Spring season begins in Cottbus

Tomas Gonzalez (CHI)

The World Cup circuit moves to Cottbus, Germany, after the first all around competition of the season  in New York (American Cup).  Cottbus is an individual apparatus Challenger Cup with a maximum of two gymnasts from each country allowed to compete on the same apparatus. It is also one of the few World Cups that continues to feature the original event finals format, with eight gymnasts advancing to finals on each apparatus.

This year, Cottbus marks the beginning of the spring season that will culiminate with the European Championships in May, followed by the big event of the year, the Summer Olympics in July. Several Olympic qualifiers will  test their routines in Cottbus, with the Dutch gymnasts having special pressure at the competition. With the early nomination to the Olympics of Epke Zonderland ruled invalid, Zonderland and Jeffrey Wammes will now have to meet federation requirements during the World Cup circuit and European Championships. In a similar situtation are the Dutch women Celine Van Gerner and Wyomi Masela. Following Wammes’ lead, Van Gerner is now challenging the early nomination of Masela in court.

For those already qualified to London, Cottbus will be their first opportunity to know how their routines are received by international judges, and to see what their rivals are doing. Olympic qualifiers including Federico Molinari (ARG; rings), Tomás González (CHI; floor/vault), Roman Kulesza (POL; parallel bars/high bar), Arthur Zanetti (BRA; rings), Samuel Piasecky (SLO; parallel bars), Kristian Berki (HUN; pommel horse), Vlasios Maras (GRE; high bar), Alexander Shatilov (ISR; floor) will try to build up confidence and good results for the rest of the season. On the women’s side Vasiliki Millousi (GRE) will have a chance to medal on beam, as weill Israel’sValeria Maksyuta, although her best apparatus is vault.

For those gymnasts who are part of full teams qualified to the Olympics, this will be a good opportunity to show readiness. Great Britain travels to Cottbus with four Olympic candidates, two youngsters (Sam Oldham and Max Whitlock) and two veterans (Daniel Keatings and Ruslan Pantelyomonov). Ukraine is using a similar strategy by sending young Oleg Stepko and 2008 Olympic rings medalist Oleksandr Vorobyov.Vorobyov’s performance is important to Ukraine since their weakest apparatus as a team is rings.

Cottbus will also mark the return to international competition of Cheng Fei; the powerful gymnast will be a huge help for the Chinese team medal aspirations in London if she has a successful comeback. Also from China is uneven bars specialist He Kexin, who will try to redeem herself after a disastrous 2011. Germany’s hopes are in Elisabeth Seitz  on bars and Oksana Chusovitina on vault, while the men will be represented by Marcel Nguyen and Philipp Boy. Seitz and Boy are returning to competition after withdrawing from the American Cup due to injuries. France is also using this competition to give experience to potential Olympians like Samir Aid Sait, a powerful vault and rings gymnast.

Not only Olympic qualifiers are ready to shine in Cottbus. Men specialists who failed to qualify to the Olympics see the World Cup as a way to gain consistency and money: Greece with Lefteris Kosmidis (floor) and Eleftherios Petrounias (rings); Croatia with Marijo Moznik (high bar), Tomislav Markovic (floor), and Robert Seligman (pommel horse); Slovenia with Mitja Petkovsek (parallel bars), Saso Bertoncelj (pommel horse), and Alen Dimic (high bar). The field also includes Isaac Botella (vault/floor) and Ana María Izurieta (beam) from Spain and Tomi Tuuha (vault) from Finalnd.

Official site

Schedule

Thursday, 22 March
15:00-19:30h Qualifications 1

Friday, 23 March
15:00-19:30h Qualifications 2

Saturday, 24 March
14:00-17:00h Event Finals Day 1

Sunday, 25 March
14:00-17:00h Event Finals Day 2

Participants

Argentina
MAG: Federico Molinari, Juan Manuel Lompizano, Juan Sebastian Melchiori, Matias Silva, Nicolas Cordoba, Osvaldo Martinez Erazun

Austria
MAG: Fabian Leimlehner, Lukas Kranzlmueller, Marco Baldauf, Matthias Schwa
WAG: Elisa Hämmerle, Jasmin Mader, Katharina Fa

Azerbaijan
MAG: Shakir Shikhaliyev

Belgium
MAG: Jimmy Verbaeys, Jonas Toeback, Kristof Schroe, Thomas Neuteleers

Belarus
MAG: Aliaksandr Tsarevich, Andrey Likhovitskiy, Dzmitry Kaspiarovich
WAG: Nastassia Marachkouskaya, Volha Makhautsova

Brazil
MAG: Arthur Mariano, Arthur Zanetti
WAG:  Bruna Leal

Canada
WAG: Dominique Pegg, Brittany Rogers

Chile
MAG: Tomás González
WAG: Bárbara Achondo, Melany Cabrera

China
MAG: Xiao Qin, Zhou Shixiong, Luo Xuan, Chen Yibing
WAG: Cheng Fei, He Kexin, Wu Liufang, Zeng Siqi

Croatia
MAG: Tomislav Markovic, Filipe Ude, Robert Seligman, Marijo Moznik
WAG: Tijana Tkalcec, Ema Kajic

Egypt
MAG: Ashraf Nashaat Mostafa, Mohamed Mohamed Hany, Tarek Hamdy Hassan Shalaby
WAG: Fadwa Mohamed Abdellatif Mahmoud, Nancy Mohamed Taman, Sohyla Hisham Sobhy Hassan

Spain
MAG: Cristian Bazán, Isaac Botella, Ignacio Losantos, Néstor Abad
WAG: Claudia Menéndez, Ana María Izurieta, María Paula Vargas, Beatriz Cuesta

Finland
MAG: Tomi Tuuha, Juho Kanerva, Henrik Petterson
WAG: Anna Erika Pakkala

France
MAG: Cyril Vieu, Hamilton Sabot, Samir Ait Said
WAG: Anne Kuhm, Camille Coudret, Clara Della Vedova

Great Britain
MAG: Daniel Keatings, Max Whitlock, Ruslan Panteleymonov, Sam Oldham

Georgia
MAG: Paata Nozadze, Shalva Dalakishvili

Germany
MAG: Helge Liebrich, Marcel Nguyen, Matthias Fahrig, Philipp Boy, Sebastian Krimmer, Thomas Taranu
WAG: Elisabeth Seitz, Kim Bui, Oksana Chusovitina, Pia Tolle

Greece
MAG: Eleftherios Kosmidis, Eleftherios Petrounias, Vasileios Tsolakidis, Vlasios Maras
WAG: Vasiliki Millousi

Hungary
MAG: Krisztian Berki, Vid Hidvegi
WAG: Hajnalka Lonai, Laura Gombas

Ireland
MAG: Anthony O’Donnell, Christopher O’Conner, Geoff Rellis, Luke Carson
WAG: Emma Lunn, Sophie McCoo

Israel
MAG: Alexander Shatilov, Kfir Weis
WAG: Valeria Maksyuta, Nofar Cohen

Kazahstan
MAG: Maxim Petrishko, Stephan Gorbachev
WAG: Moldir Azimbay

Luxembourg
MAG: Sascha Palgen

The Netherlands
MAG: Anthony Van Assche, Bart Deurloo, Epke Zonderland, Jeffrey Wammes, Kas Van Weelden, Yuri Van Gelder
WAG: Celine Van Gerner, Wyomi Masela

Norway
MAG: Lars Planke, Marcus Conradi, Marius Haaverstad, Stian Skjerahaug
WAG: Tina Larsen, Silje Dahlby

Poland
MAG: Adam Kierzkowski, Adam Rzepa, Dariusz Pisarek, Marek Lyszczarz, Roman Kulesza
WAG: Marta Pihan-Kulesza, Monika Frandofert

Portugal
MAG: Simao Almeida, Gustavo Simoes, Bernardo Graça
WAG: Filipa Martins, Ekaterina Kislinskaya

Romania
MAG: Andrei Muntean, Andrei Ursache
WAG: Diana Chelaru, Raluca Haidu, Gabriela Dragoi

Slovenia
MAG: Alen Dimic, Mitja Petkovsek, Rok Klavora, Saso Bertoncelj, Ziga Britovsek, Ziga Silc
WAG: Adela Sajn, Ivana Kamnikar

Slovakia
MAG: Samuel Piasecky, Slavomir Michnak

Switzerland
MAG: Manuel Rickly, Marco Rizzo, Nils Haller, Claudio Capelli

Sweden
MAG: Mans Stenberg, Toni Simonen

Tunisia
MAG: Wajdi Bouallegue

Ukraine
MAG: Igor Radivilov, Oleg Stepko, Oleksandre Vorobiov, Vitalii Nakonechnyi
WAG: Irina Romanchuk, Kristyna Sankova, Nataliya Kononenko

United States
MAG: Jesse Silverstein, John Orozco, Paul Ruggeri III

Uzbekistan
MAG: Daulet Narmetov, Otabek Masharipov, Ruslan Irgashev
WAG: Asal Saparbaeva, Daria Elizarova, Luiza Galiulina

from: http://the-all-around.com/2012/03/20/spring-season-begins-in-cottbus-2/