Kitakyushu (dpa) – Without German participation, the all-around and equipment finals for men will be held at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Kitakyushu.
During the second qualifying day, the last two candidates, Andreas Bretschneider from Chemnitz and Carlo Hörr from Schmiden in the six-round fight, slipped out of the ranks for entry into the medal decisions.
Previously, the competition at the General Gymnasium in the Japanese city had been suspended for two hours. Apparently, despite strict hygiene measures, a Colombian athlete tested positive for the corona virus. As a result, all equipment and the interior of the hall were disinfected before the preliminary battle continued. The FIG world association has not yet issued an explanation of the events. The name of the affected athlete is not known.
Disappointing performance
“That’s the way it is in sport,” commented national coach Valeri Belenki on the disappointing performance of his squad. “You can be well prepared and still something goes wrong.” From a German point of view, there is only the former balance beam world champion Pauline Schäfer-Betz in the competition, who will contest the final on this device on Sunday.
Bretschneider had done what was probably his last international exercise on the horizontal bar with the double somersaults named after him with a double screw over the bar, but after uncertainties he only got 14.10 points.
“We had said that we would give a young team the opportunity to gain World Cup experience,” said Belenki. Some veterans like the Olympic runner-up on parallel bars, Lukas Dauser, and the European championship runner-up on horizontal bars, Andreas Toba, had decided not to travel to Asia. The best in the qualification was all-around Olympic champion Daiki Hashimoto with 88.04 points.