified for the World Championships in autumn on the way to the 2024 Olympics. With 244.529 points, Toba, Nils Dunkel and Nick Klessing (both Halle/Saale) as well as Lucas Kochan (Cottbus) and Pascal Brendel (Wetzlar) scored 3.17 points more than when they finished seventh at the European Championships in Munich eight months ago.
“To be honest, it hurts a bit. We expected a bit more,” said Belenki, “but it’s still a good result.” He also reminded that the German all-around champion Lukas Dauser is still working on his comeback after a shoulder injury and was missing. “With him we might have reached for metal.”
Italy became European champions with 249.526 points ahead of host Turkey (248.262) and defending champion Great Britain (246.961).
“Great team effort”
Nevertheless, the German gymnasts were satisfied with their presentation. “Of course we’re happy that we did more gymnastics than in Munich,” said 32-year-old Toba. For Klessing, the quintet put in “a great team effort”. 13th place would have been enough to qualify for the World Championships in Antwerp in autumn. The starting places for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris will be awarded at the world title fights in Belgium.
Brendel was the only one from the ranks of the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) to compete in a complete six-way battle consisting of pommel horse, wrestling, vaulting, parallel bars, high bar and floor. With 81.732 points, the 19-year-old European Championship rookie secured sixth place in the all-around final on Thursday. “A new star has been born,” said Belenki, “he can add to the exercises on many machines. We’re working on that.” Besides Brendel, only Milan Hosseini (Böckingen) reached an individual final with 14.266 points on floor.
Brendel remains humble
The youngest in the team at just 19, who trains with his father Matthias Brendel in Wetzlar, rated his debut at the European Championships modestly. “I thought it was pretty good and I also thought our team performance was pretty good. You weren’t alone on the podium, you could tell that the team was behind you. I’m very happy with my competition,” he said and seemed right shy.
The veterans were far less reluctant to assess the performance at the morning sports time after getting up at 6 a.m. It reassures him that the minimum goal of 13th place should be achieved after the performance, said Dunkel. “I’m very satisfied and super proud of the team,” said the European Championship third on the pommel horse in Munich.
The 26-year-old, who only made it into the team at the second attempt due to back problems, presented a new horse exercise and was delighted with his flawless presentations on a total of five devices. “For me personally, it was a really good competition,” said Dunkel.
“The result is something to be proud of”, judged Toba, “we produced a cohesive team performance. We had a great attitude. We fought well and tried to bring all the drills home.”
