50th WORLDS of MEN's Artistic Gymnastics 2021

♦♦  50^th MEN's WORLDS of ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS 2021
       - P R E V I E W -

Gymnastics world champions have been determined since 1903.
After the Olympic Games TOKYO 2020 postponed to this year due to corona, the men's artistic gymnastics elite meets for their 50^th WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS in 2021 - also on Japanese soil, in Kitakyushu. As at the 41^st Women's Worlds, there is no team competition for men either: At these individual World Championships, the winners are determined in the all-around event and on the six individual apparatus.
After two qualifying days (Tuesday nand Wednesday, October 19, 20), the first and most important decision in the men's all-around competition will be made on Friday, October 22 ...:
194 athletes from 54 nations had registered for this individual Worlds, starting Tuesday (October 19; see below) on two qualifying days for the finals in the all-around competition (24 places, max 2 per nation) or for 8 final qualifiers each want to apply for the six apparatus.
►► WCh participants
* * In the all-around competition, however, there is no Olympic medal win between the very young Japanese Olympic champion Daiki HASHIMOTO and the other two medal winners from Tokyo Xiao Ruoteng (CHN) and Nikita Nagornyi, as both of them skip these Worlds, and all other runners-up are missing Olympic all-round ranks 4 to 11 at this WCh, so that new names will be entered in the current ranking lists in any case. Although Japan's Kohei UCHIMURA, the 6-time all-around champion of the last decade, is also on the start list, but he will probably only want to start on individual events (horizontal bar). So basically everything is open, but that doesn't make it any less exciting!
♦  ►► AA WORLD CHAMPIONS ALL
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* * For the individual decisions - as well as for women - no forecasts make sense until the individual current performance profiles from the Tuesday and Wednesday qualification rounds are apparent. Here, too, there will be interesting insights into the performance profiles of young athletes who are preparing to make life difficult for the established. When you look at the starting list, however, it becomes clear:
!! Of the 6 x 3 = 18 medal-decorated Olympians Tokyo 2021, only 3 (!!) decided to participate in these World Championships, who are there: All-around and high bar Olympic Champion Daiki HASHIMOTO, Olympic champion vault and silver medallist on still rings SHIN Yeahwan (KOR) as well as the bronze winner on the horse, Japan's Kazuma KAYA. That is by no means conducive to the actual value of a "W O R L D Championship", which, due to the corona in the European Championship resp. Olympic year, is a further, third high point, hardly represents a meaningful competition load, and the media world will hardly "travel off its feet" ...!
However, the men's competitions shouldn't be uninteresting:
 ♦ FLOOR EXERCISES - ... here, the Olympic ranks 4, 5 and 6 (RYU Sunghyun / KOR, Karim MILAD / KAZ; Yul MOLDAUER / USA) will have to deal with the young surprise world champion from Stuttgart 2019, Carlos Edriel YULO from the Philippines, who surely wants to return the favor for his missed Olympic final chance ...!
♦ POMMEL HORSE - at this apparat the Olympic bronze medallist Kazuma KAYA (JPN) is currently the highest decorated gymnast, who was already third at the Worlds in 2015 (Glasgow), together with the Armenian Harutyun MERDINYAN; otherwise, the Olympic finalists Alec YODER (USA; 6th) and Ireland's Rhys Mc CLENNAGHAN, third in the World Championships from Stuttgart (2019) two years ago, are promising too ...
♦ STILL RINGS - On the rings, the Olympic runner-up SHIN Yaahwan (KOR) is certainly the favorite, surely pressed by the two strong Turkish Olympic finalists Ibrahim COLAK and Adem ASIL and, last but not least, former vice world champion (2018) Artur ZANETTI (BRA), ranking on 8th place only in Tokyo, ...  sure that he want to "prettify" this final result ....

♦ V A U L T  - if anyone wants to become world champion on vault, have to beat Olympic champion SHIN Yeahwan (KOR), which the trio Carlos Edriel YULO (PHI; 4th), Adem ASIL (TUR; 6th) and Ahmet ONDER (TUR; 7th) failed in Tokyo. The "old fighters" who were recently decorated with WCh bronze, such as Igor RADIVILOV (UKR; 3^rd 2019), Yul Moldauer (USA; 3^rd 2017) or Donnell WITTENBURG (USA; 3^rd 2015), are also allowed can still "explode" ...
♦ PARALLEL BARS - With Petro PACHNIUK (UKR) the only one current Olympic finalist competes and has to deal with the vice world champion of Stuttgart 2019 Ahmet ONDER and the WCh bronze medallist Kazuma KAYA (JPN). What the new, young Chinese guard knows how to conjure up in the "bars alley" will only be very intersting in this week...!
♦ H I G H  B A R  - like on the vaulting table, also a Olympic champion competes here: Daiki HASHIMOTO and certainly the Olympic fourth Brody MALONY (USA) want a medal this time. We'll see what the defending champion from Stuttgart Arthur MARIANO can do, and whether the gymnast of the century Kohei UCHIMURA can realize his dream of a victory or a medal again - he already has high bar gold (2015) and also silver (2018), and the Japanese historical gymnastics legend has long been the 6-time all-around world champion and 2-time all-around Olympic champion ...
♦  ►► APP. Individual World Champions All (FX/PH/SR/VT/PB/HB)
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♦♦  R E P O R T S  &  R E S U L T S  // 

- MEN's ALL-AROUND FINAL preview
The leader after the preliminary fight, Japan's Daiki HASHIMOTO, who became the youngest all-around Olympic champion in history two months ago at the age of 19, seems to have preserved his super form since Tokyo: His 88,040 points at the preliminary fight are more than an announcement! Hardly pressed at the Olympics by XIAO, Ruoteng and Russia's Nikita NAGORNI ​​- both also over 88 MK points at the time - these two are not at these Worlds, nor are the 7 other Olympic top ten places of the Olympic final. Whether the two current pursuers - most likely China's ZHANG Boheng or the surprise third in the qualification, Adem ASIL (TUR), can hold a candle to the champion or whether SHI Cong (CHN) or even Illia Kovtun (UKR) in the will be able to intervene in today's World Cup medal match, as will be seen. What was noticeable at this World Cup was that due to the fact that the field was badly thinned two months after the Olympics, only 20 of the finalists came over the 80-point mark! Never before at a World Cup have 77 points been enough to qualify for the final (in 2019 in Stuttgart you had to do more than 81 points for this!).
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!!  * FINAL RESULTS      ►  ... die AA-Qualifiers

  ZHANG, Boheng       (CHN)  - 87,981
  HASHIMOTO, Daiki   (JPN)  - 87,964
  KOVTUN, Illia           (UKR)  - 84,899
      4. MOLDAUER, Yul      (USA)  - 84,365
      5. ONDER, Ahmet        (TUR)  - 84,232
      6.SHI, Cong                 (CHN)  - 84,057
      ...
       ►► Detailed Results
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♦  ►► AA WORLD CHAMPIONS ALL

* Saturday/Sunday Oct 23/24

♦♦ MEN's APPARATUS FINALS

  - FLOOR EXERCISES: Titelholder: Carlos Edriel YULO (PHI)

        > S t a r t l i s t.

  BARTOLINI, Nicola (ITA)  (6.2)=14,800
  MINAMI, Kazuki     (JPN)  (6.5)=14,766
  SORAVUO, Emil     (FIN)   (6.0)=14,700
        ► Detailed Results

* REPORT
The young defending champion Carlos Edriel Yulo (PHI) made a mistake, was only fifth and Nicola BARTOLINI completed the set of Italy'y world championship medals on the floor, which the legend and Olympic champion Franco Menicelli started in 1962 in Prague with silver and 1966 with bronze in Dortmund and is actually Italy's first floor world champion!
With better execution, he even gave Japan's Minami KAZUKI (14.766) no chance, and Finland had never before achieved a WCh medal on floor now by Emil SORAVUO (14.700) ....
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►► FLOOR EXERCISES World Champions ALL
 

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  S T I L L  R I N G S : TitelHOLDER: Ibrahim COLAK (TUR)

 ... of course Ibrahim Colak from Turkey wants to defend his title from Stuttgart 2019! He did not succeed at the Olympics: There he ranked 5^th, but the four better placed in Tokyo  are not there in Kitakyushu, not even the welknown Russian specialists, not Petrounias (GRE), not Zanetti (BRA), but strong Chineses  and also Austria's Vinzenz HOECK sees a real chance for a medal here.

  LAN, Xingyu             (CHN)  - (6.4) = 15,200
  LODADIO, Marco        (ITA)  - (6.3) = 14,866
  MARESCA, Salvatore  (ITA) - (6.2) = 14,833
        KLIMENTEV, Grigorii (RGF)  - (6.2) = 14,833
       5. HOECK, Vinzenz                  (AUT)  - (6.2) = 14,733
       6. COLAK, Ibrahim                  (TUR)  - (6.2) = 14,666
       7. EMARD, William                (CAN)   - (6.0) = 14,533
       8. TULLOCH, Courtney         (GBR)  - (6.2) = 14,200
           ► Detailed Result

* R e p o r t:  After the strong Greek Eleftherios Petrounisa won the title three times, before CHEN Yibing with 4 gold medals between 2006 and 2011 had the ring sovereignty, the current world champion comes from China again: LAN, Xingyu, was third in the 2017 Cottbus tournament,  he won the Asian Games at still rings in 2019, and now he mastered his highest difficulty (6.4) in the best technical execution (E = 8.8) and so he prevented the success of the Italian gymnastics school, which has always produced excellent rings artists since the times of Juri Chechi (4x 1994 - 1997), but since the bronze medal by Matteo Morandi (2010, Rotterdam) no Italian could no longer provide a ring finalist. For this, compatriot Salvatore MARESCA tooks bronze now, together with the Russian Grigorii KLEMENTEV. Austria's Vinzenz HOECK was only a single tenth of a point missing from a longed-for medal at his first World Cup final ...!

►► STILL RINGS World Champions All
 

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   P A R A L L E L   B A R S

> Qualification results;   > S t a r t  l i s t  Day 2
Asian art of parallel bars performances is almost legendary: The 5 best qualifiers come from there: Phillipino Carlos Edriel Yulo has to assert himself against two Chinese, all-around world champion ZHANG Boheng and HU Xuwei - Zhang's only chance at an individual medal and HASHIMOTO is also there, must even be the first of an Asian favorite trio to go to the apparatus, and then Christian Baumann (SUI) who wants to hold up the gymnastics flag of the German-speaking countries, because Lukas Dauser (GER) skipped this Worlds after winning the Olympic silver ...

  HU, Xuwei               (CHN)  (6.6) = 15,466
 YULO, Carlos Edriel  (PHI)   (6.4) = 15,300
  SHI, Cong               (CHN)   (6.0) = 15,466
     4. HASHIMOTO, Daiki        (JPN)   (6.2)    = 15,000
      5. MOLDAUER, Yul            (USA)   (6.4)    = 15,000
      6. KAYA, Kazuma               (JPN)    (6.3)    = 14,900
      7. SOUZA, Caio                  (BRA)  (6.1)    = 14,566
      8. BAUMANN, Christian    (SUI)   (6.2)    = 12,333 
                   ► Detailierte Resultate

* REPORT --- :  Contrary to expectations, no Japanese equipment victory at the home World Championships on the individual events, and the all-around and horizontal bar Olympic champion Daiki Hashimoto had led for so long, but his difficulty of (6.5) exceeded the Chinese HU, Xuwei as the last starter (6.7 ) - who had just made his way on the parallel bars - and passed Japan's hopefuls with an equally good presentation, and thus became the only double world champion at this World Cup. After gold on pommel horse there was also high-bar bronze for the USA by Brody Malone - but like in Tokyo at the Olympic Games, gymnastics legend Kohei Uchimura did not come close to the medal area this time either ...

►► > PARALLEL Bars World Champions ALL

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* TUESDAY / WEDNESDAY,  Oct 19/20:
MEN's Qualification  R E P O R T  ► S t a r t  l i s t;
China's ZHANG Boheng has long led ...
- but than came Japan's Olympic champion Daiki HASHIMOTO!

* On the first day, China's ZHANG Boheng, who surprisingly was not nominated for Tokyo 2020 Olympics despite his victory in the last Chinese national pre-Olympic qualification, presented with 87.897 points. Until Japan's Olympic champion and new star Daiki HASHIMOTO took the lead with an irresistible 88.040 points. Everything looks like this coming Friday after a duel between these two young athletes who are about to become the stars of the new Olympic cycle. From the rising nation of Turkey, Adem ASIL as third (84.430) and Illia Kovtun (UKR; 83.565) try to keep Europe connected, but:
* On the six apparatus, 5 of the 6 best athletes come from Asia!
- 2-times Edriel Yulo CARLOS (Philippines), 2 China and 1x Hashimoto each for Japan and Nazar Chipurnyi from the Ukraine. But everything is still open there, because 5 of the second-placed are also Asians, who are joined by Stephan Nedoroszik from the USA on the pommel horse, behind whom his compatriot Alec Yoder is one of only 3 non-Asian third-placed finishers on the pommel horse - so here too half gymnasts from Asia! On the high bar you should certainly expect the Japanese gymnastics legend Kohei Uchimura, who will finish his last world championship at home with a medal if possible. Unfortunately, he did not succeed in doing thisat the Olympics in Tokyo.
Europe remains one medal hope on the still rings through the only one (!) Russian finalist (Grigori Klementiev) and Milad Karimi (KAZ), who still has hopes on the floor exerciese as fourth, in the last group perhaps through Austria's rings ace Vinzenz Höck, who was the very last gymnast to finish the last round!
In the German-speaking world, a maximum of only 2 final places remain at this World Championships:
- by the Swiss Christian Baumann (7th parallel bars) and in the last group on the rings even by the Austrian Vinzenz Höck with medal hopefuls (3rd), because the Chemnitz-based German Andreas Bretschneider missed his third entry in a tenth at the end of his international career World Cup high bar finals conceivably just under -0.1 points.

* Tuesday/Wednesday, Oct, 19./20:
!!    Men's Qualification: Final Standing
► MEN's All-around
► Floor exercises;        ► Pommel horse;  ► Still rings;
► Vault (2); > Vault (1); ► Parallel bars;     ► High bar              

* ... next Event:

* SAT, Oct 23:  APP. FINALS, Part  I (Floor, Pommel, Rings)
* SUN, Oct 24: APP. FINALS, Part II  (Vault, P.bars, H.bar)
  ► 41^st WOMEN's Worlds