Angel Barajas

The FIG released the nominative roster for the first world cup of the season, which is set to take place in Cairo beginning February 15.

This year, just as in the 2020 quad, the world cup series will serve as a qualifying event for the Olympic Games, with two athletes per apparatus – a total of 8 WAG and 12 MAG – eligible to earn berths through a point system based on their rankings at three out of the four world cups that will take place over the next couple of months. With these spots on the line, nearly 300 athletes have signed up across both disciplines, more than double the number of registrations we typically see for these events.

Here are some of the most notable storylines to keep an eye on going into both this event and the series as a whole.

Belarus Sending “Neutral” Athletes. Last week, the FIG granted neutral status to a number of Belarusian athletes who had previously been banned from international events due to Belarus’ support of Russian in its war in Ukraine.

The Authorized Neutral Athletes (AIN) now have the opportunity to compete at FIG-sponsored events once again, including for Olympic berths, with three athletes of this designation on the list for Cairo – two-time European medalist Yahor Sharamkou and new senior Mikita Parfianovich on the MAG side, and Alena Tsitavets, a first-year senior who competed in the uneven bars finals at both the Russian Junior Championships and the Russian Cup last year, representing for WAG.

Young Seniors Getting Paris Shots. One of my biggest problems with the FIG’s current qualification system is that small programs with talented young athletes who become seniors in the Olympic year have only very limited opportunities for getting to the Games, as they are not age-eligible to compete at world championships – the primary means of qualification – in the prior year. And with the Pan American Games held in 2023 counting as the continental qualifier for athletes in the Americas region, it means the only chance for these athletes is the world cup series.

Thankfully, some of the top Pan American first-year seniors are all slated to compete in Cairo, including Isabella Ajalla and Mia Mainardi for Argentina and Angel Barajas for Colombia. Other exciting small program up-and-comers I’m excited to see at this meet are Vanesa Masova (Czechia), Lily Russell (Ireland), and Diana Lobok (Ukraine).

France Sending MAG Stars. After missing out on MAG team and individual spots for its home Olympics at worlds last year, France is going all out with its top apparatus stars here, including Benjamin Osberger, who excels on floor and is also great on pommel horse, Cyril Tommasone for pommels, Samir Aït Saïd for rings, Cameron-Lie Bernard for rings and parallel bars, with the latter his true standout apparatus, Léo Saladino for vault, and Matthias Philippe for parallel bars and high bar. The competition for spots on all six events will be incredibly tough, but if the guys don’t make it happen here or at Euros, they’ll be guaranteed an individual spot as the host country.

Injury Comebacks. Several athletes who missed qualifying to the Olympics at worlds due to injuries last year are coming back into action in Cairo. Those with the greatest potential are probably Lisa Vaelen (Belgium) and Valentina Georgieva (Bulgaria) on vault along with Caio Souza (Brazil), who will compete on rings, parallel bars, and high bar after sustaining an Achilles injury last year. I’m also excited to see the returns of Maisa Kuusikko (Finland), who will compete on bars here after injuring her knee just weeks before she was supposed to lead her team at worlds in 2023, Dorien Motten (Georgia), who is expected to compete on all four events, and Ana Derek (Croatia), a two-time Olympian who will compete on her best events, beam and floor.

North Korea’s First Post-Covid FIG Event. The Covid lockdown situation was taken especially seriously by North Korea, which withdrew all of its athletes from competing at the rescheduled Olympic Games in 2021, and didn’t return to gymnastics competition until the Asian Games just a few months ago. But the country is finally back in action at its first FIG meet since 2019, sending three top Asian Games competitors – vault and bars champion An Chang Ok and vault and floor silver medalist Kim Son Hyang for WAG along with and rings finalist Jong Ryong Il on the MAG side – which could very well result in a return to the Olympics, especially if An looks as strong as she did in Hangzhou a few months ago.

Change-of-Nation Hopefuls. There are a few athletes on the list who recently began representing adopted programs in order to obtain Olympic berths. Georgia-Rose Brown, a staple of the Australian program for over a decade but who has never reached the Olympic Games, is now representing New Zealand and will make her debut for the program in Cairo, while former U.S. national team members Emma Malabuyo and Levi Jung-Ruivivar will compete for the Philippines, hoping to add additional Olympic spots either via the world cups or later this year at the Asian Championships following Aleah Finnegan‘s success in earning a spot in Antwerp last year.

The competition will begin with qualifications on Thursday, February 15 and Friday, February 16, and will continue with finals over that weekend. The full list of competitors is below.

*Competing as Authorized Neutral Athletes

Article by Lauren Hopkins