European Championships
“A great team” – German gymnasts at the European Championships in the final
Kim Bui is in the team final with Germany’s gymnasts. photo
© Soeren Stache/dpa
Everyone is on their own on the apparatus, but off the podium they are a team. The German gymnasts show team spirit and are on course for the final at the European Championships.
In the end, the five German gymnasts hugged each other. “We’re a super strong, great team,” said Kim Bui.
At her last European Championships, the experienced 33-year-old led the squad of the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) to 158.730 points and placed fourth in qualifying for the team final. “I’m most proud of the progress made by the team and the team result. Everyone fought for each other,” said national coach Gerben Wiersma.
“We still have potential upside”
The team final of the eight best teams will take place on August 13 (2:00 p.m.). Italy (165.162), Great Britain (162.129) and France (159.131) were better than the DTB squad. “We want to have a great gymnastics competition on Saturday and improve our personal performance a bit. We still have potential,” said Pauline Schäfer-Betz, “we don’t even want to talk about any medals just yet.”
Kim Bui, who will end her career after the European Championships, was also the best German gymnast with 52.999 points and took eighth place in the all-around. After being in third place for a long time, she was almost a point short of bronze at the end. “That’s the sport. I knew that it’s strong gymnasts who do gymnastics in the last round. It was clear to me that I wouldn’t hold this position to the end. All right, I’m still very satisfied and happy ‘ Bui said.
The new title holder was Asia D’Amato from Italy with 54.732 points ahead of Brit Alice Kinsella (54.132). The Italian Martina Maggio secured third place with 53.965 points. The only 18-year-old Emma Malewski from Chemnitz scored 52.032 points and took 14th place. The German all-around champion Sarah Voss (Cologne) collected 50.899 points in the four-way battle.
Seitz only competed on uneven bars
As at the German championships at the end of June in Berlin, the German record champion Elisabeth Seitz (Stuttgart) only competed on her special device, uneven bars and vaulting. On parallel bars, like Bui, she received 14,200 points, both of which qualified for the apparatus finals. The Chemnitzer Schäfer-Betz only started on the balance beam and on the floor. On the balance beam, Malewski qualified second best for the final with 13.500 points, as did Schäfer-Betz with 13.166 points.
Qualifying in the morning started with a moment of shock. Sarah Voss twisted her ankle when dismounting from the balance beam and limped off the podium with a calf injury. “The calf is fine given the circumstances. It could be better,” she said, admitting that the calf was damaged even before the championship. Therefore, she also renounced actually planned, more difficult elements on the ground as well as during the jump. “I got the best out of myself personally,” summed up the 22-year-old, adding: “All in all, I’m very satisfied with how the whole other team caught it, that in the end we still present ourselves well and with a good one team result.”
Emma Malewski was particularly inspired by the atmosphere in the team. “Emma presented herself excellently as our youngster, came through extremely solidly,” Voss praised the 18-year-old, who took 40th place in the all-around at her European Championship debut in 2021 in Basel. After the first round she was now in third place. She didn’t expect that, nor did she expect the high score, she admitted with a refreshing laugh. “It was just fantastic to do gymnastics here,” she said and, like everyone else, praised the atmosphere in the team: “Totally great. It’s just so amazing. We’ve bonded so much over the past few days. A great team.”
