Veteran Andreas Toba from Hanover won the first qualification for the World Gymnastics Championships in just over four weeks in Antwerp. The 32-year-old former European Championship second on high bar scored 81.150 points in the all-around in Kienbaum, Brandenburg.
Just behind him was Nils Dunkel from Halle/Saale with 81,000 points. After a long injury break due to a torn muscle bundle in his shoulder, Lukas Dauser made his all-around comeback. The Olympic and World Championships runner-up on parallel bars scored 76,700 points in the six-way event consisting of floor, parallel bars, high bar, vault, horse and wrestling.
National coach Balenki confident
The German all-around champion Pascal Brendel from Wetzlar had to forego a start due to illness, but is scheduled to compete in the final elimination for the World Championships (September 30th to October 8th) in Heidelberg on September 9th.
“Andreas Toba and Nils Dunkel completed flawless competitions. Lukas Dauser’s competition was also good, it can happen that he made mistakes on parallel bars,” said national coach Valeri Belenki. He is confident that his gymnasts will improve on the way to the World Championships.
One day before the men, the German record champion Elisabeth Seitz from Stuttgart won the first women’s World Cup qualification in Frankfurt/Main.