This World Cup was an emotional roller coaster ride for Germany’s gymnasts. SWR reporter Philipp Sohmer looks back.
The three Elisabeth Seitz suffered serious injuriesEmma Malewski and Andreas Toba were effective hits. The men’s team was able to compensate for the loss of veteran Toba thanks to a stable team structure that national coach Valeri Belenki established in his three years as boss. Despite the lack of talent that also exists in men’s gymnastics, he had athletes up his sleeve who could almost replace Toba in terms of sport. Belenki immediately realized that Toba could not be replaced for team chemistry and quickly made him an additional assistant coach for the World Cup.
With great team spirit and a strong coaching team The German gymnasts surprised with sixth placethe best placement for a German men’s team in twelve years. That gives hope for the Olympics and the time afterwards. In addition, Lukas Dauser won the first World Cup title for the German men in 16 years. The 30-year-old parallel bars world champion achieved this success with meticulous and arduous hard work and fought his way to the top despite injury problems and motivational difficulties.
Dauser benefits from a strong team
But Dauser also benefited from a strong team, which he found in Halle with his home trainer Hubert Brylok and in the national team. The success story among men stands the failure of women to qualify for the Olympics opposite. The injuries to the two European champions from Munich, Elisabeth Seitz and Emma Malewskiwere too much for national coach Gerben Wiersma’s team. The two quota places for Pauline Schäfer-Betz and Sarah Voss relieve the pain, but present Germany’s gymnasts with major challenges.
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Germany only has one additional starting place for the games in Paris. Next year, the injured and the talented, such as the highly gifted Stuttgarter Helen Kevric, will fight for him. For many young gymnasts, the great motivation of the Olympics is far away. That doesn’t make the construction work that needs to be done now any easier.
World leadership has slipped away from German women
But it can also be an additional motivation to perform. The World Cup showed that world leadership has slipped away from German women, not just in the team. An apparatus final was reached, but no one had a real chance of winning a medal. Even Elisabetz Seitz or Emma Malewski would have had no chance against the extremely difficult competition. Does the training design need to be improved? Is the focus on all-rounders who do all four gymnastics devices still the right way or can focusing on special devices also be an alternative? Do we need new impulses from outside? The German Gymnastics Federation must now question itself and make the right decisions.
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