The World Gymnastics Championships are taking place for the 52nd time. From Saturday until October 8th, more than 400 men and women from 73 nations will face the judges in Antwerp, Belgium, where the first world title fights took place in 1903.
How do the title fights work?
The first three days of competition are all about qualification. The first thing there is to see which teams and individual gymnasts reach the finals in a total of 14 decisions. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the eight best teams among men and women will determine the team world champions in the all-around competition. The individual titles in the men’s hexathlon and the women’s four-athlon will be determined on Thursday and Friday among 24 participants each.
At the end of the title fights there are the apparatus finals. On Saturday, vault and uneven bars for women and floor, pommel horse and rings for men, on Sunday balance beam and floor for women and vault, parallel bars and horizontal bars for men.
What is special about the World Cup?
It’s about Olympic starting places. The best twelve teams from the qualification for men and women will be in Paris next year. The prerequisite for this is that the teams from China, Japan and Great Britain (men) as well as the USA, Great Britain and Canada (women) who have already qualified as medal winners for the 2022 World Cup are included.
What is the starting position for the German teams?
The men have to do without veteran and points guarantee Andreas Toba for a short time. The 32-year-old from Hanover suffered a knee injury during training in Antwerp. At the qualification this Saturday (from 6.15 p.m.) Tomba wants Nick Klessing (Halle/Saale), who has replaced him, as well as Lukas Dauser (Unterhaching), Pascal Brendel (Wetzlar), Nils Dunkel (Halle/Saale) and Lucas Kochan (Cottbus). support on site. Since the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the men’s team has been in the top ten at all major events. National coach Valeri Belenki still expects a close decision. “Everyone wants to go to Paris,” says the 54-year-old.
And the women?
The team of national coach Gerben Wiersma had to cope with two serious setbacks. First, the German record champion Elisabeth Seitz (Stuttgart) suffered a torn Achilles tendon during training. Then, shortly before leaving for Antwerp, the former European uneven bars champion Emma Malewski (Chemnitz) tore a tendon in her foot while dismounting from her parade apparatus and is out. At the side of the experienced former German all-around champion Sarah Voss (Cologne) and the former uneven bars world champion Pauline Schäfer-Betz (Chemnitz), 16-year-old Meolie Jauch (Stuttgart) and the 18-year-old Lea Quaas and Karina Schönmaier are now going (both Chemnitz) on Monday (from 5:45 p.m.) in the qualification for the team all-around competition.
Who should you pay attention to?
First and foremost, all eyes will be on US superstar Simone Biles. The 26-year-old exceptional gymnast is not only competing in a major event again for the first time since she left the Olympic Games in Tokyo due to mental problems. It is also her first start at a World Cup since 2019 in Stuttgart. The four-time Olympic champion and 19-time world champion has announced big things for Antwerp: As the world association Fig announced, she wants to show a novelty at World Cup level during the jump, which will then be given her name. Biles celebrated her World Cup debut in Antwerp in 2013 when she was just 16 years old – with two gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
Where can you watch the World Cup?
According to the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB), ARD will broadcast the finals in a live stream from Tuesday to Friday from 7:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. According to the DTB, the individual decisions on the devices on Saturday and Sunday will be shown online on ZDF. Live streams of the qualifications have already been announced on the platform of the World Gymnastics Association allgymnastics.tv.
