The senior German women will take to the floor on Saturday June 25 for the first day of their national championships, one of the final determining competitions for those who will be considered for this year’s Olympic team.

All of those who helped the team qualify to the Games at the Test Event in April will compete, including Elisabeth Seitz, Pauline Schäfer, Sophie Scheder, Leah Griesser, Tabea Alt, and Pauline Tratz, as will the recently returned Kim Bui, who spent the past year out due to injury but has been killing it in competition both domestic and abroad, including at last week’s European Championships.

Bui will challenge the “three Hambüchens” – Seitz, Schäfer, and Scheder – and the first-year senior Alt for the all-around title, and will also hope to make an impression with her big bars set and consistent work on beam and floor during the all-around as well as in event finals on Sunday. Alt is also great on bars, though she’ll want to stand out most on vault with her DTY and beam with her big difficulty, while Seitz and Scheder should put up world-class work on bars and Schäfer, who won a beam medal at worlds last year, is expected to do big things on that event in addition to vault.

The country also has great peripheral gymnasts hoping to sneak onto the Olympic team, including Griesser with her gorgeous floor, Sarah Voss with a DTY and big tumbling, Pauline Tratz with great work on vault, and several young first-year seniors like Maike Enderle, Amélie Föllinger, Carina Kröll, and Lina Philipp will also hope to put in a last-minute bid for Olympic consideration as well.

Noticeably missing is Lisa-Katharina Hill, who has made several worlds appearances this quad and is most known for her big bars performances though she has tended to struggle with consistency. Hill hasn’t retired, but she also hasn’t competed yet in 2016. While she was initially listed as one in the mix for Bundesliga last month, she withdrew in order to focus on her studies, so it’s possible the 23-year-old just has other things to focus on at the moment. Also missing is 2012 Olympian Janine Berger, who also hasn’t retired, but has said she isn’t yet mentally ready to be back on the competition floor after dealing with multiple injuries this quad. She’s not sure what the future will hold for her career in the sport, though she refuses to quit training until she figures it out.

The full list of competitors is below. The 2016 German Championships will be held at Sporthalle Hamburg from June 25-26. For more information, check out our coverage guide.

Full Competitor List

Article by Lauren Hopkins