Jana Mahmoud

The Egyptian program had a thrilling weekend at the African Championships in Marrakesh, where Jana Mahmoud and Omar Mohamed topped the all-around podiums to become the continental Olympic qualifiers.

This is Mahmoud’s second quad attempting to make it to the Games after missing out with her third-place finish at the continental qualifier in 2021, and despite a struggle on beam this year, she was strong enough elsewhere to earn a 48.966, narrowly edging out teammate Judy Abdalla, who won the silver medal with a 48.765, and Salina Bousmayo, a former German elite who now represents Morocco and won the bronze here with a 48.499.

Mahmoud also won the floor title here, while Caleigh Anders of South Africa won vault, Abdalla won bars in addition to a pair of silvers on vault and floor, and Bousmayo won beam in addition to the earning the bronze on floor. Also medaling were Shams Ali of Egypt with the silver on bars, 2020 Olympian Naveen Daries with the silver on beam, Sandra Elsadek of Egypt with the bronze on vault and beam, and Zelmé Daries of South Africa with the bronze on bars.

Egypt took the team title more than five points ahead of South Africa with the silver, while Morocco took the bronze and Chad in its first-ever appearance at the African Championships finished fourth. The athletes from Chad have spent some time training in Spain in order to prepare for this competition and for the opportunity to earn a tripartite nomination.

Their top competitor was Achta Derib, a first-year senior who earned a 42.398 in addition to spots in the bars and beam finals in her elite debut. The FIG generally opts for the top eligible worlds competitor when determining who should earn the tripartite berth, which would be Lynnzee Brown of Haiti, who scored a 47.766 in Antwerp last year and then earned similar scores in the all-around finals at both the Pan American Games and the Pan American Championships. Given that Brown’s scores are all several points higher than Derib’s score here, we are likely to see her end up in Paris, but hopefully this competition will not be the last for Derib and her teammates, who have lots of potential and could be in the mix again in 2028.

Omar Mohamed

After missing out on qualifying to the Olympic Games at worlds last year, Mohamed seemed to be back in full form in Marrakesh, winning the all-around title with an 82.198 to easily secure his second Olympics berth after making his debut in Tokyo.

Mohamed defeated his own teammates for the spot, coming in ahead of Mohamed Afify with a 79.131 for the silver medal and Abdelrahman Abdelhaleem, who finished third with a 77.931, but missed a medal due to two-per-country limitations. Taking the bronze in his place was Luke James of South Africa with a 76.697, while Hamza Hossaini of Morocco, another top contender, rounded out the top five with a 76.432.

The Egyptian men also dominated in the apparatus finals on top of winning the team competition by a whopping 41 points ahead of Morocco with the silver, while Cameroon took the bronze. Mohamed won the high bar title in addition to the silver medals on floor, rings, vault, and parallel bars, while Abdelhaleem won pommel horse gold and high bar silver, Afify won parallel bars gold and pommels silver, and Ali Zahran won rings gold. Other medalists in the finals included James with the gold on floor and vault as well as the bronze on high bar, Hossaini with the bronze on floor, rings, vault, and parallel bars, and Taha Kabouri of Morocco with the bronze on pommels.

Links: WAG Results, MAG Results, WAG Olympic Qualifiers, MAG Olympic Qualifiers

Article by Lauren Hopkins