The first day of qualifications was successful for the Slovenians, with three Slovene performances in Saturday’s finals
Koper, 2 September 2021 – Thursday’s qualifiers in Koper’s Bonifika brought the Slovenian national team three final appearances. Tjaša Kysselef qualified for Saturday’s finals with the second mark of the qualification, and Lucija Hribar secured a place in the finals with a third place in the qualifications on uneven bars. Among the men’s representatives of Thursday’s qualifiers, Saturday’s final was secured by the most experienced among them, Sašo Bertoncelj, who will compete in Saturday’s final with the sixth qualifying mark.
The qualifications were opened by the Slovenian competitor Meta Kunaver, who competed outside the competition in the vault. Hungary’s Csenqe Maria Backsay qualified for the finals with a score of 13,675, Tjaša Kysselef finished second with a score of 13,625, and Croatia’s Tiana Korent finished third with a score of 13,300.
As expected, Tjaša Kysselef qualified for the finals, she was pleasantly surprised by the second place in the qualifications: “I feel great, but I had some trepidation before the start, as this is the first match in the second part of the season. I will add half a turn more in the final, I still have some reserves, I want to fight for medals. “
Lucija Hribar qualified for Saturday’s finals with a third qualification rating (12,750) on Saturday. After the match, she was very satisfied with her performance: “My performance today was very good, I got the highest score so far. I hope for an even better performance in the finals and maybe, if I do my rehearsal successfully, a medal. Szekely. Another Slovenian, Lara Crnjac, competed on the bar, finishing the match in 15th place with a score of 10,100.
The men started qualifying simultaneously on the ground floor and the horse with the handles. On the ground floor, the most successful was Canadian William Emard with a score of 14,600, in second place was Russian gymnast Kirill Prokopev with a score of 14,450, and in third place was Ukrainian competitor Illia Kovtun with a score of 14,150. The Slovenian representative on the ground Nikolaj Božič finished the match in 30th place after a minor mistake.
As many as 43 competitors competed on a horse with handles, including two Slovenians. The first was Luka Kišek, who finished the match in 32nd place, and the oldest Slovenian gymnast, Sašo Bertoncelj, who finished the qualification with a score of 13,600, finished sixth in the finals: “I am really happy about that, otherwise I am not a man of statistics . I am glad that I reached the finals on all versions of the domestic World Cup in which I competed. I will make the exercise a little more difficult in the finals so that I can compete for the highest places. Right at the beginning, I prefer to say that this does not mean that I will achieve a medal. I will not give up without a fight, I want these medals, in the last home competition, but if it doesn’t work out, I won’t be disappointed. “
Croatian Filip Ude won the highest qualification on the horse with handles (14,200), Albanian Matvei Petrov finished second with a score of 14,100 and Canadian Zachary Clay finished third with a score of 13,950.
The first qualifying day was completed by the Austrian Vinzenz Hoeck, who qualified for Saturday’s final with a first score of 14,600. Italian Andrea Cingolani finished second with a score of 14,400, and Turkish gymnast Mustafa Arca finished third with a score of 14,050. The Slovenian representative in the rounds Luka Bojanc finished the match in 13th place with a score of 13,350.
Tomorrow is the second day of qualifications in Koper, the men will compete in the vault, barbell and pole, and the women in the pole and floor. Qualifications start at 3 p.m.
Schedule
Qualifications – Friday, 3 September 2021
15:00-19:00 vault (M), balance beam, parallel bars, floor exercise (W), horizontal bar
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.
