Noe Seifert, Luca Giubellini, Taha Serhani, Matteo Giubellini, and Florian Langenegger

The start lists for the men’s qualifications at the 2024 Olympic Games have been released, and we’re going to talk through each team and notable individuals based on what we’re expecting to see in each subdivision, including any surprises and who will have the best opportunities for finals.

TEAM NOTES

The Italians have made such an impression on the sport this quad, it seems truly unreal that they didn’t qualify a full team in either 2016 or 2020. But with historic performances over the past few years –  including team medals at Euros in both 2022 and 2023 and a fourth-place finish at worlds in 2022, the program’s best since 1950 – I’m looking at them to make the team final, which would be their first appearance since 1992.

Mario Macchiati, Yumin Abbadini, and Lorenzo Casali will fill all-around roles here, while Nicola Bartolini will bring the power and beauty on floor, rings, vault, and parallel bars, and Carlo Macchini will round them out on pommel horse and high bar. It was a bit of a happy surprise for me to see them take Macchini in lieu of a rings specialist, which is a bit more of a stable decision than going for a high bar guy, but I’m excited for Macchini’s energy and to see how this young team of first-time Olympians will fare under pressure.

Speaking of first-time Olympians, with nearly all of the 2016 and 2020 Olympians now retired – with the exception of Christian Baumann, who returned to the sport and is now an alternate – the Swiss team is also made up of newcomers, including Florian Langenegger, Matteo Giubellini, and Noe Seifert in the all-around, Luca Giubellini on floor, pommel horse, rings, and vault, and Taha Serhani on parallel bars and high bar. As with the Italians, it’s a thrilling group of young athletes who perform beautifully across the board, and I’m expecting to see them as a strong contender for the team final.

The Turkish men did not qualify for the final at worlds last year, finishing in 10th place with a few apparatuses – pommel horse, parallel bars, high bar – not up to par with many of the top teams. I do think their potential is greater than a few teams that did make the final, and believe that a few little improvements this time around should get them in, and with Ibrahim Colak back from injury to compete on four events – including rings, his standout – we should see this first-ever full team to qualify for the Games continue to make history.

In addition to Colak, we’ll see Ahmet Önder and Emre Dodanli in the all-around, Adem Asil on every apparatus except parallel bars, and Ferhat Arican on pommel horse, vault, and parallel bars. The choice to go with Colak over Asil on parallel bars is an odd one, as it takes Asil out of the all-around competition and Asel generally scores better than Colak there, so my guess is Asil is either dealing with an injury of sorts or they don’t want to put the all-around pressure on him when the team competition is likely the goal.

Finally, Spain will see Nicolau Mir, Nestor Abad, and Joel Plata in the all-around, Thierno Diallo on pommel horse, parallel bars, and high bar, and Rayderley Zapata on floor, rings, and vault. I love this balance for the team, with Zapata taking the strength events and Diallo filling out on the rest, and think both athletes – along with the all-arounders – are well-suited to what they’ll be doing. I don’t see the team final as likely for this team, but this is largely because they’re facing a ton of competition. Earlier this month they dropped a friendly competition to Switzerland by nearly four points, and this exact squad missed the final at worlds last year with an even higher score, so I think it’ll take a lot for them to rise and defeat historically stronger programs.

ALL-AROUND NOTES

The top all-arounders from the squads here are probably Seifert and Giubellini, Abad, and the three Italian men – Macchiati, Abbadini, and Casali – but I honestly feel like almost any of the guys doing the all-around for their teams will have a shot at the final? Önder has been a bit weak this year in general, but I think if he is at his full potential he has a shot.

Outside of the team competitors, we’ll see Lee Junho of South Korea, Kevin Penev of Bulgaria, Abdulla Azimov and Khabibullo Ergashev of Uzbekistan, and Luka van den Keybus of Belgium contending for the final. Ergashev, Lee, and van den Keybus qualified to the all-around final at worlds last year, but barely, and all were at scores in the 80-81 range, which I don’t believe any have hit yet in 2024. I think at the Olympics we’ll see 81-82 as roughly the cutoff point for qualifying into the final, which Azimov managed at the Asian Championships to qualify for Paris, but so far everyone else has fallen short of that range.

FLOOR NOTES

Bartolini is my favorite for Italy to make this final, while I think both Asil and Dodanli could get in for Türkiye, and then of course, Zapata is the one to watch for Spain, though he hasn’t had any exceedingly high scores there this year so it’ll be interesting to see how he stacks up, especially with Mir and Abad likely to get close.

Though not quite at the same difficulty level as some of the knockout floor workers, both Langenegger and Seifert for Switzerland have lovely form and I think could also make waves with their potential. The specialist to keep an eye on in this session is Ryu Sunghyun of South Korea, who has competed six routines internationally this year and has scored above a 14.0 on all of them. He can be a bit scrappy at times, but his difficulty could carry him, putting him on the bubble for final contenders here.

POMMEL HORSE NOTES

After making the final at Euros this year, I have really high hopes for Matteo Giubellini and would love to see him reach an Olympic final at his young age. I absolutely love the extension and beauty from Abbadini on this apparatus, though his difficulty holds him back a bit compared to the best in the world here, and don’t think Italy will earn a spot in this final, and the same goes for Türkiye and Spain not having any contenders.

Specialists will be the stars of this event in the third subdivision, with Rhys McClenaghan of Ireland the reigning world and European champion, while Hur Woong of South Korea made his mark on the international pommels scene this year with some excellent world cup routines. My only concern here is that he’s joining the field a bit late, after teammate Kim Hansol was forced to withdraw due to injury, but it will have been about 10 days between the switch and qualifications so hopefully he’s had time to adjust and prepare!

RINGS NOTES

Both Colak and Asil should be high on the list of potential finals qualifiers for this apparatus, but none of the other teams in this subdivision really have any high-powered rings athletes, so I don’t see Italy, Switzerland, or Spain getting anyone in, nor do I think any of the all-arounders in this session have the scores to make it happen.

The one rings specialist in subdivision three is Glen Cuyle of Belgium, who was named as Belgium’s non-nominative athlete last month. He will only compete on this one event, and he’s capable of a mid-14 so the potential is there, but I do think with the top contenders in the 14.8+ range, he might be too far back to sneak in.

VAULT NOTES

Asil has one of the top difficulty combinations in the world on this apparatus, and though he is often hit or miss with either one or both of his vaults, the drama usually comes in the final and not in qualifications. In that case, getting into the final won’t be the issue, but medaling – or simply not falling – could be. We’ll also see Zapata attempting two vaults here, something he hasn’t done in competition yet this season, though he matches Asil in difficulty and with hits I think he could be on the bubble.

This is an apparatus where I expect to see two all-arounders shine, as both Lee and Penev – who qualified to the Olympics thanks to his performance on vault at worlds last year that earned him a spot in the final – have a solid combination of difficulty and strong execution that could see them get close.

PARALLEL BARS NOTES

The Swiss are traditionally standouts here, with Seifert the team’s best and the most likely to get in, but I feel like any of the guys competing here could surprise for the final? Serhani is literally on the team for what he can do here and on high bar, while Matteo Giubellini and Langenegger have all landed in the mid-14s, which might not be enough, but you never know.

Türkiye will be hoping for another final – and another medal – from 2020 bronze winner Ferhat Arican, though he hasn’t been at a hundred percent on this apparatus over the past couple of years, while Diallo is my favorite for Spain and Macchiati for Italy, though I’m not sure either will be quite up to par with the top parallel bars workers.

The specialists in this subdivision are Rasuljon Abdurakhimov of Uzbekistan, who absolutely has finals potential after winning bronze at the Asian Championships and secured his Olympics spot on this apparatus via the world cups, and Noah Kuavita of Belgium, who qualified on this event at worlds last year, though got kind of “lucky” in the sense that the top of the field included a lot of athletes and teams that had already earned Olympic berths, leaving him the top eligible athlete in 23rd place. He has a nice set, don’t get me wrong, but I haven’t seen him score high enough this year to put him in the mix.

HIGH BAR NOTES

One of my favorite high bar workers in the field, Macchini, should be one of the top standouts of this session and if he does what he’s capable of – which is gorgeous, clean, stylish gymnastics – I think he’ll be a shoo-in for the final, with teammate Abbadini also showing potential, though perhaps not full readiness here. Seifert and Serhani should be the top contenders for the Swiss, though would be on the bubble if anything, while Plata could be a happy surprise for Spain.

Another of my favorite high bar workers in the field is Tang Chia-Hung of Taiwan, who earned a world cup spot on this apparatus and very deservedly so. He’s probably the cleanest guy in the competition while also doing some of the wildest difficulty – he’s maxed out at a 6.8 this year, which only Angel Barajas of Colombia has matched – so it’s no surprise that he has the top six international scores in 2024, none lower than a 15.1. He’s absolutely on my podium, and is probably the most likely for gold if all goes according to plan.

Kuavita is also competing on this apparatus, and I like his chances more here than on parallel bars. He’s still not one of the favorites for the final, but I think he has the potential to sneak in on a good day and depending on how others look. Known for his triple back pike dismount, he brings excitement from start to finish and I can’t wait to see how he fares.

Article by Lauren Hopkins