This week, both New Zealand and Germany will host their respective national gymnastics championships. New Zealand's Championships will be held July 5 - 8; and Germany's National Championships will be held July 6 - 9.
2023 New Zealand Gymnastics Championships
New Zealand returns to Mercury BAYPARK TAURANGA for the first time since 2018 where over 200 MAG athletes will take the floor. The athletes are led by 2016 and 2020 Olympian, Misha Koudinov and 2022 Commonwealth Games Finalist, Ethan Dick. The competition will not serve as a selection event for the World Championships as New Zealand has already announced the gymnasts (Koudinov and Dick) who will compete in Antwerp later this year. The National Championships will therefore serve as one of several "key events" that the selection committee takes into consideration when choosing the 2023 National Team.
Fans have the opportunity to tune in live at watch.gymnasticsnz.com. There is a daily pass option (NZ$ 35) or a weekly pass option (NZ$ 75). Podium training took place on Tuesday, July 4th and gymnasts were not able to fully complete podium training as the lights went out earlier than planned. Gymnastics New Zealand announced that the lights have since been restored and that the competition should take place as normal.
Competition Schedule:
Event | Date | NZ Standard | GMT | EDT |
Men AA & Team Finals | 7/6/2023 | 6pm - 8pm | 6am - 8 am | 2am - 4am |
Event Finals | 7/8/2023 | 1pm - 3pm | 1am - 3am | 9pm - 11pm (Friday, July 7) |
2023 German Gymanstics National Championships
The 2023 German Gymnastics National Championships will take place in Düsseldorf from July 6 - July 9. Gymnastics is only one of eighteen German Federations that will hold their national championships this weekend, three of which will join gymnastics in Düsseldorf.
Reigning national champion, Lukas Dauser pulled out of the competition for precautionary measures after having dealt with a shoulder injury. Dauser is the strongest German all-arounder, so with him out of the picture, a new national champion will be crowned.
Coming off a solid performance at the 2023 European Championships, Pascal Brendel is a favorite for the title. His 81.164 at Euros would have placed him 2nd in the all-around at last year's national championships. In addition to a new all-around champion, it is very likely that there will not be a repeat gymnast on the podium. Silver medalist, Philipp Herder, announced his retirement last season, and bronze medalist, Glenn Trebing sustained an injury in Stuttgart that kept him out of the European Championships in April. Trebing is expected to compete this weekend.
There will be a live stream with commentary for each day of the competition. Live stream links and competition times can be found in the table below.
Competition Schedule
Article by: Kensley Behel