Sunday 25 October 2015
Day four of the World Gymnastics Championships will see a host of top male gymnasts take to the podium in the SSE Hydro as the men’s Team and individual qualification draws to a close.
The USA’s men’s team will be looking to replicate the success of their female counterparts who dominated the women’s qualification. The USA men, who claimed the silver medal last year in Nanning, China will be aiming to go one better, whilst also securing their place in the top eight for Rio. Look out for 2012 Olympic All-Around bronze medallist Danell Leyva, who will be looking to score highly and go through to in the individual competition.
Also determined to secure a top eight finish will be Ukraine, featuring the dominant Oleg Varniaiev. The 21 year old continues to grow in confidence after a successful 2014, which saw him claim the overall 2014 FIG World Cup Series as well as the European and World Parallel bars titles. After claiming the 2015 European All-Around title he is considered a true contender for “King Kohei’s” crown. The leading eight nations after the next two days of qualification will progress to the all-important
All eyes will also be on high-flying Dutchman, Epke Zonderland, the double world champion on Horizontal Bar, who will be aiming to claim his third successive world medal. A qualified doctor, Zonderland will be leading the Netherland’s charge to book a team appointment at next summer’s Olympic Games and join their women’s team in Brazil.
What Zonderland is to the High Bar, Krisztian Berki is to the Pommel Horse. The expert Hungarian has claimed the European and World pommel titles six and three times respectively. While Berki has dominated the Pommel, there will be a number of close contenders in the race for the 2015 World crown, with Great Britain’s Louis Smith and Max Whitlock also ready to battle for gold.
When it comes to experienced men’s gymnasts there are few more experienced than Romania’s eight time world champion Marian Dragulescu. The Romanian, who has three Olympic medals to his name (silver and two bronze) suffered an ankle injury which kept him out of the London 2012 Olympic and he is here in Glasgow aiming to make up for that disappointment. At 35, this may be his last chance to add the elusive Vault gold to his collection in Rio.