Helen Kevric

The European Youth Olympic Festival normally happens just once every two years, meaning young WAG athletes who must be 14 or 15 years old in order to compete at the junior level internationally only get one chance to participate.

With the 2021 edition being delayed a year, however, athletes who competed as 14-year-olds last summer have the incredibly rare opportunity to compete for a second time this year, including last year’s all-around champion Helen Kevric of Germany getting the chance to defend her title in Maribor.

Kevric, now 15, was one of the stars of last year’s competition, winning a total of six medals, including the gold on vault along with the silver medals for bars, floor, the team event, and the mixed pairs final. Most of those who were considered her biggest competition last year – including the Romanians, who took gold as a team, and all of the Italians, who won bronze – have graduated into the senior ranks, leaving Kevric once again the one to beat.

She will have some competition, including from teammate Marlene Gotthardt, who had a standout competition at junior world championships early this year to finish sixth all-around, and she finished second to Kevric at Germany’s EYOF trials and junior national championships in June. While she can be a bit inconsistent at times, her beam is generally great, and she’s also a strong vaulter, so I’d look for her as a potential for a couple of finals.

Outside of Germany, it’s the Italians with the strongest overall team, headlined by Benedetta Gava, a powerhouse with a Yurchenko double on vault and strong tumbling on floor. She’ll be the team’s top medal threat, but both Emma Fioravanti (a fantastic floor worker with a double front and a knack for performing) and Sara Caputo are also very talented, and could prove to be quite a threat for the Germans despite being a bit of a “B” team compared to the group Italy sent to junior worlds. Bars is where this group is the most behind in comparison, but I think overall the fact that the Italians could send two different yet almost equally productive squads to two different major international junior competitions this season is a testament to the program’s depth.

As a bit of a contrast, we have the Romanian team, which is sending two of its junior worlds competitors who helped the team to eighth in Antalya, including Gabriela Vanoaga, who was the standout for the program with her silver medal on beam. Vanoaga and her teammates – fellow junior worlds athlete Anamaria Mihaescu along with Miruna Botez – are going to be a bit behind where I anticipate seeing Germany and Italy, but I also don’t think the field here is so deep that a team medal is out of the question even if the gold would be. For Romania, as always, it’ll all come down to whether they hit bars.

The other stronger teams in the mix include Great Britain and France. The British team is without Abi Martin, who has been injured, but her junior worlds teammates Jemima Taylor and Ema Kandalova are back, as is Ellie Lewis, the bronze all-around medalist at nationals this year. Overall, the team is a bit weaker than Germany or Italy in terms of difficulty on several apparatuses, but their floor routines will be a highlight here. For France, we’ll see last year’s EYOF all-around bronze medalist Lilou Viallat hoping to return to the podium, and she’s also got a lot of potential for the bars and beam finals, while teammates Maelys Mrozkowiak and Astria Nélo are also strong, with Nélo another standout on bars, an event that could make or break teams in Maribor. I think if France can hit the way they’re capable of, I’d have them as one of my top choices on the podium, likely along with Germany and Italy, but if they struggle the way they did at junior worlds, it’s going to be tough.

On the individual level, one of my absolute favorites is the Croatian athlete Mila Prpic, who won the Balkan Championships all-around title last year and is just so precise and tidy in her work. She has a tendency to struggle under pressure, but if she hits she has the potential to score really well in the all-around, as does Vanesa Masova of Czechia.

The national champion two years in a row, Masova is another one who is capable of huge scores and brilliant work on bars and beam, and she qualified to both the all-around and beam finals at junior worlds. I think being in the spotlight tends to affect her performances, but if she handles it well this time, I could see her being a bit of a hidden gem here.

I also really love Yali Shoshani of Israel on floor and Lily Russell of Ireland on both beam and floor, with Shoshani generally bringing so much energy to her routine, while Russell is a brilliant dancer with some of the best spins you’ll see here. And Leire Escauriaza of Spain, who just won the junior national title over the weekend, had a breakout meet at junior worlds this year, finishing ninth all-around and seventh on bars. It’ll be exciting to see if she can keep the momentum going in Maribor!

In the men’s competition, I’m most excited to see if the Armenians can upset the Italians for gold after the two fought to the death for the bronze medal at junior worlds, with Armenia finishing just four tenths back from the podium. Italy is without Riccardo Villa, but still has an incredible team that includes Tommaso Brugnami, Manuel Berettera, and Diego Vazzola, while Armenia is without Erik Baghdasaryan, but has the junior world pommel horse gold and silver medalists, Hamlet Manukyan (who also won the rings title) and Mamikon Khachatryan, back on the roster, along with Robert Gyulumyan.

The French team is also a good one, led by Anthony Mansard, though most other top teams here seem to have left their “A” teams at home, so it could be interesting to see how things pan out. The British team on paper isn’t as strong as the very top programs here, though leader Alexander Niscoveanu comes in as the junior national champion and this team generally has great depth with the potential for surprise, so I’m excited to see how it pans out for them.

On the individual level, I’m most excited for Kristijonas Padegimas of Lithuania and Dachi Dolidze of Georgia for their pommel routines, and for Alfred Schwaiger of Austria and Zala Samu Zambori of Hungary as steady all-around talents, with Schwaiger also a very talented pommels worker, while Zambori should be a standout on vault.

Here are the complete lists of WAG competitors and MAG competitors. You should be able to find streams of the competition on the EOC Channel as well as on the Italia Team channel, and I believe there will also be streams and scores on the Elevien app, with start lists and live scores also appearing on the EYOF Maribor website.

The full schedule is below. All times are local to Maribor, which is 6 hours ahead of ET.

Article by Lauren Hopkins