23. September 2007  
Cottbus / Germany  
Artistic Gymnastics

22nd GWG-CUP 2007: Ukraine and Switzerland give great performances

Switzerland, host of the Junior ECh 2008,
has successful juniors!
On horizontal bar: Fischer, Bucher (SUI) ahead of Lotz (GER)

Europe's Top Juniors in Cottbus
On the first day of competitions at the 22nd International GWG-Cup 2007 in the Cottbus Lausitzarena the Ukrainian Mykyta Yermak won the all-round competition of the 11 to 14 year olds ahead of his team mate Oleg Vernyayev. Sebastian Bock from Chemnitz came 3rd.

In the 15 to 18 age group the two Swiss gymnasts Kimon Wegmann and Lukas Fischer dominated, ahead of the German Fabian Lotz who is a member of the DTB Junior Team.

After the final day the German hosts, the Ukraine and Switzerland were each able to claim several medals. However, Gold medals also went to the Netherlands, Finland, Lithuania and Latvia...


XXII. G W G  -  C U P  2007
- Artistic Gymnastics, Male Juniors -
- 22nd September 2007, Lausitzarena, Cottbus -
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> In total gymnasts from 17 countries and 27 different teams had come to Cottbus, for all of whom the experienced organizers have prepared a tournament which has almost the same standard as the 'Tournament of Masters' which takes plce in the same location...

ALL-ROUND/Juniors:  >> 15 to 18 years
In this class the Swiss gymnasts Kimon Wegmann and Lukas Fischer dominated proceedings, but German gymnasts were able to compete with them:

Coach Hambüchen, protege Lotz ...

 Fabian Lotz - who is trained by coach Wolfgang Hambüchen, and a member of the DTB Junior Team, won the bronze medal.
Philipp Sorrer came 4th and Jonas Rohleder came 6th, both of whom are also members of the DTB Junior Team.

>> Results, All-round        >> Apparatus Finals, 15-18 years

The standard of 2007 - mixed...
Overall, this year's performances were not up to the standard set last year, partly because the Japanese team did not participate as it was in action at a parallel tournament in Yokohama.
Despite this the competition, which came quite soon after the summer holidays, was a good preparation for the German juniors for the next U18 binational meet with the USA in Colorado Springs, although the Berlin gymnast Philipp Sorrer in particular will have to tap his further potential, especially on floor (first sequence messed up), while he showed a good performance on horizontal bar, where he won the final.
The second German victory in a final was secured by  Fabian Lotz, who is trained by coach Hambüchen, on horse, after he had already won bronze all-round..
The goal of all the gymnasts is to participate in the junior ECh in Lausanne, Switzerland, next May. This was especially noticeable with the Swiss juniors, who not only managed a double whammy in the all-round competition (Kimon Wegmann and Lukas Fischer), but also had a strong performer in Pascal Buchner, who only did three pieces of apparatus.
On the final day there was also a powerful individual performance from the Finnish gymnast Tomi TUUHA, who showed a high class programme for his age group in the form of a Kasamatsu 1/1 turn (starting value: 16.2) as his first and a handspring, salto fwd 1 1/2 twists (15.8) as his second vault.

Sebastian Bock (Chemnitz)

ALL-ROUND, School age  >> 11 to 14 years; The first six places in the first round of the 11 to 14 year olds were split between the Ukraine, Switzerland and Germany. The Ukraine dominated the competition; their gymnasts Mykyta Yermak and Oleg Vernyayev showed a high-class programme for their age group. German gymnasts such as Sebastian Bock (KTV Chemnitz) stayed in touch and the Swiss gymnasts Fabian Schryber, Janik Hitz and Janick Brunner also managed to gain good ranks.

>> Results, Allround     >> Apparatus finals 11-14 years 

In the school age classes (11-14 years) the standard of the competition was clearly set by the Ukrainian boys.

<< (photo, l.) 
Horse winner Sebastian Bock...

Mykyta JERMAKOW (l.) receives the congratulations of the second in the all-round competition, Oleg YERNYAYEV (both Ukraine)

Mykyta Yermak and Oleg Vernyayev (photo, r.)
won gold and silver not just becaue of their superb technical basis, but also because of the impressive content. Although they are still quite small and boyish and not nearly into puberty, this surprising gamut of elements has probably be achieved by lots of training and a high ration of coaches to gymnasts, which however according to the experts need not lead directly to the top.
Sebastian BOCK (KTV Chemnitz) in particular was able to keep up with the Ukrainians and came third as well as winning on parallel bars and horizontal bar, and a Swiss trio consisting of Fabyan Schryber, Janik Hitz and Janick Brunner (NKL Liestal) were also up to scratch and showed up the rather weak standard of the German hosts in many places.

Although only gymnasts from Berlin, Chemnitz and Cottbus were present - some team gymnasts from the south of Germany didn't participate - much energy and many ideas will have to be applied to make sure that these future national gymnasts do not totally lose contact with the demanding European standard. However it is difficult to gain an overall impression, as little is known about the training status of such nations as Russia, France and Spain.

The 22nd edition of this impressive international junior event was however an absolute highlight in the European gymnastics calendar because of the fabulous conditions and the special 'Cottbus competition atmosphere', with which the organizers and their partners always manage to imbue it.
And quite a few future world champions - such as once upon a time the parallel bars virtuoso Mitja Petkovsek - may have stood on the winners' rostrum this weekend in the Lausitzarena.
Eckhard Herholz;
Information: Jens Milbradt
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ZIESMER's Gymnastics World Calendar is going to be a bestseller...
Fresh from the printing press, gymnastics calendar 'STUTTGART 2007 - BEIJING 2008' initiated by Ronny Ziesmer's charity 'Alliance of Hope' was showing all signs of becoming a bestseller on the first day in Cottbus and was enthusiastically received and ordered:

Not only the Polish delegation showed great interest...

OFFERS to over 100 international gymnastics associations
Surely inspired by the performance of the first Polish world champion (vault: Leszek BLANIK) the Polish junior Bartosz REGINIAK won on rings here in Cottbus.

And proudly the Polish coaches and judges also announced that their national federation was going to order the caendar, particularly because in the case of such bulk orders the logo and a picture of the country's best WCh participant can be added on the cover of the international (A) edition of the calendar.

... die eidgenössischen Junioren schließen auf künftigen Turn-Star-Kalendern statt Cover-Boy Hambüchen (deutsche Kalender-Version) mögliche Schweizer Champions nicht aus!

1500 calendars of the German edition (featuring 'cover-boy' Hambüchen) as well as of the international version were ordered by or sold to associations, clubs and partners of gymnastics on the very first day after the Calendar of the World Championship Stars went on sale ....

Ronny Ziesmer's great project aimed at popularizing artistic gymnastics looks to become a great success - not least to the benefit of his charity 'Alliance of Hope'.

>> ORDER FORM: Ziesmer's WORLD GYMNASTCS CALENDAR 2007/08


 >> PHOTOGRAPHIC IMPRESSIONS

>> ... see also GWG-Cup 2007 - Preview