Gymnastics World Cup
Dauser wins World Cup gold on parallel bars – “More than a dream”
Won gold in Antwerp: Lukas Dauser. photo
© Geert vanden Wijngaert/AP/dpa
Lukas Dauser has reached his peak. For the first German gymnastics world champion in 16 years there is beer from his predecessor. The association is pondering its Olympic strategy for women.
With gold on the parallel bars in Antwerp, he became the first German gymnastics world champion since Hambüchen 16 years ago. “This is more than a dream. When I think about my career, it’s unbelievable, I can’t believe it. What’s going on here? The world’s best gymnast – that’s unbelievable,” said Dauser with a big smile on his face.
“That was on point”
When he finished his excellent routine with a clean dismount into the standing position, he gave free rein to his emotions and was celebrated by the spectators in the packed stands. The judges gave the world championship performance a score of 15,400 points. “Great exercise. That was perfect. I’m on cloud nine,” said national coach Valeri Belenki.
His home trainer Hubert Brylok in Halle/Saale watched his pupil’s performance relaxed but with wet hands. “That was spot on,” he praised. Before the competition, Dauser himself was nervously tense like never before and went through his exercise countless times in his head. “I didn’t do that well at all. But I didn’t give a shit. I told myself that if I raised my arm, I would be able to do my exercise. The fact that I managed to do it so well is really cool,” reported the world champion. He won silver at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and the World Championships last year.
Schäfer Betz missed a medal
It wasn’t enough for Pauline Schäfer Betz to win a medal. The woman from Chemnitz came eighth on the balance beam with 12.800 points. A shaky start, a narrowly avoided fall and the deduction of 0.1 points due to excessive time cost her a better placing. “Today it just didn’t go well. I can do better and I’ll show that. I went all in, but it just wasn’t enough,” said the 26-year-old.
With his title win, Lukas Dauser improved the World Cup record of the previously medalless German Gymnastics Association (DTB). “Overall, you have to look at the World Cup in a differentiated way,” said sports director Thomas Gutekunst. They are very satisfied with the men’s team and the Olympic qualification as well as a total of seven final appearances. “But we focused on both teams and we didn’t qualify with the women’s team. That’s why we’re not happy with that,” he explained.
Nevertheless, with Schäfer-Betz and probably Sarah Voss (Cologne), there are two named gymnasts and three gymnasts due to a quota starting place at the start in Paris. “This is the best possible result in the scenario that we don’t qualify with the team,” said Gutekunst.
Women miss Olympic qualification: what now?
Meanwhile, the DTB has begun to think about the most promising strategy for filling the women’s Olympic Games. Because the team was eliminated from qualifying for the Olympics, the association only has one free starting place to offer instead of the five they had hoped for. Criteria have been agreed with the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), “which will certainly now be looked at again together with the DOSB,” said the sports director.
The German championships in Frankfurt/Main and a qualification competition in Würzburg in June next year will determine the nomination. “The criteria include the forecast values for medal and final placements and will continue to be based on this,” said Gutekunst. However, it has not yet been conclusively clarified whether, as usual, the all-around result or the performance on an apparatus are decisive. “This is something that needs to be discussed and sharpened in this particular case,” he explained.
A tough battle for the Olympic place is expected. In addition to the currently injured former European champions Elisabeth Seitz (Stuttgart) and Emma Malewski (Chemnitz), the World Cup starters Meolie Jauch (Stuttgart) as well as Karina Schönmaier and Lea Marie Quaas (both Chemnitz) also have ambitions. In addition, the highly talented junior Helen Kevric (Stuttgart) is moving up to the adult level, having won four gold medals at the European Youth Olympic Festival this year.