A Team-By-Team Breakdown of the Worlds Nominative Roster

Eythora Thorsdottir

The FIG released the nominative roster for world championships, which means it’s time to get really mad about teams that aren’t even final yet, just so we can get mad again in a couple of weeks when the teams become official!

In all seriousness, I’d say around 90% of the teams on this nominative list are pretty accurate. Most countries don’t have enough depth to play so much with their rosters that they’ll have an entirely new team. Some programs – like the United States and Germany – will probably replace an athlete or two, but national team directors aren’t just pulling names out of a hat until the official team is named. Whether the current lists are based on the most recently available results or on an expected team, there’s still something guiding the process.

Note that this list is just about the teams on the list since the individual competitors have already been made official for both WAG and MAG.

ARGENTINA

The WAG team is made up of mostly young and less experienced athletes, none of whom have competed at world championships previously. Even Sira Macias, the veteran at 20, isn’t super experienced, not making her international debut until 2019 with this year’s Pan Ams the biggest competition under her belt.

The rest of the athletes – Rocio Saucedo, Brisa Carraro, Meline Mesropian, and Leila Martinez, all born in 2005 – have potential, and are the best seniors in the country right now along with 2020 Olympian Abigail Magistrati, which was the one name I was surprised to see not on the list. It looks like she was initially named to Argentina’s teams for both the South American Games and worlds, but a recent Instagram post suggests she may be injured and unable to attend.

AUSTRALIA

The federation had already officially announced its MAG team – featuring 2022 Commonwealth Games athletes James Bacueti, Tyson Bull, Mitchell Morgans, and Clay Stephens along with Heath Thorpe and traveling alternate David Tanner – so our focus here will be on WAG.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games all-around champion Georgia Godwin leads the nominative roster for WAG, with her Birmingham teammates Emily Whitehead, Romi Brown, Kate McDonald, and Breanna Scott, with Georgia-Rose Brown – who hasn’t competed since nationals in 2021 – also on the list, with the Australian federation later confirming that this is the official team. They actually included Brown in a position that looks like she may be on the team over Scott, who is listed sixth, and this comes after a recent internal test competition so they likely have good reason for doing so. If Brown is back at the levels we’re used to seeing her compete – especially on vault and bars – I wouldn’t be surprised by this swap.

AUSTRIA

When I checked out the Austrian team, I was not at all surprised to see the heroic members of this summer’s Euros team – Jasmin Mader, Selina Kickinger, and sisters Alissa and Charlize Mörz – named, especially after they put up their country’s best team finish in European Championships history by coming in 11th in Munich. But Carina Kröll, the German transplant who has helped take Austria to new heights, is unfortunately not included, and it seems to be due to a shoulder injury that is currently limiting her. Instead, 15-year-old Berta Schwaninger is expected to compete. Schwaninger was sixth at nationals this year, where she also won the vault title, and if she ends up competing, this will be her major international debut.

The men’s nominative team includes Alexander Benda, Ricardo Rudy, Askhab Matiev, Severin Kranzlmüller, Vinzenz Höck, and Manuel Arnold, all of whom with the exception of Kranzlmüller competed at Euros. But Kranzlmüller is typically one of the top all-arounders for the program and is this year’s national champion, so I can see him taking over for one of the other guys, with Arnold most likely. Unless there are injuries, though, this is almost 100% going to be the team.

BELGIUM

The complete Euros team is registered on the nominative list, including Noémie Louon, Maellyse Brassart, Lisa Vaelen, Jutta Verkest, and Fien Enghels, but there’s one more name on the list in the sixth spot who could definitely shake things up, and that name is 2020 Olympic bars champion Nina Derwael. Untested so far this year, Derwael was supposed to return at the Paris Challenge Cup last week, but she ended up not competing, meaning worlds could mark her comeback if she’s named to the team.

Belgium is currently hosting a few internal tests, but if Derwael makes it, who would she replace? Louon only contributed on beam in the team final in Munich, while Enghels competed only on bars, so I expect it’ll be either of these options. Louon was really stable in her routine, though, while Enghels had some struggles with consistency. If they keep Enghels, I can’t see a scenario where she’d be used in a team final, while if they keep Louon, she would still be necessary in a team final beam line-up, so assuming Derwael is back to a solid level on both events I think Enghels could potentially be moved to alternate status.

Only four men are listed for the MAG team, including Noah Kuavita, Luka van den Keybus, Takumi Onoshima, and Maxime Gentges. This is a bit risky if this really is the complete team, but it could be that they’re focusing more on individual performances than on any major team goals, so I understand in that case.

BRAZIL

Neither the men’s nor the women’s teams for Brazil are that surprising. The WAG team is of course led by 2022 Olympic champion Rebeca Andrade along with two-time Olympian Flavia Saraiva, with 2016 Olympian Lorrane Oliveira, Carolyne Pedro, and Julia Soares also expected to be on the team, while Christal Bezerra is in the alternate spot. The only way this team will change is if Luisa Maia unveils her Yurchenko double at this week’s South American Games, in which case she will replace Pedro, who will likely take over for Bezerra in the alternate spot.

The MAG team has mainstays Arthur Zanetti, Caio Souza, Diogo Soares, Lucas Bitencourt, and Arthur Mariano all listed, with Yuri Guimarães in the alternate spot. I highly doubt anyone will be named over any of these six, but it’ll be interesting to see if Guimarães can take a team spot from Bitencourt. He has tremendous ability on floor and vault, but can be a bit inconsistent, so I’m wondering if they’ll go for potentially huge scores or more proven consistency.

CANADA

A lot of people wondered if either Denelle Pedrick or Shallon Olsen would be on Canada’s WAG team, since their strengths are so similar, but it looks like the federation may end up going for both, as they’re both on the nominative roster along with Ellie Black, Rose Woo, and Sydney Turner, with Laurie Dénommée in the likely alternate spot.

There are two names missing here – Emma Spence, who apparently didn’t go to a trial meet likely because she’s back at Nebraska for the season, and Ava Stewart, a 2020 Olympian who looked a bit inconsistent at Pan Ams this summer, so it’s not a huge surprise to see Black named in her place, while Dénommée – who was mostly strong at the Commonwealth Games – in the alternate spot. Again, there likely won’t be many changes here, and the five expected to compete are truly the best of the best in the country right now.

The men’s anticipated team of Chris Kaji, Félix Dolci, William Emard, Zachary Clay, and and Samuel Zakutney is kind of incredible, with Emard finally back in commission as of last week after an extended absence. It’s looking like Kenji Tamane is in the alternate spot for now, and I’m repeating myself again, but I don’t expect anything on this team to change unless there are injuries.

CHINA

After following both the Asian Championships as well as China’s national competition this year, the WAG nominative roster was no surprise, featuring 2020 Olympians Tang Xijing, Zhang Jin, and Ou Yushan, along with 2021 world bars champion Wei Xiaoyuan, and 2021 worlds bars bronze medalist and this year’s national champion on the event Luo Rui, along with He Licheng, third all-around at nationals, in the anticipated alternate spot.

China is reportedly going to travel to Liverpool with seven gymnasts and won’t name the official team until podium training, and my guess is that either Asian beam and floor champion Wu Ran or beam stunner Sun Xinyi will go, though Wu only competed bars at nationals, so an injury could limit her. Others on the training squad under consideration include Qi Qi, Zhou Yaqin, Yue Yue, Xiang Lulu, Chen Yanfei, and Zuo Tong, with Xiang an especially attractive option thanks to her floor work, which is where the team has the biggest deficit.

On the men’s side, it’s 2021 world champion and should-have-been-an-Olympian Zhang Boheng leading the pack, along with 2020 Olympians Sun Wei, You Hao, and Zou Jingyuan, and rounded out by three-time Asian Championships medalist Yang Jiaxing as well as floor and vault standout Su Weide in the alternate spot.

This is the first major team without either of last quad’s stars, Xiao Ruoteng and Lin Chaopan, with both competing at nationals but not at a high enough level or on enough apparatuses to factor in to this year’s decision. China has a lot of MAG specialists that I think could have been in consideration along with this group, but these six guys is the best combination of athletes who can do multiple events at a high level, with even the most specialist of specialists capable of contributing on more than one apparatus in a team final scenario.

COLOMBIA

After sneaking into the final qualification spot at Pan Ams, the Colombian team expected for worlds is slightly changed from the team we saw in Rio, with two important additions – Jossimar Calvo and Javier Sandoval. Otherwise, the Martinez brothers – Andres and Manuel – are both on the roster, along with Dilan Jimenez, and I don’t anticipate any changes to this roster unless there are injuries within the next few weeks, in which case Kristopher Bohorquez is likely the best option to step in as a replacement.

EGYPT

Egypt’s WAG team is the same one we saw win gold at the African Championships this year, headlined by 2020 Olympian Zeina Ibrahim and 2021 world vault finalist Nancy Taman, who made history with her fourth-place finish on vault in Kitakyushu. The team also includes up-and-comers Jana Abdelsalam, Jana Aboelhasan, and Jana Mahmoud, and it’s unlikely we’ll see anyone else step in.

An Olympian also headlines the MAG team, with Omar Mohamed leading the way alongside 2022 African champion Mohamed Afify. As with the WAG team, the group that took the gold in Cairo earlier this year is unchanged, also including Ahmed Abdelrahman, Abdelrahman Abdelhaleem, and Zaid Khater. Notably missing from the team are rings specialist Ali Zahran and high bar specialist Ahmed El Maraghy, likely due to the constraints of a five-person squad, but both could provide helpful scores if needed to step in.

FINLAND

It seems that Finland is opting to send only four women to compete as a team in Liverpool, meaning all four scores will have to count in qualifications – a bit risky, though Finland isn’t expected to be a team final threat, so it shouldn’t be a huge deal, and the scenario worked well enough for them at Euros this summer for the group to earn Finland’s best-ever team finish ever in 10th place.

The four who competed in Munich are all on the roster for worlds, including Ada Hautala, Sani Mäkelä, Kaia Tanskanen, and of course Maisa Kuusikko, who earned a personal best all-around score at Euros as well as Finland’s top finishes in history on bars and floor.

FRANCE

Both the WAG and MAG teams were announced prior to the release of the nominative roster, but for a little refresher, it’s Marine Boyer, Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos, Coline Devillard, Aline Friess, and Carolann Heduit with Morgane Osyssek on the roster for the women’s team, while the men’s team includes Cameron-Lie Bernard, Paul Degouy, Benjamin Osberger, Mathias Philippe, and Léo Saladino, with Julien Saleur named alternate.

GERMANY

The German WAG team listed on the nominative roster is one of the spots where I think there’s going to be the potential for major overhaul. Right now, Anna-Lena König, Emma Malewski, Elisabeth Seitz, Pauline Schäfer, Lea Marie Quaas, and Sarah Voss are all listed, but Voss recently announced her decision to withdraw from the selection process due to a tear in her calf muscle, and in addition to this definite loss to the team, Seitz has had to miss a lot of training time over the past few weeks due to a positive COVID-19 test, while Malewski is dealing with a foot injury.

This weekend’s Bundesliga meet acted as the first test for the ladies, with König and Quaas underperforming a bit, though Karina Schönmaier, the top all-arounder in the team competition, stepped up as someone who may be a surprise addition to the squad, perhaps in Voss’ place. I still think König will make the team, thanks especially to her capabilities on vault and floor, and Quaas is a good option for an alternate, but if Seitz and/or Malewski have to miss the final trial, held on October 15, Germany will have to dig even deeper into its roster to find another replacement or two. Kim Bui, you’ve only been gone for two months…ready for a comeback?

The men’s team is a bit less dramatic, with all five members of the Euros squad expected to compete in Liverpool, including Lukas Dauser, Nils Dunkel, Lucas Kochan, Andreas Toba, and Glenn Trebing, while Nick Klessing will serve as alternate. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone else can make moves at trials, but this team seems pretty secure, and is capable of scoring really well with a hit.

GREAT BRITAIN

Another program where both the WAG and MAG teams have been named, with the silver medal-winning Euros team of Ondine Achampong, Georgia-Mae Fenton, Jennifer Gadirova, Jessica Gadirova, and Alice Kinsella competing on the women’s side, while the gold medal-winning Commonwealth Games and Euros team of Joe Fraser, James Hall, Jake Jarman, Giarnni Regini-Moran, and Courtney Tulloch fills the men’s roster. The most anti-climactic announcement, but why mess with success?

HUNGARY

It’s great to see a pretty solid level of depth from the Hungarians this year, and even though worlds will likely be a repeat of who we saw in Munich, there are a couple of athletes who could fit well into the alternate roles and take over just in case. The nominative roster features the entire 2022 Euros team, including vault champion Zsofia Kovacs, Csenge Backsay, Zoja Szekely, Greta Mayer, and Mirtill Makovits, while Nikolett Szilagyi – a talented beam and floor worker – is the likely alternate.

I think it could go either way between Makovits and Szilagyi, but with both Bacskay and Mayer on the team there is quite a strong hole on bars, which I believe makes Makovits necessary to the puzzle – and she also brings a calm presence to her performances on beam and floor. My only concern here is Kovacs dealing with an abdominal strain that kept her out of two recent challenge cups, but hopefully resting her was preventative enough to keep her healthy for worlds.

The men’s team is also a great one, featuring standout performers Krisztofer Meszaros and Krisztian Balazs along with Benedek Tomcsanyi, Botond Kardos, Balazs Kiss, and likely alternate Szabolcs Batori. Meszaros and Balazs have had great international success this season and should be the top performers in Liverpool, and both have tremendous potential to qualify for Paris 2024, very important to the Hungarian program, which did not qualify any men to the 2020 Games.

ITALY 

The Italians have national championships coming up in a week, after which I believe the federation will make the teams for worlds official, but the nominative rosters for both WAG and MAG look pretty accurate based on what we’ve seen this season, so the biggest question will essentially be figuring out who gets to replace the injured Asia D’Amato?

As anticipated, both Veronica Mandriota and Manila Esposito are on the nominative roster alongside the expected team of Alice D’Amato, Martina Maggio, Angela Andreoli, and Giorgia Villa. Mandriota has often stepped into vault and floor roles in team scenarios with this group, including at the DTB Pokal meet and Jesolo this year, while first-year senior Esposito – who recently moved to Brixia, aka what is essentially the national team gym – is a strong all-arounder with good scores on the routines D’Amato leaves behind, but I think her bars could also be helpful for qualifications if the team opts to not use Andreoli’s.

Nationals should be the final determining factor both for who goes and what holes most need to be filled, but I think it will be an either-or situation between Mandriota and Esposito, with whoever doesn’t make it getting the alternate spot. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Italy just names the six who will travel, and then waits until podium training to make the final decision.

After winning an historic silver medal at Euros, the men’s team is largely unchanged, featuring Nicola Bartolini, Lorenzo Casali, Yumin Abbadini, and Matteo Levantesi. Subbed in for Andrea Cingolani, who only competed rings in the Munich team final, is Ludovico Edalli, who should be a big help on pommels, p-bars, and high bar, while Mario Macchiati is in the likely alternate spot.

Missing is Carlo Macchini, the brilliant high bar specialist who only competes that one event, though he recently returned to competition on pommel horse, likely as a way to make himself more competitive for five-person teams going forward. We also won’t see Marco Lodadio, who was injured shortly before Euros and had to miss out there as well.

JAPAN 

Both teams were named a million years ago, as is common for Japan, which selects its teams based on all-around performance at the combined national championships and NHK Trophy in April and May, and then chooses the final couple of spots at the apparatus nationals in June.

Nothing has changed for either team, with Fukasawa Kokoro, Kasahara Arisa, Miyata Shoko, Sakaguchi Ayaka, and Yamada Chiharu on the list for WAG while Doi Ryosuke, Hashimoto Daiki, Kamoto Yuya, Tanigawa Kakeru, and Tanigawa Wataru are set for MAG, though we did get a glimpse into the likely alternates for both teams – Watanabe Hazuki, fourth all-around at NHK, is listed in the women’s spot and 2020 Olympic medalist Kaya Kazuma, also fourth at the same meet, is listed for the men.

KAZAKHSTAN

The standouts for the men’s program, 2020 Olympian Milad Karimi and pommel horse king Nariman Kurbanov, are both listed to lead the team for Kazakhstan in Liverpool, joined by teammates Ilyas Azizov, Dmitriy Patanin, and Emil Akhmejanov. Azizov and Patanin have done some great work on the international scene this season, including at a few recent challenge cups, though I don’t think I’ve ever seen Akhmejanov compete. He’s taking the place of Farukh Nabiyev, a member of the 2022 Asian Championships team that earned the qualification spot for worlds, but doesn’t seem to have a ton of international experience, aside from attending Gymnasiade this year, but he seems to be at a similar level as Nabiyev, so I don’t think the team’s performance will be affected much.

MEXICO

Mexico qualified a WAG team to worlds this year, and named the five who would compete just a couple of weeks ago, which includes Paulina Campos, Natalia Escalera, Cassandra Loustalot, Ahtziri Sandoval, and Paulina Vargas, while Cinthia Ruiz will serve as alternate.

Sandoval, Escalera, and Campos have been core members of the team this year, placing fourth at Pan Ams along with Vargas, with Loustalot, this year’s national beam champion who also finished fourth all-around, the only new addition. She’s landing her first international assignment since 2018 (and third senior assignment ever) over Pan Ams competitors Greys Briceño and Karla Rivera. It’s nice to see that the program has several options and isn’t as limited as they can be at times, and it’s also great to see Loustalot stepping onto her first major team at the age of 22!

NETHERLANDS

I think the WAG team we see listed on the nominative roster will be exactly the team we see in Liverpool, though the Dutch athletes still have one final trial that will decide everything. The expected team of Naomi Visser, Sanna Veerman, Tisha Volleman, Shadé van Oorschot, and Eythora Thorsdottir is pretty similar to what we saw at Euros, with the exception of Thorsdottir stepping in for Vera van Pol, who is taking some time off to focus on her studies.

With Thorsdottir not having competed all four events since the Olympic Games over a year ago, I was a little concerned about how well she’d replace such a core all-arounder for the team, but she calmed those fears pretty quickly by winning the first trial over the weekend with a 53.933. Visser and Veerman rounded out the top three at this trial, while Volleman rested on vault due to a minor injury. First-year senior Casey-Jane Meuleman, who won silver on floor at nationals this year, is currently in the alternate spot.

The men’s nominative team includes 2022 Euros team members Martijn de Veer, Jordi Hagenaar, Jermain Grünberg, and pommel horse silver medalist Loran de Munck along with Casimir Schmidt, who missed out on Euros but seems to be in the mix to replace Yazz Ramsahai, who is listed in the alternate position at the moment. Schmidt said on Instagram that he wasn’t happy with the results from his first worlds trial, where he competed on pommels, rings, and p-bars. With Ramsahai looking strong on floor and vault at Euros, I think it could go either way between the two, but the second trial will hopefully give us some more insight.

ROMANIA

In a very surprising turn of events, the Romanian WAG program is only sending two athletes despite qualifying a full team. Because they accepted the team berth initially, there wasn’t enough time to offer the team berth to the alternate team – the Czech Republic – meaning only 23 teams will compete at worlds. It’s kind of an unfair part of the process, but the program’s reasoning is that they want to “keep everyone healthy” for 2023 – kind of funny considering they forced Silviana Sfiringu to compete a last-second floor routine at Euros qualifications for absolutely no reason even though she hadn’t trained it for weeks.

The two who were selected include Euros beam and floor finalist Ana Barbosu and her Munich teammate Andreea Preda. The two finished first and third all-around at Romania’s nationals over the weekend, separated by junior Amalia Ghigoarta, but both Sfiringu and Ioana Stanciulescu sat this competition out, while fellow Euros competitor Anotnia Duta placed just 11th.

The men’s team set on Romania’s roster is identical to the Euros team, featuring the Burtanete twins, Gabriel and Robert, along with Andrei Muntean, Razvan-Denis Marc, and Toma Modoianu-Zseder. The MAG program doesn’t have a ton of senior depth to pull from right now, so this was pretty much expected, but the team far out-performed the expectations I had for them at Euros, with both Gabriel Burtanete and Marc breaking an 80 all-around, while the former also qualified into the vault final, where he finished fifth. It’s not a team final-level program, but it’s the best they’ve got right now, and the only way any of them would be replaced is due to injury.

SOUTH KOREA

Both teams for South Korea were named prior to the release of the nominative roster. The WAG team features 2020 Olympians Lee Yunseo and vault medalist Yeo Seojeong along with Eom Dohyun, Lee Dayeong, and Shin Solyi, a stunning assortment of athletes that should result in a very strong team result in addition to a couple of all-around and apparatus final spots. 2016 Olympian Lee Eunju will serve as alternate. The men’s team includes 2020 Olympians Kim Hansol, Lee Junho, and Ryu Sunghyun, joined by Kim Jaeho and Lee Junghyo, with Lee Jangwon in the alternate position.

SPAIN

The nominative roster for the women’s team here shockingly did not include the standout performer from Euros, beam finalist Alba Petisco, though the other four who qualified with her to the team final – Laura Casabuena, Emma Fernandez, Lorena Medina, and Paula Raya – are all listed. It looks like Petisco was in a boot at an event last month, but in happier news, the program could potentially see her Tokyo teammate Marina Gonzalez, who began her NCAA career this past season, in her place. The alternate is currently listed to be Maia Llacer.

We should see the exact team we saw at Euros on the men’s side of things, complete with 2020 Olympic floor medalist Rayderley Zapata along with fellow Olympians Joel Plata, Nicolau Mir, Nestor Abad, and Thierno Diallo, while Joshua Jack Williams is listed as the alternate. No surprises here, as this is an excellent team that has done so much together over the past year, and we absolutely won’t see this change unless there is an injury.

SWEDEN

The Swedish women managed to snag the very last spot available for worlds at Euros this summer, and we’ll see all four Euros competitors – Alva Eriksson, Tonya Paulson, Emelie Westlund, and Nathalie Westlund – on the roster again here, with Maya Ståhl – eighth all-around and fourth on beam at this summer’s Nordic Championships – rounding things out. It’s nice to see that the team is able to reach into its depth to find a fifth member after only having four compete in Munich, and again, with these athletes currently the best in the country, a replacement will only come with injury.

SWITZERLAND

After sending a bit of an A+B team mix to Euros, it looks like the Swiss men’s program will want to keep a couple of its Munich competitors, including Andrin Frey and Noe Seifert, but replace the rest with proven standouts and two-time Olympians Christian Baumann and Benjamin Gischard along with Taha Serhani, while Euros team member Moreno Kratter is in the alternate spot.

The risk here is that Baumann, Gischard, and Serhani haven’t competed all season, with the latter two both making first appearances at a trial meet over the weekend. But in a twist of fate, Kratter actually won this trial with an 81.500 ahead of Seifert (second), Frey (fourth), and Gischard (fifth), while Serhani competed every apparatus except rings, his highest finishes coming on p-bars and high bar. With Baumann not competing, I’m going to assume he’s not fully ready for a comeback right now, in which case I’d have Kratter on my team in his place especially given his great results. The next trial should make things a bit more clear, but for now it’s hard to justify Baumann with no competitive experience.

TAIWAN

Most of Taiwan’s WAG team from this year’s Asian Championships will compete again here, including 2020 Olympian Ting Hua-Tien along with Lai Pin-Ju, and Mai Liu Hsiang-Han, while Wu Sing-Fen and Chen Chian-Shiun are also on the roster with Huang Yi-Qin in the alternate spot.

Wu, who competed at worlds in 2018, is back on the international scene after a lengthy absence, and should be able to serve as a strong replacement over Asian Championships competitor Huang Tzu-Hsing, who is missing from this roster.  I haven’t seen much from Chen since she competed at the Asian Games back in 2018, while Huang is almost completely new to me, though competed a few events at Gymnasiade earlier this year. Assuming this is who we’ll see compete, it’s a good mix of veterans and newcomers, and it will be nice to see some younger or out-of-practice gymnasts get this opportunity.

The men’s team was a bit more predictable, led by several 2020 Olympians, including pommel horse silver medalist Lee Chih-Kai, top eight all-around finisher Tang Chia-Hung, and Hung Yuan-Hsi. We’re also expected to see Lin Guan-Yi and Yeh Cheng compete, both of whom have had some strong challenge cup results in recent weeks, while Tseng Wei-Sheng is listed as the alternate – though after this weekend’s challenge cup, where Tseng snagged gold on vault while Yeh finished eighth and landed at the bottom of the floor and p-bars finals, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a change.

I was surprised to see Olympian Shiao Yu-Jan not on the roster, even in the alternate position. He won silver on pommels with a great routine in Szombathely, and has looked great all year, but I guess with only one event it’s hard to justify him right now.

TURKEY

There were absolutely no surprises for the Turkish team, led by 2020 Olympians and 2022 European all-around medalists Ahmet Önder and Adem Asil, along with Tokyo teammate Ferhat Arican and Euros teammates Kerem Sener and Mehmet Ayberk Kosak, while Sercan Demir, who came in third all-around at a recent friendly meet against Italy, is the alternate.

This is almost certainly going to be the team we see announced, though I could see them playing a bit between Sener and Demir for the fifth spot, especially after Demir outscored Sener on their best event, p-bars, at the friendly meet and also has more to offer on high bar. Of course, the team is missing rings star Ibrahim Colak, who is injured, but hopefully will be back in top health to help the team qualify to Paris 2024 at next year’s worlds.

UKRAINE 

With some recent high-profile retirements from Diana Varinska and Anastasiia Bachynska and an injury to Daniela Batrona adding another cloud over an already dark year for the Ukrainian team, which has been a bit in shambles as Russia has spent the past seven months attacking their country. But while there aren’t any real individual standouts at the moment, the WAG program managed to put together a high-level team for Euros, and it’s likely we’ll see that same team in Liverpool, which includes Valeriia Osipova, Yuliia Kasianenko, Marharyta Kozlovska, Diana Savelieva, and Yelizaveta Hubareva.

The men’s team is of course still missing Oleg Verniaiev, but in his absence they’ve had Illia Kovtun stepping up to do massive things for this program, including winning an all-around medal at worlds last year, while his 2022 Euros teammates Pantely Kolodii, Mykyta Melnykov, and vault bronze medalist Igor Radivilov round out the team, along with Bohdan Suprun, whom I haven’t seen compete at all this year.

Shockingly missing from the nominative roster, and why we’re seeing Suprun on the team, is Petro Pakhniuk, generally one of the top contributors across the board for Ukraine. Pakhniuk took to Instagram just two days ago, and he’s thankfully not injured – but instead explained the selection committee’s decision to leave him off in favor of giving the youths more international experience. For what it’s worth, Pakhniuk does not agree with the decision, essentially calling it a B team and saying the decision, which seemed to have come down solely to the head coach, is “absurd.”

UNITED STATES

Ah yes, the U.S. women’s nominative roster, aka the holy grail of nominative rosters causing the most drama and chaos year after year. This year, it’s not actually all that wild? I think most people kind of have a “perfect team” of Konnor McClain, Shilese Jones, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, and Leanne Wong in their heads, and that’s almost exactly what the nominative roster has, just with Skye Blakeley in place of Wong, who is back at Florida for the time being and not (yet?) on the national team for the 2022-2023 season.

At nationals, Wong had said her plan was to go to Florida for the start of the season, but then go to trials and worlds as well, so assuming this is still the plan, she still has a very strong shot at being on the team, especially to balance things out on bars and beam. Blakely is good on these events, albeit a bit less consistent, so Wong would be my pick, but if Wong does opt to focus on college this year, Blakely wouldn’t be a bad choice. The only other person who would make sense in that spot is really Kayla DiCello, but I’m pretty sure she’s done with elite and is fully focused on Florida.

Lexi Zeiss is in the alternate spot on the nominative roster, which sounds great to me – she was stellar at Pan Ams, finished seventh all-around at nationals (behind the others already listed above) and could step in absolutely anywhere. It’ll be hard to find a place for her on the team itself…while she’s fantastic, she doesn’t have a standout apparatus, and wasn’t top three anywhere at nationals. But she’s easily my first pick for alternate based on everything we’ve seen this year. It’ll just come down to trials to see what, if anything, will change, though I hope Katelyn Jong – who just had some success at the challenge cup in Szombathely – can end up challenging.

The men literally just wrapped up their final trial after spending a few days at the USOPTC. The nominative roster had the pre-qualified Brody Malone and Donnell Whittenburg leading the team along with Asher Hong, Stephen Nedoroscik, and Curran Phillips, with Colt Walker in the alternate spot, but Phillips is dealing with an injury and turned down the opportunity to compete at trials.

I think Hong and Nedoroscik have pretty much locked up spots at this point, even though Hong left much to be desired with a number of mistakes on his best events on the second day of trials…but his floor, rings, and vault are pretty necessary to the team, and it’ll be hard for anyone to add as much as Nedoroscik can bring on just one apparatus, so for me, it’ll just come down to Walker and the other guys at trials – Shane Wiskus, Yul Moldauer, and Paul Juda – for that last spot.

Everyone’s been a bit hit or miss all week, but I think Walker adds the most value, and is probably the most balanced all-arounder, though I think today’s high bar performance could add a little doubt. Moldauer is also excellent, but I don’t think he’s at 100% on some of the events where the team could use him most (notably pommels, p-bars, and high bar), though he showed a lot of improvement in some areas at the selection camp compared to nationals.

Article by Lauren Hopkins

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By: Lauren
Title: A Team-By-Team Breakdown of the Worlds Nominative Roster
Sourced From: thegymter.net/2022/10/05/a-team-by-team-breakdown-of-the-worlds-nominative-roster/
Published Date: Wed, 05 Oct 2022 22:32:28 +0000