Fast Facts & Things to Watch at the 2023 World Gymnastics Championships

2023 World Gymnastics Championships Podcast

How to Qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics

Team:

• Three teams have already qualified (Japan, China, and Great Britain)

• 21 teams will compete for nine more spots. Qualifications determine which teams advance to the Olympics

• USA, Italy, and Ukraine are likely locks for the team final in addition to Japan, China, and Great Britain.

• The final spots for team finals and the final spots for the Olympics are going to be very competitive and it will depend on how each team hits on the day.

Individuals

• Teams ranked 13 - 15 will be able to send a minimum of one National Olympic Committee (NOC) athlete to represent their country. However, should they have athletes qualify through multiple event finals at the World Championships, they will be limited to a maximum of three athletes.

• Top 8 all-arounders from non-qualified teams such as Carlos Yulo

• The top individual on each of the six events from a non-qualified team will earn a nominative spot at the 2024 Olympic Games

• Should France not have an athlete qualify through any means, they will still earn a minimum of one (1) quota spot as the host country

Non-Worlds

Should an athlete be unable to qualify whether that's injury, country ban, or poor performance, there will be options in 2024 to qualify through continental championships and the World Cup series. An additional spot will be awarded based on the Tripartite Olympic Commission.

A full explanation of the qualifying procedures can be found here.

Qualifying for Their First Olympic Games as a Team

• Turkey's first Olympian was Ferhat Arican at the Rio Olympic Games.

• At the 2020 Tokyo Games, four athletes (Ferhat Arican, Adem Asil, Ahmet Onder, and Ibrahim Colak) represented Turkey

• Only two athletes have represented Kazakhstan at the Olympics since the end of the Soviet Union, Stepan Gorbachev in 2012 and Milad Karimi in 2020.

Medals

Team

• USA has not been on the podium since 2014.

• Great Britain has never medaled as a team at two consecutive World Championships. A medal here would change that.

• Ukraine has not been on the podium since 2001

• Italy has not been on the podium since 1913

All - Around

Only two athletes per country are allowed to make the all-around final. Due to team composition some very strong and competitive all-arounds, specifically Japanese all-arounders, will be unable to have the chance to compete in qualifications to make room for event specialists.

• Hashimoto Daiki will be the favorite to repeat all the all-around champion, especially with Zhang Boheng (CHN) competing at the Asian Games

• Japanese athletes hold three of the top five AA scores this year (Hashimoto Daiki - 88.698; Chiba Kenta - 86.565; Miwa Teppei - 86.132). Kaya Kazuma sits in 10th with an 85.499. Only three of these athletes will do all-around in qualifications

• Others with a strong chance at the podium include: Shi Cong (CHN), Carlos Yulo (PHI), and Illia Kovtun (UKR)

• The U.S. will likely have at least one athlete rotating with the top group. However, they have a very difficult decision to make on who gets to compete all-around in qualifications. Paul Juda is the most likely to not compete all-around. However choosing between Yul Moldauer, Asher Hong, Fred Richard, and Khoi Young will be a challenge.

• Others with a shot at rotating with the top group and an outside chance at a medal include Jake Jarman (GBR), Noe Seifert (SUI), and Milad Karimi (KAZ).

Events

• Floor is wide open! Expect a mix of messier daredevils and cleaner athletes with better form! Who will win out? Only time will tell!

• Three of the 2022 Aparattus World Champions are not competing at the 2023 World Championships (Giarnni Regini-Moran -FX; Zou Jingyuan - PB; Brody Malone - HB).

• The battle for the pommel horse title is going to be tight and very exciting! Two of the favorites are Max Whitlock and Rhys McClenaghan, but expect stiff competition from Ahmad Abu Al Soud (JOR), Lee Chi-Kai (TPE), and Nariman Kurbinov (KAZ)

• One of the Chinese athletes (Liu Yang and You Hao) are certainly the favorites for still rings, but there are several specialists competing for non-team countries who will make the final very interesting as we see who will get an automatic birth to the Olympics and who will have to brave the World Cup Series next year!

• As one of the only returning world champions, will Artur Davtyan (ARM) win again with is near perfect execution or will a new vault king be crowned?

• The past several years, there has been little question about who would win parallel bars. However, this year, China's superstar, Zou Jingyuan, will not be at the World Championships. Compatriot, You Hao, has been exceptionally strong on the event but it not as dominant as Zou. Olympic silver Medalist, Lukas Dauser, will certainly be a favorite as well as Illia Kovtun (UKR), Carlos Yulo (PHI), and Ferhat Arican (TUR)

• Hashimoto Daiki is certainly the favorite for the high bar title as one of the only in the field who can go 15+. But it's high bar. Anything can happen!

Who last competed at the World Championships in Antwerp in 2013:

Twenty-four male athletes who competed 10 years ago at the 2013 Antwerp World Championships will return to compete in 2023.

• Ali Zahran (EGY)

• Andrei Muntean (ROU)

• Andy Toba (GER)

• Arthur Nory (BRA)

• Arthur Zanetti (BRA)

• Audrys Nin Reyes (DOM)

• Bart Deurloo (NED)

• Casimir Schmidt (NED)

• Eleftherios Petrounias (GRE)

• Ferhat Arican (TUR)

• Filip Ude (CRO)

• Harutyun Merdinyan (ARM)

• Igor Radivilov (UKR)

• Joel Alvarez (CHI)

• Liu Yang (CHN)

• Matvei Petrov (RUS - ALB)

• Max Whitlock (GBR)

• Nestor Abad (ESP)

• Nikolaos Iliopoulos (GRE)

• Oleg Verniaiev (UKR)

• Oskar Kirmes (FIN)

• Rober Tvorogal (LTU)

• Yordan Alexandrov (BUL)

• You Hao (CHN)

Article by: Kensley Behel