Illia Kovtun Qualifies for Two more Finals

Koper, 31 May 2024 – On the second day of qualification, Slovenian colors were represented by four athletes. The qualifications did not go according to the wishes of the Slovenian camp. Lucija Hribar on beam and Beno Kunst on vault performed best, both took 13th place. Besides them, Zala Trtnik and Kevin George Buckley also performed. Ukrainian Illia Kovtun won his fourth and fifth finals today in Koper.

From the Slovenian team, Friday’s qualifications were opened by Kevin George Buckley, who made a minor mistake during the vault. He received a score of 12.900 for the exercise. Ukrainian Illia Kovtun (14.900) qualified for Sunday’s final with the first qualification score, second was Romanian Andrei-Vasile Muntean (14.250), and third place went to Italian Nicola Mozzato with the same score.

This was followed by Beno Kunst’s show jumping. His first jump was a bit unlucky, as he fell after landing, for which he received a score of 13.050. He performed the second jump better and received a score of 14.050, almost a point higher. In the end, Beno finished 13th with an average score of 13.600. “I would really like to repeat the first jump, even though it was the best of the week. I thought I was much higher, so I opened a little earlier because I wanted to “close” the jump. The second jump was probably my best execution of that jump ever. I am happy that I started competing at a higher level this season. I still have the Šalamun Memorial next week, and in the fall I hope for the World Cup in Szombathely. Above all, I want to raise the difficulty of the jumps first, so that I can be more competitive, even among the biggest,” said Beno after the competition. Dominican Republic’s Audrys Nin Reyes won the vault qualification with a score of 14.700. Finland’s Joona Reiman took second place, 0.450 points behind. Kazakhstan’s Roman Mamenov made it to Sunday’s final with the third score (score 14.250). Ukrainian Igor Radivilov, who injured his nose during the landing of the first jump, scratched himself out of the competition in the vault due to a minor injury.

In the penultimate rotation, Lucija Hribar and Zala Trtnik presented themselves. The first to perform on the balance beam was future Paris 2024 Olympian Lucija Hribar. She performed a very good exercise, only on one of the elements she lost her balance, but she stayed on the beam. She received a score of 12,400. “I’m quite satisfied with today’s performance, because I stayed on the beam. Except for that turn, which took away at least 0.5 points from me, which would have actually been very close to qualifying for the final. But I’m not too sad because tomorrow I still have the parallel bars final, which I’m focusing my thoughts on now. But I’m really looking forward to being able to perform on parallel bars in the final in front of the home audience tomorrow,” Lucija said. Her long-time coach Nataša Retelj was satisfied with the shown exercise: “I really liked the exercise. I’m sorry that she made a big mistake in that turn, where quite a few tenths went, but that’s how sport is.” Lucija took 13th place on beam.

Zala Trtnik also received the same rating as Lucija, who canceled her performance on uneven bars due to back pain. She placed 14th on beam. “Considering that my back started hurting again last week at the World Cup, I am very satisfied with the competition. In the last week, I was not able to train at such a high level as I usually train. In training, I just repeated the exercise. In the competition, I also skipped the parallel bars in order to compete on the beam. The shaft was still the best option, because my back hurts the least on this tool and it was my maximum today. Otherwise, there were mistakes in the exercise that I know I can correct. All things considered, I am satisfied with the exercise,” said Zala after the performance. Her coach Urban Sever added to that: “I’m glad that Zala stayed on the balance beam. She did her best in terms of back pain. It’s a shame that she fluctuated so much on the beam that the score was so much lower than usual.” With the highest score of 13.850, Ukrainian Anna Lashchevska qualified for the finals, her national team colleague Diana Lobok achieved the second qualification score (13.300). Italian Veronica Mandriota took third place with a score of 13.100.

Tin Štros, who performed as an out-of-competition athlete, was the first to appear on the high bars. He executed a good routine but took a longer step on the landing. The judges gave him a score of 11.200. Today, in addition to parallel bars, Kevin also performed on bars, where he received a score of 12.950 and took 14th place. “I’m happy with both tools because I got both to the end without any major mistakes. Unfortunately, I had minor mistakes on both. Compared to the pole, I performed worse with the bar. But I made the drug as I know how. But I still have a lot in reserve for the next years.” The highest score of 15,000 was received by the representative of Chinese Taipei Chia-Hung Tang, followed by the Italian Carlo Macchini with a score of 14,950. Croatian representative Tin Srbic (14.450) qualified third for Sunday’s final.

On the ground floor, in the women’s competition, the Swiss Lena Bickel performed best, receiving a score of 12.900. Chinese Taipei representative Yi-Chun Liao (12.650) and Italian Veronica Mandriota (12.550) qualified for the final in second place.

Tomorrow is the first day of finals in Koper, men will compete on floor, pommel horse and circles, while women will compete on vault and parallel bars. Four Slovenian representatives are competing for medals. Anže Hribar, who will compete on the ground floor, will be the first to appear in the final. Gregor Rakovič will follow on a horse with handles. In the rounds, Luka Bojanc will fight with the third qualification rating and a heavier composition. As the only Slovenian representative, Lucija Hribar will compete on the two-height parallel bars tomorrow. The finals start at 16:00.