Antwerp World Olympic Qualifying Championships for Gymnasts It will be held between September 30 and October 8, that is, until next Sunday, but the first three days are the most important in terms of allocating classes. It determines the qualifiers for the men’s and women’s team competitions, i.e. 12-12 teams that can participate in the five-a-side matches next year in Paris, and the team quotas mean starting five competitors. At last year’s World Championships in Liverpool, the winners already made it to the podium: the Chinese, Japanese and British for men, and the Americans, Britons and Canadians for women. But then it proved that we also have a good chance of applying for the quota. In Liverpool, our team of Christopher Mészáros, Christian Balázs, Benedek Tomcsanyi, Balázs Kiss, Kardos Butund placed 12th, while in the women’s team competition, our team of Tseng Bacskai, Zoja Szekely, Sofia Kovacs, Greta Mayer, Myrtel Makovits. Nicolette Silagy took 14th place. The last time our teams made it to the Olympics was in 1992, and the women were there in 1996, but since then we’ve only managed to get one or two individual quotas. (It is true that two gold medals were also born from these two, in 2000 on the track by Szilwiszter Cholani, and in 2012 by Christian Berki on the pommel horse.)
In Antwerp, our women’s team will be interested in qualifying on Monday – unfortunately without three-time European champion Zofia Kovacs, who was injured before the start – and the men have to start training today. Based on the results of last year’s World Cup, only 24 teams can participate in the World Cup, 16 teams have already competed in the men’s category on Saturday, and four more this morning, and our team was in the last group with the South Koreans and Italians. And the French.
Before they were called up, the qualifying standings looked like this: 1-12. In Japan, the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, China, Spain, Turkey, the Netherlands, Ukraine and Brazil.
Among them, the top eight have already arrived, and the Turkish, Dutch, Ukrainian and Brazilian quartet could be excited.
The big battle for Olympic quotas was expected
At last year’s World Cup, the Italians, who are now in the same group as us, were in fourth place, and the South Koreans were in eighth place, but it should be noted that the Brazilians, who had already graduated, were in seventh place, which means that the ranking was flipped. Power already on Saturday. In Liverpool, the Turks finished just ahead of us in 11th place, so the competition for the final sessions was expected to be very close. The Hungarian team management decided that Christopher Mészáros, Benedek Tomcsanyi and Christian Balázs would start in the six matches. Molnár Botond is on floor, vaulting and hurdles, while Balázs Kiss is on pommel horse, ring and beam. In the World Cup, the qualifiers are held in a 5-4-3 system, which means that four of the five-man teams can go to the final, where the best three points are counted for the team’s score.
We started out on a stretcher, which unfortunately was pretty bad. In order, Benedek Tomcsányi, Krisztofer Mészáros, Krisztián Balázs and Balázs Kiss also dropped out of the team (!), and our team, with the very low score it obtained, significantly failed to reach all potential competitors. Our training on the ground and then in the horse swing was indeed better, stronger, but we were still at a great disadvantage against the Turks. In our group, our three opponents were far behind us. Our team in the ring, which is not our strong team, received lower points not only from the Turks, but also from the Dutch and Ukrainians; So the goals had to be re-evaluated: at least 13-15. One of the places must be reached, because countries that finish here receive an unnamed individual Olympic quota; Later they can decide who to send to the five-ring games. Our points scored on vault were higher than ever, but this also stems from the peculiarities of scoring, which are not high enough now either. Last time, after the maximum, our national team finished only 20th, which was a huge disappointment. The Spaniards came in ninth place, but the South Koreans (14th) and the French (19th), who made a fatal mistake in swinging the horse, did not get the team share either. But that’s their problem, and we have ours.
Krisztofer Mészáros has reached the individual all-around final, and this could give him a share. Our competitor finished with 81,933 points, which was enough for 18th place, and the best 24 teams made it to the final on Thursday. Since a maximum of two from each country could appear in the finals, and three Japanese also crossed Mizaros, he actually had the 17th highest score. Tomcsányi, also a six-time winner, was 53rd with 77.665 points, and Balázs was 59th with 77.031.
Head of the delegation Sándor Altórgay, Secretary General of the Hungarian Federation, told MTI that approximately 4.5 points “remained” in the team, which means a lot.
– Regarding the Olympic quota for Christopher Meszaros: The International Federation will soon announce who can start in Paris based on the individual compound. Not officially yet, but according to accounts, Meszaros does.
Cover photo: Cristian Balazs, Balazs Kiss, Molnar Butund, Benedek Tomcsanyi, Szabolcs Batory, Kristoffer Mészáros, as well as national team captain István Kovacs during the national team press training at the Tata training camp before the World Cup (Photo: MTI/Szilárd). Kozitsak)
