Stuttgart is the starting point for the 2014-2015 FIG World Cup series in Artistic Gymnastics, a three-competition whirlwind that begins Friday in Germany and ends in March in the United States.
World Parallel Bars champion Oleg Verniaiev (UKR) and reigning World All-around silver medallist Larisa Iordache (ROU) are part of an illustrious lineup at the Stuttgart World Cup, the first of the three competitions.
Boasting a prize pot of more than 100,000 Swiss Francs, the FIG World Cup series aims to unite the top All-around gymnasts in the world for a series of meets spanning several international locations.
The top eight All-around finishers at the 2014 World Championships were the first invited to compete. Iordache is expected to go head-to-head with Aliya Mustafina (RUS), who finished fourth All-around at the 2014 Worlds. Vanessa Ferrari (ITA, sixth), Alla Sosnitskaya (RUS, seventh), Jessica Lopez (VEN, eighth) and Ellie Black (CAN, ninth) round out the competition, with German standouts Kim Bui and Lisa Katharina Hill will lead the host country’s effort.
The men’s competition is also a best-of-the-best from Worlds, with five gymnasts from the top 10 in the Men’s All-around competition expected to compete.
While World All-around champion Kohei Uchimura (JPN) and runner-up Max Whitlock (GBR) will both be absent from competition in Stuttgart, World bronze medallist Yusuke Tanaka (JPN) will compete, as will fourth-place finisher Oleg Verniaiev (UKR), Sergio Sasaki (BRA, seventh), German star Fabian Hambuechen (eighth) and Ukrainian transplant Nikolai Kuksenkov (RUS, ninth).
American powerhouse Donnell Whittenburg and Japanese national team standout Yusuke Saito complete the men’s lineup.
Notable names for the team challenge include Andreas Bretschneider (GER), who may attempt his signature element, a double-twisting Kocacs on Horizontal Bar, as well as Olympic Still Rings champion Arthur Zanetti (BRA) and former European Parallel Bars champion Oleg Stepko (AZE).
Former World Floor champion and fan favorite Ksenia Afanasyeva (RUS) and 2014 World team members Ekaterina Kramarenko (RUS), Ilaria Kaeslin (SUI) and Sophie Scheder (GER) headline the Women’s Team competition. In addition, 24-year-old Kristina Pravdina, a former World team medallist for Russia, will be using this competition to make her debut for Azerbaijan, with the goal of helping the Azeri team at next summer’s European Games.
Competition website: http://www.enbwdtbpokal.de
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