Lucija Hribar guaranteed Slovenian contention for medals in the Sunday’s final

Koper, 3 September 2021 – Lucija Hribar and Gaja Žabnikar represented Slovenia in Friday’s qualifiers, while Brina Plevčak competed out of competition. Hribar also secured Sunday’s finals with successful performances on the balance beam and the floor exercise. There were no Slovenian representatives in the men’s competition, the British Courtney Tulloch confirmed his excellent form with the first place in the vault, the Ukrainian Illia Kovtun received the highest score on the bar, and the Italian Carlo Macchini on the horizontal bar.

Friday’s qualifiers started the gymnasts on the pole, where the Slovenian representative Lucija Hribar qualified for Sunday’s final with a second grade (12,900), the judges gave the highest grade on the pole to Canadian Cassandra Lee (13,300), and Irma Emma Slevin finished third. with a score of 12,750. Another Slovenian, Gaja Žabnikar, competed on the pole, finishing in 13th place.

Croatian Ana Đerek received the highest score on the ground floor with a score of 12,850, Hungarian Dorina Boeczoego came in second with a score of 12,600, and Kazakhstan’s Aida Bauyrzhanova finished third with a score of 12,500. The Slovenian representative Lucija Hribar also managed to qualify for Sunday’s final with the eighth grade, securing her third final appearance at the domestic World Cup with this result. Slovenian Brina Plevčak also performed outside the competition.

“I feel very good. I really didn’t expect a final performance for the floor exercise. I am also satisfied with the exercise on the balance beam, I again received the highest grade on it so far and finished the qualifications in second place, “said Lucija Hribar after a successful second day of qualifications. She does not want to announce a medal before the final: “I am doing really well this year and I am very satisfied. I don’t like to think in advance, especially not about medals, I prefer to focus on doing the whole exercise and only then come thoughts of a medal.“

“I am very happy that Lucija added two new elements on the bar and one new one on the shaft. She performed two new exercises very successfully, and the final on the ground floor is a pleasant surprise, “said coach Nataša Retelj about the performance of her protégé.

The men’s qualifiers passed without a Slovenian performance. On the jump, the highest score was given to the British Courtney Tulloch, the judges awarded him 14,500 points. Romanian Gabriel Burtanete finished in second place with a score of 14,325, and Swiss Andrin Frey came in third with a score of 14,275.

In the finals, the Ukrainian Illia Kovtun reached the finals with the highest score of 14,950, the Frenchman Leo Saladino was in second place with a score of 14,400, and the Italian Mario Macchiati was third with a score of 14,200.

Friday’s qualifiers ended with pole performances. In the qualifiers, the Italians showed their dominance, with Carlo Macchini in first place with a score of 14,300 and Matteo Levantesi in second place with a score of 13,950. The third place in the qualifications was won by the Belgian Maxime Gentges with a score of 13,750.

Tomorrow is the first final day in Koper, the men will compete on the ground floor, the horse with handles and circles, and the women on the vault and barbell. Three Slovenian representatives will also compete in the fight for the highest places. Sašo Bertoncelj, for whom the competition in Koper is the last domestic competition in his career, will compete on the horse with handles with the sixth qualification rating and a heavier team. Tjaša Kysselef will compete in the vault with the second qualification rating, and Lucija Hribar with the third qualification rating in the finals on the two-height barbell. The finals start at 3 pm, at 2.30 pm the event starts with the official opening of the competition.

Schedule

Finals – Saturday, 4 September 2021

• 15:00 – floor exercise, men;
• 15:30 – vault, women;
• 16:00 – pommel horse;
• 16:30 – uneven bars;
• 17:00 – still rings.

Finals – Sunday, 5 September 2021

• 15:00 – vault, men;
• 15:30 – balance beam;
• 16:00 – parallel bars;
• 16:30 – floor exercise, women;
• 17:00 – horizontal bar.