Sunisa Lee

After announcing the American Cup roster last week, the FIG has shared the names of the gymnasts expected to compete at the Stuttgart World Cup, the second of four all-around world cups that will determine three non-nominative Olympic berths.

The rankings determined in Stuttgart, and by each of the world cups in the four-part series, will be assigned point values, and the three federations with the highest number of combined points at the conclusion of the series will determine the overall series winners, thus earning individual berths for Tokyo. Last year, the United States, Canada, and Japan topped the women’s rankings, while the United States, Russia, and China took the lead for the men.

Angelina Melnikova of Russia and Sunisa Lee of the United States, two of the most-decorated women at last year’s world championships, headline a women’s field that includes Olympians Elisabeth Seitz and Kim Bui of Germany, Asuka Teramoto of Japan, and Senna Deriks of Belgium.

The field also features tons of rising talent, including world silver medalist Ana Padurariu of Canada, world bronze medalist Asia D’Amato of Italy, world bronze medalist Kelly Simm of Great Britain, Aline Friess of France, Alba Petisco of Spain,  Tisha Volleman of the Netherlands, and Wei Xiaoyuan of China, who will make her senior debut here.

Unlike the American Cup, which saw Belgium and the Netherlands turn down invitations, none of the top 12 teams from last year’s world championships opted to withdraw spots here, and while it won’t be likely for teams to qualify if they don’t attend all four world cups, I think the competitions are still an incredible opportunity for all-arounders to get experience going into the Olympic Games.

On the men’s side, Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine, David Belyavskiy of Russia, and Lin Chaopan of China are the big names to keep an eye on. All are Olympic medalists with multiple world championships appearances and medals under their belts, including all-around bronze for Verniaiev, team gold for Belyavskiy, and team silver for Lin last year.

As with the women’s field, the men’s will also feature some of the world’s most respected international talents, including Nestor Abad of Spain, Pablo Brägger of Switzerland, Lukas Dauser of Germany, James Hall of Great Britain, Kazuma Kaya of Japan, Yul Moldauer of the United States, Caio Souza of Brazil, Tang Chia-Hung of Chinese Taipei, and Andreas Toba of Germany.

South Korea turned down an invitation on the men’s side, as the country also did for the American Cup, and also as with the American Cup, the final entry for the men’s field is still to be confirmed.

The Stuttgart World Cup will be held in mid March, with the men’s all-around held on the 21st while the women will compete on the 22nd.

Held alongside the world cup is the fan-favorite ENBW DTB-Pokal Team Challenge, hosted March 20-22, where several of the world’s strongest programs will send teams which compete in a preliminary qualification performance that decides the top four teams to reach the final where they’ll vie for team medals. This year, the women’s field will include Germany, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, and Turkey, and the men’s field will include Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United States.

Article by Lauren Hopkins