In addition to the Burgenland native, daughter of former national soccer player Michael Mörz, Selina Kickinger and Leni Bohle also have outside chances of taking part in the summer games. A ticket for Paris will be awarded at the European Championships.
It is the final stage of a seven-part qualifying mode. The 22-year-old Kickinger is the most promising candidate from the local association Turnsport Austria. At the World Championships in Antwerp in the fall, she narrowly missed out on a ticket to the Olympics after a near-fall.
Kickinger: “I’m a competitive type”
“I’m a competitive guy. I need this positive stress in competition. It’s good for me, I can then perform even better,” said the all-around European Championship 18. 2023. Most recently, Kickinger’s focus has been on stability, and a few weeks ago the difficulty of the exercises went up.
For a successful EM, she says, a “healthy risk” is needed. “If you really just try to do your exercises safely, it will be difficult.” The chances are greater with a higher starting value. Bianca Frysak, who also still has hopes for Paris, is out due to a foot problem. Carina Kröll, who is also injured, is also missing from the team competition.
“You can still expect a lot from her”
Mörz deals with the initial value and thus the difficulty rather defensively. “It is not necessarily important to have a good starting point,” explained national coach Gabriele Frehse at a press conference. “It’s more of a good execution than a high-quality element that scores more points.”
GEPA/Patrick Steiner According to her trainer, Charlize Mörz still has a great future ahead of her
The German thinks highly of Mörz. “I knew Charlize was very talented, but it happened quicker than expected. We can still expect a lot from her.” The 18-year-old athlete expects herself to reach the European Championship final on the ground. She already has a routine at finals, but not at European Championships.
“It would be the first time that I qualified for the top eight in continental title fights. It will definitely be a difficult undertaking – but I have recently proven that I belong to this elite and am positive about achieving my goal there.” The Austrians’ European Championship qualification is scheduled for Thursday afternoon, the apparatus finals for Saturday.
