2024 Cottbus World Cup EF WAG Bars UB MAG Rings SR

Finals in women’s uneven bars and men’s still rings at the 2024 Cottbus World Cup (Turnier der Meister)
Lausitz Arena, Cottbus, Germany, 24 February 2024

Commentary: Olly Hogben

Let’s have a look at the contenders van ma Vanessa mhova of the Czech Republic 15 and the reigning Junior National Champion 2 years in a row Natalia escalera of Mexico seventh best in qualification she has been a medalist at the Pacific or the Pan-American championships I should say Kellan neore

Of Algeria the reigning African all-around champion and the world championship silver medalist on the uneven bars then two gymnast and the People’s Republic of China Huf and Jang Yan two new seniors Georgia Rose Brown of New Zealand sixth best in qualification Alona tet independent neutral athlete 15 new

To the senior International scene M Brasa of Belgium fifth best in qualification Frank Samir Aid will be first to go in the men’s rings final second best in qualification Vincent herk of Austria the sixth best in qualifying and a European Championship medalist Jong Yong IL of the democratic People’s Republic of Korea eighth best in qualifying but the winner in Cairo

Last week arter atian of Armenia fifth best in qualification Nikita a world universities Champion Nikita simonov of aeran top performer in qualification followed by vagan davtian of Armenia fourth best in qualifying Courtney TK of Great Britain seventh best in qualification two-time Commonwealth Games Champion his teammate Harry heworth in as the first reserve

The British gymnast is in due to the withdrawal of M Ahmad kohani of Iran who was the third best in the preliminary round the finalists in The Women’s uneven bars competition the top performer in qualification unsurprisingly Kia neur of Algeria recently turned 17 the silver medalist from the world championships in an

And the owner of one of the greatest routines in gymnastics in the world at the moment and I don’t just mean in the uneven bars one of the greatest in any form of gymnastics the Rings finalists in codus top qualifier Nikita simov of aaban scored 14.6 in the preliminary round there is

Definite potential for others to challenge that score like Jong Yong IL of the democratic People’s Republic of Korea he was the eighth best in qualifying but one in Cairo to kick off this world cup qualification cycle once again just to remind you two qualification births available on each apparatus for Paris 2024

For not everybody is attempting to qualify for the games through this route only the gymnasts who are not part of a team that’s already qualified are even eligible for this there are other gymnasts who’ve already secured a named qualification place that may have been through the allaround competition at the last World

Championship or as one of the apparatus qualifiers and in the case of the Americas the Continental qualification spots have also been allocated after the Pan-American games in Santiago still there is some way to go before we have that full list of names for Paris 2024 in the case of a gymnast like Ken

Mo she has already earned a named qualification spot from the world championships as an all-arounder she performed excellently there finishing eight at her debut World Championships nervous nervous times for not just fans but for teammates of gymnasts for the coaching staff for their friends and their family who’ve been with them on this

Journey and in the case of some of them like him Sam a journey that’s had its fair share of ups and downs and that has gone on for years and years [Applause] here we go then with Samy Aid of France 34 from about 12 kilomet from the city center of

Paris he was fifth in Cairo and he would love nothing more than to go to his home Olympian yet goes up into the planch position drops low and then up into malti showing good control nice handstand very steady yison combination into a multiz quite level looking in the Iron [Applause]

Cross slight flicker on the handstand can he hold the landing that’s very good from Samy a s very good oh what he’s been through what he’s come back From an appalling injury at the Olympiad in Rio he knows better than most what it is to recover from something like that he is himself a physiotherapy graduate he carried the flag for his Nation at the opening ceremony of Tokyo 2020 that’s somebody who is an enormous fan of

Martial arts he’s a very good kickboxer and practitioner of Brazilian jiu-jitsu it meant a huge amount to him to carry that flag with claresa bonu one of the finest judoka in the world it would mean the world to him if he could get to his home Olympic Games 14.

666 is up by just over a 10th from [Applause] qualification strong beginning that when you consider the top qualifier was 14.6 we go to Vanessa mhova of the Czech Republic uses the ster shapos nikova with a half turn setting up for the Strader suers into the pack Salto

A lot about that was very promising from this 15-year-old from berno the Second City of the Czech Republic she’s been a dominant Force nationally at junior level for a couple of years now didn’t make any finals in Ciro in her senior International debut now she is a World

Cup finalist for the first time Some of her swing fullness just loses its form here and there at other times it’s very crisp she is a work in progress as a gymnast but a very promising work in Progress and it’s always a big moment for an athlete when they get into the first International final at senior level of their careers and events like the new Junior World Championships really help to bridge that Gap as the score of 13.4 comes in almost the same as qualification and

That’s a great accomplishment to go out there and be consistent from qualifying to a final at that age Vincent HK of Austria 27 competed at his eighth World Championships in antp last year he was sixth in the Rings final didn’t have the result he wanted in Cairo he was

Ninth what a nice level shoulder presentation such strength going up into the maltz as well good symmetry yis yamaki combination again he’s got the shoulder position just right he does flicker doesn’t he a little nice hand stand that’s quite a big step forward unfortunately as he lands hance’s hook

Such an accomplishment when he got onto the European podium in 2020 the first Austrian to do that since 1955 but you just wonder about the cost of the Dismount for Hook the jonison to yamaki was very Nice he’s piked bent in the midsection as he lands step forward is substantial 14.1 166 for Vincent HK the pressure on all of these athletes it’s is enormous the margins are so fine and you’d have to be the stoniest of hearted people not to have sympathy with

Them when it doesn’t go in their favor no matter who it is you’re supporting no matter who you hope wins Natalia escalera of Mexico is next she’s been a Pan-American Championship medalist on the uneven bars Jer good strength to go back up to handstand into the catch sh straight to a pack Salto then puts in the king of su assult as well so a lot of release Moves In this display from escalera she really does hit that Dismount Wow good work from the 21y Old seventh best in qualification 13.5 66 there’s a lot going on in this display from Natalia escalera variations of the chapos niika transition a good effect sometimes she was a little shy of handstand Pike work was nice in the Jager somersault she WRA tightly into the tuck position opening out with Security [Applause] 13.4 second place mashava leads on the execution tie break difficulty 5.9 for mcera we go to jongil of the democratic People’s Republic of Korea 33 from pongyang the capital city and he was fourth at the Asian games last year having finished eighth in Jakarta palen bang in

2018 and that was such a disappointment to him because he was the top qualifier all those years ago this is the man who won in Cairo it’s a difficult skill and he’s really well aligned in that inverted cross got a small amount of Ying of the Rings good level looking multis

Oh he really hit that Landing didn’t he jongil came in as the eighth strongest in qualification but always had the potential to do a lot Better he’s not somebody that we have seen a great deal of at all internationally as it always the case with the gymnast from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea he’s yet to compete at World Championship level absolutely thumped that Landing should score rather nicely 14. 433 it’s a lot better than

Qualification almost a third of a mark higher he’s in second Place now to one of life’s great Pleasures watching this routine kayy namur of Algeria top qualifier the world championship silver medalist last year oh it’s just brilliant that Innovative opening of hers everything so connected the fluidity oh dear oh dear that Dismount the double layout to finish just stunning many

Times we’ve broken this routine down into its component parts but actually it’s the whole of it that is so impressive this is one of the greatest demonstrations when you watch this routine of how to master physics of how to work gravity in your favor she doesn’t fight against momentum she uses it it’s Brilliant you’ve got lovely skills in there like the uh Isn’t that the tidiest tidiest of Landings it doesn’t have to be as high as qualification for her to still be the overwhelming favorite to win this and it was hugely high in qualification 15. 433 she said that if she had the opportunity to take a photograph with any one in the world right now would be the French Algerian

Social media star the more we see gymnastics like that the more it’ll be Lena sitas you’re asking to have a photograph with her because she’s becoming an absolute World favorite in gymnastics at the moment algeria’s Kore she has the unusual distinction the more of having won medals at the African championships

The Mediterranean championships and the Arab championships she’s done exactly as she did in qualification but in a different way the difficulty is up by 1110th to a 7.0 it’s a whopping great number and she is the real deal arur atian of Armenia on the Rings he was fourth in Cairo another gymnast for

Whom this is an enormous enormous routine in his quest to go to [Applause] Paris he really is doing well if he can make this Dismount tidy then it will be a good number it’s just a question of how secure he can be in the landing because it really is going to go

Down to fine margins he’s very secure in the landing arur atian of Armenia nice way to appreciate the angle there as moves up into the plch position twists round neatly into that Landing Steely looking man at the end of that and then he breaks into a grin yes well done to him 14.5

66 second place for arur atisan behind Samir Aid s by a single 10th we go to the last performance of the first half of the women’s uneven bars final it’s Huf from the People’s Republic of China 17-year-old an international debutant but the silver medalist at the Chinese championships at the end of last

Year well that’s such an unfortunate moment for her just went wrong in the swing Oh spee speee well it really is not going according to plan for H ja and you can in a situation like this only imagine what she feels as somebody new to this kind of stage new to International competition there are moments in that routine where you see what a super young

Gymnast she is they are only moments today but if you can get onto the podium at the national championships in the People’s Republic of China you’re a great young gymnast that is not up for debate hand slipping off the apparatus sometimes problems create problems just affect an athlete and then the things that

They have done so well so consistently Time After Time become second guest in their mind the confidence drops a little it’s not for us to say what was in her mind during that routine but what we can do is sympathize with her because it can’t have been

Easy watching on from in the arena and analyzing things for the live crowd is Kim buy who knows just about all there is to know about the uneven bars and gymnastics at large and Kim bu will know that that sort of thing has happened to her before she’ll remember the early days of

Her career what it feels like to be on the international stage for the first time and how you go away from it and reflect and refine and regroup do all of the things that Elite athletes do so that next time is a little better teenagers from dong Province

Right on the Southeast coast of the People’s Republic of China it was so impressive when she won that silver medal on the uneven bars at the Chinese individual championships last year because it was the first time she’d been on the podium at senior level nationally [Applause] Te The wait is a long one here for this score to be calculated for H cha still to come we’ve got the second halfs of the women’s uneven bars and men’s rings finals and tomorrow we have the women’s beam and floor exercise and the men’s vault parallel bars and horizontal bar to finish our Coverage score is 9.8 for Hua we remind ourselves that this is a gymnast who is new to the senior International stage wish her good luck for whatever the next steps are and the next International assignments meanwhile the warm-ups taking place for the competitors who are seeking to get onto

That Podium Kore is well and truly ahead by over two marks of Vanessa Masa and Natalia escalera Masa ahead of escalera on the execution tie break and over on the Rings it’s quite close we have Nikita simonov to come foran davtian Courtney tallk Harry heworth lot to go This is a very significant routine coming up for Nikita simonov real veteran waiting for his chance silver medalist in Ciro Davan Told comp Nikita simov of aaban top qualifier 14.6 he was sixth in Cairo this is the gymnast who won the World Cup title on rings last year started very smoothly this is looking good value to move up towards the top of the leaderboard massive Dismount coming up in terms of

His qualification hopes and it’s a very secure one Nikita Simon ala V He was fifth in the world in antp at the end of last Year and he does lead Nikita simar 14.7 goes ahead of Samir a big result for him in terms of qualification for Paris now to jangan People’s Republic of China have qualified a women’s team to the games so a gymnast like changan who’s only 16 this is more about her own

Development as an international athlete oh going for the layout Jagger somersault quite make it but wasn’t a million miles away she has been a junior national champion on this piece she is the younger of the two Chinese competitors in this final the nicely executed layout cev there think a somersault perform well

Oh it’s a very fine Dismount lots of really good components in that display from Jang Yan some very interesting skill selection too some release moves in the layout position this is the layout Jer somersault early on and she employs a hip Circle layout cev as well we have a catch into the P Salto and then twisting and talking well for that Dismount she is from henan Province in the east of China the third largest of all of the Chinese provinces by population 99 million people it is famous as the birthplace of taii one of the most widely practic of all of the Chinese martial arts that fall under the umbrella of Wu so again we see the layout Jagger at the Start 13.6 is the score she’s in second place down by n from qualification she does does pick up an extra tenth of difficulty the hug and davtian of Armenia is next fourth in qualification and the silver medalist in Cairo the first World Cup qualification event 35

Now and he was fourth at the World Championships last year for him it will come down to cleanliness more than difficulty as is always the case and his planch is lovely to start he’s a very graceful Athlete on the Rings Onis to mtis to a well controlled Lon

Cross gets nice height on his flch little quest for stability in the handstand what about on the Dismount that’s a j boy very good Landing from Bagan [Applause] davan always stylish and he’s been so dependable over the years how lovely it would be for Armenian gymnastics if he could get to an Olympiad

He’s done so much for the sport not just as a competitor but from a governance point of view he’s really at the heart of trying to improve sporting Pathways for young people so muchan 14.6 execution and difficulty both up a little from qualification he’s into third place so it is still

Simonov now to New Zealand’s Georgia Rose Brown formerly competed for Australia sixth best in qualification Salto Maloney to transition k a somersault builds the power back up again [Applause] very experienced athlete is Georgia Rose Brown just recently celebrating her 29th birthday doctoral candidate in physiotherapy at the University of

Melbourne five times a World Cup medalist on the uneven bars look back at the gam assult this to on shaposhnikova Maloney really attacks the ster work It was almost a decade ago that she won Her First Commonwealth Games medal in Glasgow went on to win a couple more in the Gold Coast game games of 2018 How she would love to add the Olympic Games to an extraordinary and long resume as an international gymnast she has a score of 13.5 33 New Zealand’s Georgia Rose Brown goes into the bronze medal Positiony Courtney TK of Great Britain he was eighth in Cairo had real problems in the finals scoring 12.1 166 seventh best qualifier here the reigning two-time Commonwealth Games champion on the Rings lots of precision so far first of those we’ve seen the iron cross with the legs brought fully up into the V

Position is looking very nice it’s a good performance from Courtney tallk really strong work on the apparatus a small Landing adjustment can he improve upon the 8.03 three for execution that he posted in the preliminary round another gym n who has contributed so much to the teams at world and European Championship level

And Commonwealth Games level for England masses of strength required to do that and to make it look so composed well it was so composed does have too huge an adjustment as he lands 14.4 it’s up from qualifying by fewer than 2/10 he’s in sixth place Leona tavit independent neutral athlete 15-year-old who made her senior International debut in

Cairo and she looked very good in qualification here as the fourth best purposeful and swing full going into the Strader somersault an exciting performance from a very young athlete a new international senior Alona Tiit first time that she’s made International finals she gets good height in the Strader really attacked it as well this was confident looking work from a young gymnast tidiness is not fully there yet in terms of the Dismount but her scoring qualification was 14 point 133 if she gets close to that she goes into second place and that’s exactly as she’s done and that’s a medal guaranteed for the senior debutant this season in her first ever World Cup final Alona cavet has won a

Medal we finish on the rings with Harry heworth of Great Britain ninth best in qualification he comes in as the first Reserve after the withdrawal of miti Ahmed kohani of Iran but heworth was a finalist on rings at the World Championships last Year and when you as a team have got somebody who can deliver this sort of profile of scores on floor volton Rings it’s a potential massive asset exciting isn’t he Harry heworth 20 from cookridge in the northwest suburbs of Leads and he has become from an execution standpoint so much more reliable of late 14.2 he’s up by 1110th from qualification goes into seventh place so it is simonov 14.7 Aid s 14. 666 and vak davan 14.6 the podium we finish with M Brasa of Belgium 13. 666 in qualification the fifth

Best so there is potential for her to get onto the podium with Jang Yan of China currently holding bronze on 13.6 so if Brar does as she did in qualifying she wins a medal and it would be her first World Cup honors starts with the original shapos nikova

Sense of flight in the pack Salto now the van Len she Dismounts well good routine from Miley prasa who had a 5.7 difficulty score in the preliminary round she didn’t make the uneven bars Final in Cairo the belgians had a very tough time of things at their home World

Championships in ANP on the women’s side of things with some big injury absences manage to qualify a full team 13 points six is the current bronze medal holding score it is Jang Yan of the People’s Republic of China above that Alona cavet and there is Brasa changing the leaderboard for her first World Cup honors the Belgian 13.7 her score it’s up a fraction from qualifying and it’s good enough to earn

A place on the Podium the classified results in the women’s uneven bars competition algeria’s Kia neore with a 7.0 difficulty score taking the title ahead of senior debutant this year Alona tet of the independent neutral athletes M Brasa of Belgium winning the bronze medal on the Rings armenia’s vagan davtian

Takes the bronze medal Sami Aid s of France wins Silva and Nikita simov of aaban is the Champion the victory ceremony for the women’s un even bars competition at the cus 2024 World Cup of artistic gymnastics part of the Paris 20 24 qualification Process M blasa of Belgium the bronze medalist Alona tet independent neutral athlete the winner of the silver medal a very impressive display from the 15-year-old frankly from the moment that she landed this one felt done and dusted to ganore of Algeria World Championship ship silver medalist last year in antp already a qualifier for the Olympic Games courtesy of the allaround competition in antp last year but just further establishing her credentials as one of the absolute

Finest uneven bars performers in the world And we will now have the national anthem of Algeria L A history making moment in World Cup artistic gymnastics as we hear casaman we pledge the national anthem of Algeria it was written by Muti Zakaria and Muhammad fi in 196 it was adopted as the national anthem in that year when Algeria gained its independence from [Applause] France The victory ceremony for the men’s still Rings competition in cus at the World Cup in what is shaping up to be a fascinating Olympic qualification pathway rings The winner of the bronze medal is armenia’s vagan daan a veteran once again performing at the highest level on the subject of which Samy a s of France a brilliant display from him dreaming of a home games one of the most resilient gymnasts out there and Nikita simonov of

Aaian is the champion and he’s won it marginally oneth of a mark separating the top three a classic Rings final and for simonov a great result after finishing only sixth in Cairo silvered by J M and we will hear now the national anthem of aaban [Applause] [Applause] L The [Applause] look at what it means to Nikita simonov there they are the medalists in the Rings competition at the Fig World Cup in cotus And that brings to a close our coverage on this the first day of competition in cotus with five more finals to come tomorrow