Croatian gymnast Ana Derek, above, hopes to wind up on the floor podium at this year’s Osijek Challenge Cup.
Just a week after the Koper Challenge Cup in Slovenia, which we talked about last week, the second challenge cup of the season will be held in neighboring Croatia, as Osijek will host gymnasts from 31 countries vying for medals and prizes in this apparatus final competition.
Many of those will tackle both events, with the Brazilians most notably doing so. 2016 Olympians Flavia Saraiva and Rebeca Andrade have major medal potential, and first-year senior Thais Fidelis can do big things on beam, so they’ll be ones to watch once again.
Also on the roster is 2017 European all-around silver medalist Zsofia Kovacs, her 2017 European vault bronze medalist teammate Boglarka Devai, and two-time Olympian Dorina Böczögö, making for quite the contingent from the Hungarian federation. 2016 Olympian Teja Belak of Slovenia and her teammate Tjasa Kysselef are big medal threats on vault, two-time 2016 European junior gold medalist Anastasia Iliankova of Russia is hoping to top the podium on bars, Diana Varinska of Ukraine, who won gold on bars at the Baku World Cup in March, is also hoping to add another international bars medal to her collection after missing the final at Euros, and two young British gymnasts — first-year Welsh senior Latalia Bevan and 2017 British beam champion Phoebe Turner (who is training a layout stepout mount straight into two more layout stepouts!) — will also get some world stage experience under their belts as they hope to add to their country’s depth this quad.
We’ll also get Laura Jurca of Romania back in major international competition for the first time since worlds in 2015. She’s done a few low-key meets since then, including some of Germany’s Bundesliga meets late in 2016, and then a small meet in France a couple of months ago, but Osijek will mark her return to the global stage and I can’t wait to see how she looks. She’ll compete alongside the promising Ioana Crisan, who did a decent job in Cluj last month (especially on bars!), though a struggle on beam kept her from finishing in the top eight all-around.
From the host country, 2016 Olympian Ana Derek will compete beam and floor, and with a hit routine, she could absolutely wind up on the podium on either event, though floor is more likely. Derek won the bronze on floor at Doha in March, and would’ve qualified for the floor final at Euros after an incredible start to her routine, but she crashed her final pass, so we’ll definitely see her at her best here, making up for the unfortunate error in Cluj.
Robert Seligman and Tin Srbic are both medal hopefuls for the host country on the men’s side, and the Brazilians — Francisco Barretto Jr., Lucas Bitencourt, and Arthur Zanetti — should also be in the mix, just like they’ll be in Koper. Also keep an eye on Jossimar Calvo of Colombia, Krisztian Berki of Hungary on pommels, Andrey Medvedev of Israel on vault, the talented Lithuanians Tomas Kuzmickas and Robert Tvorogal, Dmitrii Lankin of Russia, pretty much all of the Slovenians, and Bart Duerloo of the Netherlands on high bar.
A full list of competitors is below. The challenge cup will begin in Osijek on May 18.
AUSTRIA | |
Alexander Benda Xheni Dyrmishi Vinzenz Höck Matthias Schwab |
Bianca Frysak Jasmin Mader Marlies Männersdorfer |
BELARUS | |
Dzianis Sanuvonh Yahor Sharamkou Ilya Yakauleu |
|
BELGIUM | |
Maxime Gentges | |
BRAZIL | |
Francisco Barretto, Jr. Lucas Bitencourt Arthur Zanetti |
Rebeca Andrade Thais Fidelis Flavia Saraiva |
BULGARIA | |
Martin Angelov Dimitar Dimitrov |
Greta Banishka |
COLOMBIA | |
Jossimar Calvo | |
CROATIA | |
Anton Kovacevic Leonardo Kusan Robert Seligman Tin Srbic |
Ana Derek Ema Kajic Ana Poscic Tijana Tkalcec |
CZECH REPUBLIC | |
Veronika Cenkova | |
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | |
Audrys Nin Reyes | |
FINLAND | |
Juho Kanerva Heikki Saarenketo Markku Vahtila Sakari Vekki |
|
GERMANY | |
Lucas Herrmann Christopher Jursch Leonard Prügel |
|
GREAT BRITAIN | |
Latalia Bevan Phoebe Turner |
|
HONG KONG | |
Man Hin Jim | Chan Tsz Sum Cheung Ho Yat |
HUNGARY | |
Adam Babos Krisztian Berki Krisztian Boncser Botond Kardos David Schweigert David Vecsernyes |
Dorina Böczögö Boglarka Devai Zsofia Kovacs |
IRELAND | |
Rhys McClenaghan Andrew Smith |
|
ISRAEL | |
Artem Dolgopyat Eyal Glazer Andrey Medvedev Moran Yanuka |
Tzuf Feldon Gaya Giladi Ofir Kremer Ofir Netzer |
ITALY | |
Ludovico Edalli Roberto Marzocchi Paolo Negro |
|
KAZAKHSTAN | |
Vyacheslav Kim Nariman Kurbanov |
|
LITHUANIA | |
Tomas Kuzmickas Robert Tvorogal |
|
NETHERLANDS | |
Bart Deurloo Boudewijn de Vries Frank Rijken Bram Verhofstad |
|
NORWAY | |
Odin Kalvø Nikolai Rønbeck Stian Skjerahaug |
|
POLAND | |
Jacek Pozowski Filip Sasnal |
Gabriela Janik |
PORTUGAL | |
Simao Almeida Vasco Barata Francisco Fragoso |
|
ROMANIA | |
Ioana Crisan Laura Jurca |
|
RUSSIA | |
Dmitrii Lankin Vladislav Poliashov Kirill Potapov Kirill Prokopev |
Lilia Akhaimova Anastasia Iliankova Elizaveta Kochetkova |
SERBIA | |
Bojan Dejanovic Dusan Dordevic Nikola Jurkovic Milos Paunovic Petar Vefic Petar Velickovic |
|
SLOVAKIA | |
Slavomir Michnak | Barbora Mokosova |
SLOVENIA | |
Saso Bertoncelj Alen Dimic Rok Klavora Jure Pavlica Ziga Silc |
Teja Belak Tjasa Kysselef Lucija Hribar Adela Sajn |
SOUTH AFRICA | |
Tylah Lotter Angela Maguire Bianca Mann |
|
UKRAINE | |
Vladyslav Hryko Oleksandr Petrenko Roman Shkliarenko |
Anastasiia Budiashkina Diana Varinska |
VENEZUELA | |
Jostyn Fuenmayor Jose Luis Fuentes |
Wait, Russia is not sending Melnikova? 😀 Haha jeeez, hope she gets some time off finally 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like that they’re giving the top girls a break and are actually sending slightly lower-level gymnasts to get a chance. They’ll need those girls when everyone’s injured in the future!
LikeLike
I thought Seda Tutkhalyan would compete (I read this in a Russian stuff, I can’t remember where). So, at the end, she is not announced ?
LikeLike
I read she is still injured, idk if it’s true though.
LikeLike
Any news on 2017 Chinese Natonals?
LikeLike
I haven’t seen anything yet, aside from some training pictures on Suho. No lists or anything with who’s competing.
LikeLike
Thank you Lauren! =)
LikeLike
Just found out QFs start the 5th for MAG and the 6th for WAG, AA finals the 7th, EFs the 8th-9th. Big names for WAG include Fan Yilin, Mao Yi, Huang Huidan, Tan Jiaxin, Shang Chunsong, and Liu Tingting.
LikeLike
Still no Wang Yan? Any word on the severity of her injury?
LikeLike
Yes Laura Jurca! Glad GB is sending some new faces too. Any word on Georgia-Mae or Becky injuries do you know?
LikeLike
Becky has torn a ligament and was scheduled to get it checked out.
LikeLike
Nice to see Romania sending Crisan to places. Excited for Jurca too! Also stoked to see Akhaimova of Russia. Hope Varinska can get it together and win bars here, her performance at Euros worries me. Thought she could have challenged for bronze had she not had a disastrous qualifications.
LikeLike
I’m also REALLY excited to see the Hungarians, Devai & Kovacs did amazing at Cluj.
LikeLike
Actually, Carina Kröll and Amelie Föllinger are expected to attend, too. Or did they get pulled? :O
LikeLike
I believe they’ll be at Koper, not Osijek.
LikeLike