This is only the third time the world championship went outside of Finland and Russia. The Finnish team Gloria, which reached bronze, achieved the first World Cup medal in its history.
STT Sports,
Heikki Ali-Hokka,
Emma Jump
The Finnish teams Minet and Gloria won silver and bronze in gymnastics at the World Team Gymnastics Championships in Austria. The championship dreams of the Finns were crushed by the Bulgarian national team, which took the first place with a difference of 0.35 points to the defending champion Minetti.
Minetit, who improved from the initial competition, got 19.3 points in the final competition, but the gap to the top did not narrow, but widened. The jury awarded the Bulgarian national team with 19.5 points on Sunday. After the preliminary race, the Bulgarians already had a 0.15 point lead over Minetti.
The Finns had high expectations for the World Championships, as Russia, the second great country in the sport, was on the sidelines due to their country’s military operations.
The Bulgarian national team ended up in Graz with a total score of 38.55 points and Minet, who were aiming for their fourth championship, with 38.2 points. The world championships of Minetti, consisting of gymnasts from three clubs, are from 2015, 2017 and 2021.
– Minetti’s performance was really good. I was very satisfied that the team was able to improve and refine their performance from yesterday. That was their own maximum and top performance today, coach Titta Heikkilä comment.
Heikkilä estimated that the performance of the Bulgarians was overall better than Minetti’s.
– This is not a disappointment. Winning the World Championship is never easy. We have a really young team. They made it in a tough spot, so there’s no way they’ll be disappointed. I am very satisfied with the silver and the performance, Heikkilä said.
Gloria’s first World Cup medal
The capital region’s Gloria collected a total of 37.5 points from the two performances, while the final competition brought 18.8 points from the judges. The World Cup medal is the team’s first for Gloria. In previous years, it has been left out of the final in the comparison of Finns, because only two teams from the same country can reach the final of the top 12. On Saturday, Gloria was third in the preliminaries and eliminated the fifth-placed OVO Team from Espola from the final.
The team gymnastics world championship has been competed for since 2000. This was only the third time the championship went outside of Finland and Russia. In 2001 and 2007, the Estonian team celebrated the World Championship gold.
Under-16s also competed in the World Championships, in whose series Minetit junior gymnasts became the champion with a combined score of 37.9. Bulgaria’s junior national team was second with 37.55 points and OVO Team’s Junior team took bronze with 37.25 points.