The world championships in balance beam gymnastics will be held in Liverpool this coming weekend. The 17-year-old Maisa Kuusikko of the Finnish team is excited to take the World Cup stage.
Vilma Ahosola,
Riikka Smolander-Slotte
The world championships in balance beam gymnastics will be held in Liverpool, Great Britain, this coming weekend. In Finland, a team of seven people participates in the competitions. One of the strongest members of the young team is 17 years old Maisa Kuusikko.
Kuusikko will do gymnastics in Liverpool in the team competition, 4-match and possibly in the individual finals.
The 24 best athletes can qualify for the 4-match final, and the best eight from each bracket can enter the bracket-specific competitions. The Finnish women’s team was able to compete in the team competition of the World Cup thanks to its great European Championship performance.
The World Championships are by no means the first in Kuusikko’s career. He already competed on the World Cup stage last year, but his performances were put on hold due to an ankle injury. Kuusikko says that he is looking forward to the World Cup competitions.
– With this group, the trip will be great. I was hungry from the previous World Championships, when I only participated in that one bracket and that too went under the bench. Now is the first World Cup competition where I compete with all the racks, and I’m leaving with confident feelings.
Kuusikko skillfully won gold in the balance beam final at the World Challenge Cup competition. In this year’s EC competitions, his final ranking was 11th.
To travel without a coach
Kuusikko, who represents the Tampere gymnasts at club level, has been able to prepare for the World Championships in an exemplary manner, of course there have been some small bumps along the way.
– There have been a few illnesses and injuries, but I feel good at the moment.
Kuusikko achieved a total score of 52.198 at the European Championships. What can be expected from him on the World Cup stage?
– I had a good feeling from the European Championships. We’re going to get the same thing from the World Cup. More efficiency is needed, the difficulty is already at a good level.
Gymnastics is a sport where you can do well at a young age. The members of the Finnish women’s team are all under 20 years old. Kuusikko says that he is going to the World Championships to get experience and to do his best performance.
The sad thing about the World Cup is that Kuusiko’s coach is not Igor Cherepov get to travel to Great Britain. He has not been granted a visa.
– That’s just how it goes and you have to live with it. We are prepared for it. I can trust other coaches.
Originally from St. Petersburg, Cherepov has coached women’s balance beam gymnastics for over forty years: in the Soviet Union, South Korea, Portugal and Finland.
Since January 2003, Cherepov has been an employee of Tampere Gymnasts.
The number one name in Finnish balance gymnastics Emil Soravuo will not compete for Liverpool as his qualifying performances were marred by injury. The Finnish men’s team narrowly missed out on a place in the team competition, so the athletes who claimed an individual place through the qualifiers will compete in the World Championships.
In parentheses is the gymnast’s year of birth.
Women’s team: Sani Mäkelä (2002), Maisa Kuusikko (2005), Kaia Tanskanen (2005) and Ada Hautala (2003).
Men’s team: Robert Kirmes (2000), Elias Koski (1999) and Akseli Karsikas (2002).
A total of 73 countries are included. 213 gymnasts in the men’s division, 199 gymnasts in the women’s division.
Race days:
will show the world championships in balance beam gymnastics from 29 October to 6 November 2022.
Read also: