Lee Chih-Kai
With the MAG qualifications at world championships kicking off tomorrow morning, it’s not just the teams that are going to be fighting for Olympic spots – there are a number of athletes competing individually in Antwerp who will be hoping to fight for all-around and specialist opportunities in Paris, and we’re excited to share 10 of our favorites who have the best shot at making it.
1. Artur Davtyan (Armenia)
How can this guy not be number one on anyone’s list?! A strong all-arounder with the best vaults in the world right now, Davtyan has both a plan and a back-up plan for qualifying to Paris, with both incredibly viable paths for him. With a top all-around score of 82.665 this year, which he earned in the all-around final at European Championships, he should be among the strongest individual all-arounders in the field and could earn one of the eight open all-around spots available, but if he for some reason misses out in qualifications, the reigning world vault champion is my favorite for picking up the vault specialist spot while also probably adding another medal to his collection.
2. Carlos Yulo (Philippines)
Yulo isn’t just a strong all-arounder among the individual athletes – he’s one of the strongest all-arounders in Antwerp, period, and is likely to qualify the top spot to the Olympic Games if he can make it through with a generally good performance, not even a stellar performance (though if he is performing at one of his more stellar levels, that could take him as far as all-around medal contention!). As with Lee, if for some reason all-around qualification doesn’t work out, he has the specialist path as a second option…and potentially even third or fourth option, as he could end up being a top individual competitor on floor, vault, and/or parallel bars!
3. Lee Chih-Kai (Taiwan)
There are three individual competitors at worlds who I think all have a chance at winning the pommel horse specialist spot, and I’m going to talk about all three of them here, but will start with Lee, since he’s also an all-arounder, making pommel horse kind of his second line of defense. Lee qualified to worlds as an all-arounder, and he also earned an 83.299 at Universiade this summer, though I think the worlds scoring will be a bit more down to earth. In that case, there’s a chance he may not make it as one of the top eight, especially given that he missed podium training in order to compete in the pommel horse final at the Asian Games yesterday, which he won, and then immediately jumped on a flight to Antwerp. I’m sure he’s exhausted, but if he can repeat his pommel horse performance here, he’ll have one of the best shots at taking the Olympic spot.
4. Ahmad Abu Al Soud (Jordan)
The biggest threat to Lee’s spot may not be his own performance, but the performance we end up seeing from Abu Al Soud, who posted the top score in the world on this event earlier this month in Mersin with a 15.55. He’s another one who went to the Asian Games, but after bombing his routine in qualifications and missing the final, he was able to start thinking about worlds a few days earlier than Lee, so I think missing out there could have been a blessing more than it was a curse. With four international scores above a 15 this year and seven of his 11 routines were at a 14.6 or higher, so he’s fairly consistent and is going to be really hard to beat if he’s doing his best work, especially that all of his weaker routines – aside from his Asian Games set – came at world cups back in February and March. I see he and Lee as the two best pommel horse workers in the world right now, and I am desperate for them to both be at 100% in the final, but I also know this means the tenth or so that decides who goes and who doesn’t will be excruciating.
5. Rhys McClenaghan (Ireland)
I also of course wouldn’t count out McClenaghan for that spot. He hasn’t been performing as well as the other two this season, but it’s really only by a matter of tenths, with his top score at a 15.25. What he has in his favor is that he hasn’t really missed at all this season, performing 10 routines internationally and never scoring below a 14.2. However, only three of his scores have been above a 15, so while he’s not falling or breaking down really, he’s been showing slighter issues – minor leg form breaks and hesitations – that have held him back from the super high scores he’s capable of. But all it takes is that one big hit in the final, and I think he’ll be right up there with Lee and Abu Al Soud.
6. Eleftherios Petrounias (Greece)
The lord of the rings is back after missing out on qualifying to last year’s world championships when he didn’t attend any world cups, but this year he easily made it into the rankings and won the bronze on the event at European Championships. While he started off the season a bit slow, never scoring his usual 15 or better, he looked brilliant at the challenge cup in Szombathely earlier this month, and while I don’t know if he’s quite gold medal material this year, I do think he’s the best of the ring specialists and the most likely to earn a spot to Paris if he can compete the way he did a couple of weeks ago.
7. Vahagn Davtyan (Armenia)
There are two other rings specialists I have my eye on if Petrounias doesn’t work out, and Davtyan is one of them. The silver medalist at Euros this year, he doesn’t have the highest level of difficulty and hasn’t reached any 15-range scores, but he’s SO clean and consistent, which could be exactly what he needs to get ahead of the guys who have slightly bigger routines, but aren’t as confident when it counts.
8. Nikita Simonov (Azerbaijan)
The other rings specialist I’m really into this year is Simonov, who has had a fantastic season with 13 international performances and only one dipping below a 14.5, with the majority at a 14.7 or higher and his season high a 15.1 in Mersin. He’s got a bit more difficulty than Davtyan, though isn’t always quite as clean, though I think his balance between the two is just ever so much greater. I don’t see him as capable of Petrounias-level scores, and think he’d definitely need Petrounias to make a mistake for him to get ahead, but with how steady he’s looked this year, I think he should absolutely be on your radar.
9. Tin Srbic (Croatia)
From surprise high bar champion in 2017 to winning the silver medal at the Olympic Games, Srbic had quite the explosive quad last time around, though changes to the code of points affected his routine construction, and he hasn’t been able to produce the execution results he’d previously been capable of. Instead of pushing for the high 14s, he’s maxed out at a 14.45 this year, and has seen more than half of his scores below a 14. However, despite the setbacks, he is this year’s European champion, and he reportedly competed a 6.6 D score at a recent internal test meet, something he’s hoping he can try out in the apparatus final in an effort to push for a medal and an Olympic spot. I think he’s still my favorite for taking the high bar spot…but he’ll have to fight through the form and consistency issues that have plagued him all season to make it happen.
10. Marios Georgiou (Cyprus)
Another high bar specialist here is Georgiou, normally a strong all-arounder, though he missed Euros and thus the opportunity to qualify via that path, so it’s great that the high bar situation worked out for him. His difficulty is much lower than what Srbic is capable of, but he’s a gorgeous athlete and generally so clean, I really wouldn’t be surprised to see him get the upset, like he just did at the challenge cup in Szombathely a few weeks ago. The one thing really working against him is his lack of experience this year, with his injury holding him back.
The Caveat
In addition to the usual challenges facing gymnasts at events like these, it’s important to make clear that while these individual competitors are at the top of their game and have what it takes to be among the best in their fields, a lot of whether they qualify or not will depend on the teams that do and don’t qualify to the Olympic Games.
For example, if Türkiye or Hungary or Ukraine don’t end up qualifying teams, athletes from those programs get thrown into the individual pool, so super strong athletes like Adem Asil, Krisztofer Meszaros, and Illia Kovtun will suddenly become major competition for a lot of the individual athletes. All three are likely for the all-around, but if they they somehow miss and Asil beats Petrounias on rings again as he did at Euros, then Petrounias is done here, and will have to wait until next year to qualify at a world cup.
Once the teams have been solidified for the Olympics and we know which individuals in each apparatus finals will be Olympic contenders, I’ll have another article up discussing everyone’s chances and likelihood, but for now I hope you enjoyed this look at some of the best non-team athletes in Antwerp!
Article by Lauren Hopkins
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By: Lauren
Title: 10 Individual MAG Olympic Hopefuls at Worlds You Should Follow
Sourced From: thegymter.net/2023/09/29/10-individual-mag-olympic-hopefuls-at-worlds-you-should-follow/
Published Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2023 22:11:01 +0000
