Elisabeth Seitz

Three-time Olympian and world bronze medalist Elisabeth Seitz once again broke her own record for the most German national all-around titles in history, winning her ninth gold medal at the age of 29.

Seitz, who won her first all-around title in 2010 and then continued to win three more times in a row, skipped the all-around competition last year following her post-Olympics hiatus, last won in 2021. She brought her all-around program back for the first time late last year, finishing with the highest all-around score to help her team take the title in the Bundesliga finals, and then competed all four events once more at the first Bundesliga competition of this season, again leading in the all-around.

This weekend’s performance was just her third all-around competition since Tokyo, and she was about as solid as she could be. Starting on vault, Seitz performed a clean and powerful Yurchenko full for a 13.55, and then she continued to bars, where her handstands were a little off throughout, but her skills looked great, including the Chow to Ricna, straddle Jaeger, Church to Pak, van Leeuwen, toe full, and full-in dismount, earning a 13.9.

On beam, Seitz earned a 12.55, hitting her switch leap mount, punch front, and back handspring to back pike series at the start without any major problems. She also hit a side somi with a big wobble but a nice save, a slightly shaky double spin, a jump series with a slight check, a solid side aerial, and a strong front layout full dismount. Finishing on floor, Seitz performed a 1.5 through to double tuck with a great landing, a solid front tuck through to double full, a textbook tour jeté half and split jump full to stag ring half, a double pike with the tiniest bounce back, and a switch leap to switch half, earning a 12.7 to wrap up her wildly successful day.

Emma Malewski was only six tenths behind Seitz to take the silver with an excellent day of her own. Her Yurchenko full was a bit weak in the air, earning a 13.05, and she seemed a little rushed on bars, though counted a hit there with a piked Jaeger, Pak, toe-on to toe full, van Leeuwen, and double front for a 13.1. On beam, she earned the highest score of the day with a 13.35, with her layout stepout mount, side aerial to back handspring, and front aerial to split jump the highlights, and while her floor difficulty isn’t massive, her routine was a highlight with innovative choreography and an emotive performance that pulled me in. Her double tuck was clean, and there were only minor form deductions elsewhere, but overall her routine was fantastic, earning a 12.6 to help her to a 52.100 total.

Taking the bronze was Pauline Schäfer with a 50.850 in her first all-around performance since the Olympic Games. Unfortunately, Schäfer had a fall on her eponymous skill on beam, and she actually looked a bit nervous on the apparatus in general, but she still managed one of the highest scores of the day with a 12.75. Her handspring front tuck half on vault had a big hop back but was powerful and super clean in the air to earn a 12.9, she looked mostly solid on bars to earn a 13.25, and on floor, she hit a double front, front double full, and double pike with a deep landing and a hop back. She had some struggles with her turns, including a full Y turn and a quad spin to double spin, and she only earned an 11.95 for this routine, but I’d say it was still a big success as the double pike was the first double back she’s been able to do on floor since 2018!

Rounding out the top eight were Lea Marie Quaas in fourth with a 50.750, Anna-Lena König in fifth with a 49.100, Salina Bousmayo in sixth with a 49.050, Jessica Schlegel in seventh with a 48.300, and Janoah Müller in eighth with a 47.450.

Quaas had a mostly great day, especially on vault with a 13.05 and floor with a 13.15, showing how she could potentially be an asset with Sarah Voss currently out due to injury. She unfortunately grabbed the beam on her cross split jump half, keeping her from being able to take advantage of Schäfer’s fall, but overall it was one of her better all-around performances.

I also enjoyed König on floor, especially with her super high double tuck in the first pass to earn a 12.8, while Bousmayo was a standout competitor on beam, hitting a punch front mount, lovely triple wolf turn, back handspring to layout stepout, punch front, sissone to wolf jump, side aerial, and double tuck with a small hop for a 12.65.

In addition to the all-around competition, we were also treated to the returns of two major program stars, including Olympic medalist Sophie Scheder, back for the first time in a year, and Emelie Petz, who got a jump start at a Bundesliga meet a week ago before showing up at nationals for her first major competition since 2021.

Scheder was naturally stunning on bars and also put together some nice work on beam, earning scores of 13.65 (with a tenth of bonus included) and 12.9 respectively, while Petz looked promising on both. Her bars started out really well with a toe full to van Leeuwen and a Piked Jaeger, but in the second half of her routine, she seemed to lose stamina, hitting a really short bail out of a Maloney, and then struggling when connecting to the toe shoot, with her handstand out of it only making it up halfway and affecting her giant. But on beam, she showed some solid skills and a nice fight when she had wobbles, and I’m hoping she can continue building on what she had here, as I’d love to see her get back to international strength.

In the apparatus finals, Mia Neumann showed the strongest combination of vaults to earn a 12.316, just managing to upset Karina Schönmaier, who took the silver with a 12.3 average after falling on her second vault, while Bousayo won bronze an even tinier margin behind Schönmaier with a 12.299.

Seitz won the gold on bars with an improved routine that earned a 14.2, and she also took bronze on floor with a 12.8, while Schäfer won the gold on beam with a 13.7 with a solid hit, and she also picked up the bronze on bars with a 13.066 (she had one-tenth bonuses for both routines). Quaas, who led floor during the all-around, won the gold there with a 13.11, Scheder won the silver on bars with a 13.666, Malewski won the silver on beam with a 13.066, König won the silver on floor with a 13.1, and Bousmayo won the bronze on beam with a 12.433 to go along with her vault bronze.

Article by Lauren Hopkins