Team Japan

A star-studded Japanese team easily defeated the rest of the field in the mixed cup final at the DTB Pokal event in Stuttgart yesterday, led by a 14.9 on high bar from reigning world all-around champion Hashimoto Daiki.

The mixed cup event featured four teams of six – three WAG athletes and three MAG athletes per team – competing in three qualification rounds before being bracketed into two final groups. Japan ended up with an easy lead in qualifications, with the MAG athletes excelling across pommel horse, vault, and parallel bars, while the WAG athletes struggled a bit, but still managed to keep the program ahead by two points with a 161.081 total.

On the MAG side, Hashimoto put up a 14.3 on pommels, Doi Ryosuke nailed vault for a 14.8 and earned a 13.5 on parallel bars, and Hasegawa Tsuyoshi competed consistently in all three rounds, getting a 13.55 on pommels, a 14.25 on vault, and a 14.65 on parallel bars. The women started on vault with a 13.233 from reigning world beam champion Watanabe Hazuki, who also earned a 13.766 on beam in the second round, while her 2022 worlds teammate Yamada Chiharu put up a 12.7 on floor, and the relatively unknown Yamamoto Nanami, who finished sixth all-around in the team challenge competition, earned a 12.166 on vault, an 11.7 on beam, and a 12.466 on floor in her international debut.

Germany, the host team, also qualified into the gold final with a 159.030, while the United States was seeded into the bronze final with a 157.330 along with Brazil with a 147.781.

The WAG team for Germany got off to a great start on vault, including a 13.566 from Sarah Voss and a 13.466 from Elizabeth Seitz, who both went on to compete on bars, where Voss earned a 12.833 and Seitz picked up a 14.633, the highest WAG score of the preliminary competition. In the third round, the Germans competed on floor, where Voss put up a 12.666 while Anna-Lena König earned a 12.966 for her sole apparatus of the competition. The MAG athletes started off well on floor with a 13.3 from Pascal Brendel and a 13.55 from Milan Hosseini, though scores were relatively low on vault with a 13.75 from Hosseini and a 13.0 from Andreas Toba, and they finished on high bar with a 13.2 from Brendel and a 12.1 from Toba, not an ideal round, but enough to sneak them into the top final.

We saw some talented “B team” athletes representing the U.S. team for both WAG and MAG. Elle Mueller competed in all three rounds with a 14.033 on bars, an 11.466 on beam, and a 13.266 on floor, while Nola Matthews had a fall on bars to earn a 12.366 but came back for a solid beam set to earn a 13.066, and Addison Fatta competed on floor, posting a 12.833. Jeremy Bischoff proved to be a standout for the men, putting up a 14.55 on parallel bars and a 13.45 on high bar, while Isaiah Drake was excellent on his sole event with a 14.3 on vault, and Landen Blixt contributed across the board with a 13.05 on vault, a 13.2 on parallel bars, and an 11.75 on high bar.

Finally, a Brazilian team with a mix of some young athletes and veterans on both sides got lucky that only four teams competed in prelims and was therefore guaranteed a spot in the final. The squad finished 10 points behind the rest of the field after some struggles, including a disastrous 8.7 on floor from first-year senior Josiany Calixto in the third round of competition. She fared a bit better on bars with an 11.433 and on beam with a 12.266, while Luisa Maia earned an 11.466 on beam, and Carolyne Pedro led the women with a 12.633 on bars and a 12.233 on floor. Yuri Guimarães was the standout for the men with a 13.2 on floor, 13.65 on parallel bars, and 13.5 on high bar, but I was also very impressed with Tomas Florencio, who earned a 13.2 on parallel bars and a 13.65 on high bar, and we also saw Josue Heliodoro compete floor, adding an 11.85 to the team’s total.

The final was a bit funny, as Brazil was able to truly turn things around while the Germans were the ones to come up a bit short, though despite posting the lowest team score across all four programs, Germany was still guaranteed the silver medal behind Japan, showing the importance of finishing among the top two teams in prelims.

Japan again had the top score to win the gold with a 55.833 total, with the women competing on bars to count a 13.5 from Yamada and a 12.833 from Watanabe while the men put up Hashimoto and Doi on high bar, earning scores of 14.9 and 14.6, respectively.

Going up directly against the Germans, the winners earned gold by more than three points, as the host team had to finish on beam and pommels, which doesn’t seem like the greatest strategy for this kind of competition…though again, as they fed into the top final, the Germans could have fallen 10 times and still wound up with silver. While it was the weakest round of competition in finals, it wasn’t necessarily bad, with Voss strong on beam for a 13.233 while Seitz managed a 12.5, and both Brendel and Toba did well enough on pommels, putting up scores of 13.5 and 13.35 to bring the team to a 52.583 total.

In the bronze final, the Brazilians kind of shockingly ended up with the medal, saving the best for last – vault for both WAG and MAG – to upset the U.S. team by just over a tenth. Maia and Pedro both performed Yurchenko fulls for scores of 13.166 and 13.066, while Heliodoro and Guimarães earned scores of 14.25 and 14.15 on the same apparatus, helping the team reach a 54.632 to secure the medal ahead of the U.S. with a 54.466.

The U.S. women also saved vault for last, banking on big scores from Fatta, who earned a 13.9 for her Yurchenko double, and from Mueller, who earned a 13.666 for her Yurchenko 1½. The U.S. women were more than a point ahead of the Brazilian women, but the U.S. men went up on floor in the final and while it went pretty well, they weren’t able to match what the Brazilian men could do on vault, with Bischoff earning a 13.85 and Blixt earning a 13.05.

I love these kind of team strategy meets where the choices made along the way matter just as much as – if not more than – the scores, and it was great to see Brazil fully bounce back from an abysmal deficit.

Full results from the mixed cup are available here.

Article by Lauren Hopkins