A record 92 nations have registered to participate in the 49th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart (GER), which is preparing to play host to the competition for the third time after memorable events in 1989 and 2007.
The provisional entries for the 2019 World Championships, scheduled for 4-13 October at the 7,500-seat Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, has hit a new high, surpassing the previous record of 86 federations at the 2015 World Championships in Glasgow (GBR). The number of entries for 2019 is eight more than took part in Stuttgart 2007 and nearly double the 48 that participated in Stuttgart 1989.
In addition to awarding eight sets of medals in the Men’s competition and six sets in the Women’s competition, the 2019 World Championships will serve as a qualifying event to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo (JPN). Click here for more on the 2020 Olympic qualification process and refer to the applicable rules.
All federations may enter individuals, but only the top 24 teams from the 2018 World Championships in Doha (QAT) in both the men’s and women’s competitions may enter full teams, with the addition of a men’s team from either Australia or New Zealand to ensure full continental representation. The age limit is 18 years (born 2001) or older for men and 16 years (born 2003) or older for women.
The full roster of gymnasts scheduled to compete at the competition will be released following the nominative registration deadline of 4 September.
Olympic champions Fabian Hamuechen (GER) and Catalina Ponor (ROU), who both competed in Stuttgart 2007, will return this fall as the Gymnastics Ambassadors for the World Championships. Hambuechen retired from competition after achieving his ultimate goal of winning gold on Horizontal Bar at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (BRA), while Ponor bid competition adieu in 2017 after three Olympic appearances, with five Olympic and five World Championship medals to her name.
This year’s event also marks the fifth time overall that Germany has played host to the competition, including the World Championships in Dortmund in 1966 and 1994.
Reference: FIG
Four-time world All-around champion Simone Biles (USA) heads the mouthwatering list of gymnasts who have confirmed their participation at the FIG Individual All-around World Cup in Stuttgart (GER) on 16-17 March.
The Stuttgart event will be the second in this year’s World Cup series and Biles will be joined by other big names like Russia’s Aliia Mustafina and David Belyavskiy as well as the 2018 World Cup series winners Elisabeth Seitz (GER) and Sun Wei (CHN).
Women´s Competition
It will be the first time for Biles to compete at the Stuttgart World Cup and the 21-year-old – holder of four Olympic gold medals and 14 World Championship golds – will take top billing at the Porsche Arena where she will get a taste of the conditions before the city hosts the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in October.
Competing alongside Biles will be the experienced Mustafina (RUS), twice an Olympic gold medallist on Uneven Bars and the 2010 All-around world champion, and local favourite Seitz (GER), whose silver medal in her adopted home city of Stuttgart 12 months ago preceded a memorable World Championships in Doha where she won her first medal with bronze on Uneven Bars. The women’s field also features Anne-Marie Padurariu (CAN), who is making her World Cup debut following her silver-medal success on Balance Beam in Doha.
- Carolyne Pedro (Brasilien)
- Lorette Charpy (Frankreich)
- Elisabeth Seitz (Deutschland)
- Hitomi Hatakeda (Japan)
- Anne-Marie Padurariu (Kanada)
- Aliya Mustafina (Russland)
- Simone Biles (USA)
Men´s Competition
The roster for the men’s competition includes Belyavskiy, who won two medals at Rio 2016 and ranked fourth in the All-around, and Sun Wei, a team gold medallist with China at the Doha World Championships who is returning for the third year running to Stuttgart, where he took bronze in 2017
- Wei Sun (China)
- Marcel Nguyen (Deutschland)
- Frank Baines (Großbritannien)
- Teppei Miwa (Japan)
- Bart Deurloo (Niederlande)
- David Belyavskiy (Russland)
- Eddy Yusof (Schweiz)
- Petro Pakhniuk (Ukraine)
- Akash Modi (USA)
The Stuttgart World Cup is the second of four events in the 2019 FIG series, and follows the American Cup on 2 March. The series will continue on 23 March in Birmingham (GBR), and conclude in Tokyo (JPN) on 7 April. The top eight teams from the 2018 World Championships received priority invitations to the event.
The field for each event involves eight male and eight female gymnasts chosen by the participating federations, plus one optional ‘wildcard’ gymnast each from the host federation. Gymnasts collect points for the 2019 World Ranking lists that will determine the winning federations, and the results of all four events count towards the final ranking.
Prize money of a total of CHF116,000–124,000 is at stake in each leg of the series, with the FIG paying an additional CHF100,000 to the overall top three-ranked gymnasts – male and female – at the end of the series.
SCHEDULE
March, 15, 2019
9.00 A.M. | Team Challenge Qualification Women
1.30 P.M. | Team Challenge Qualification Men
March, 16, 2019
12.30 P.M. | FIG All-Around World Cup Men
5.00 P.M. | Team Challenge Final Women
March, 17, 2019
12.15 P.M.| FIG All-Around World Cup Women
4.00 P.M. | Team Challenge Final Men
Further information can be found at www.enbw-dtbpokal.de.
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