The Oceanic Championships met and surpassed the requirements for drama yesterday as men’s team qualification for the world championships came down an anxious wait for the final score to be posted.
Australia opened the competition with three strong counters on floor, led by Heath Thorpe’s 13.933, but it was New Zealand’s superior pommel horse work that upended the standings early, with Ethan Dick outscoring the rest of the field by well over a point. New Zealand retained an advantage through rings to continue putting the pressure on the favored Australians, but falls from both of the Dick brothers on vault forced New Zealand to count a miss and allowed Australia to flip the competition again, thanks especially to a beautiful Kas 1.5 from James Hardy, taking over the lead by a point heading to the final two events.
New Zealand’s non-secret weapon—Misha Koudinov’s parallel bars—proved the highest score of the day for anyone on any event with a 14.700, which halved the Australians’ lead to just five tenths with only high bar remaining. Thorpe’s leadoff 13.633 proved the heroic score for Australia in that final rotation as Hardy had two falls in his routine, after an otherwise stellar day, which meant an additional Cassina fall from Mitchell Morgans had to count, leaving the door open a crack for New Zealand to finish out the day. New Zealand ultimately put up a solid high bar rotation but, aside from Koudinov who won the event with 13.800, didn’t quite have the D scores to catch Australia, with the Australians ultimately making it to worlds by a half-point margin.
Still, encouraging stuff for New Zealand as what was a five-point deficit last year became just a five-tenth deficit this year.
As the top two all-arounders for New Zealand, Koudinov and Ethan Dick will also advance to worlds as individuals.
The women’s team competition had no such drama, with the Australians taking the lead early and running to a 16-point victory over New Zealand. Although, since New Zealand did not participate in the women’s team competition last year, this 16-point deficit also represents a massive improvement over last year’s 156-point deficit.
The angst on the women’s side was saved for New Zealand’s intra-team race for the all-around spots, where Reece Cobb easily took the first but the second came down to decimal-place truncation as Madeleine Marshall finished .001 ahead of Keira Rolston-Larking despite them both having the same actual total score because the FIG cuts off individual event scores at three decimal places.
| WOMEN | Teams | All-Arounders |
| 2022 Worlds Team Final | United States Great Britain Canada Brazil Italy China Japan France | — |
| European Championships | Netherlands Hungary Romania Belgium Spain Germany Sweden Finland Austria Czech Republic | Maria Tronrud (NOR) Barbora Mokosova (SVK) Emma Slevin (IRL) Anna Lashchevska (UKR) Lucija Hribar (SLO) Camille Rasmussen (DEN) Caterina Cereghetti (SUI) Lena Bickel (SUI) Sevgi Kayisoglu (TUR) Athanasia Mesiri (GRE) Filipa Martins (POR) Paloma Mintcheva (BUL) Zala Trtnik (SLO) Thelma Adalsteinsdottir (ISL) Ilona Krupa (UKR) Mafalda Costa (POR) Halle Hilton (IRL) Lihie Raz (ISR) Christina Zwicker (CRO) Mari Kanter (NOR) Margret Kristinsdottir (ISL) Bengisu Yildiz (TUR) Valerija Ratobilska (LAT) |
| Host Country Spot Reallocation | — | Celeste Mordenti (LUX) |
| Pan-America May 26-28 | 2 | 11 |
| Asia June 15-18 | 2 | 8 |
| Africa May 25-26 | 1 | 4 |
| Oceanic Championships | Australia | Reece Cobb (NZL) Madeleine Marshall (NZL) |
| MEN | Teams | All-Arounders |
| 2022 Worlds Team Final | China Japan Great Britain Italy United States Spain Brazil South Korea | — |
| European Championships | Turkey Switzerland Germany France Belgium Ukraine Hungary Romania Netherlands Israel | Artur Davtyan (ARM) Elisa Koski (FIN) Robert Tvorogal (LTU) Oskar Kirmes (FIN) Sofus Heggemsnes (NOR) Nikolaos Iliopoulos (GRE) Ilias Georgiou (CYP) Ricardo Rudy (AUT) Harald Wibye (NOR) Ivan Tikhonov (AZE) Ashkab Matiev (AUT) Gytis Chasazyrovas (LTU) Gagik Khachikyan (ARM) Sebastian Gawronski (POL) Adam Steele (IRL) Michalis Chari (CYP) Jose Nogueira (POR) Kacper Garnczarek (POL) Petar Vefic (CRO) Yordan Aleksandrov (BUL) Kevin Penev (BUL) Daniel Bago (CZE) Marcus Stenberg (SWE) |
| Host Country Spot Reallocation | — | Valgard Reinhardsson (ISL) |
| Pan-America May 26-28 | 2 | 6 |
| Asia June 15-18 | 2 | 6 |
| Africa May 25-26 | 1 | 2 |
| Oceanic Championships | Australia | Misha Koudinov (NZL) Ethan Dick (NZL) |
The current qualification picture for the apparatus world cups also gets a slight adjustment, as all Australian athletes and all qualified New Zealand individuals are removed with their points redistributed.
| WOMEN | Currently in qualifying position |
| Vault | Oksana Chusovitina (UZB) Darya Yassinskaya (KAZ) Agata Vostruchovaite (LTU) Rifda Irfanaluthfi (INA) Dildora Aripova (UZB) Nancy Taman (EGY) Nazanin Teymurova (AZE) Hillary Heron (PAN) |
| Bars | Yelyzaveta Hubareva (UKR) Jana Mahmoud (EGY) Dildora Aripova (UZB) Lai Pin-Ju (TPE) Rifda Irfanaluthfi (INA) Julie Erichsen (NOR) Aida Bauyrzhanova (KAZ) Magdalini Tsiori (GRE) |
| Beam | Ting Hua-Tien (TPE) Aida Bauyrzhanova (KAZ) Jana Abdelsalam (EGY) Yelyzaveta Hubareva (UKR) Nazanin Teymurova (AZE) Lai Pin-Ju (TPE) Dildora Aripova (UZB) Angel Wong (HKG) |
| Floor | Nazanin Teymurova (AZE) Dildora Aripova (UZB) Aida Bauyrzhanova (KAZ) Rifda Irfanaluthfi (INA) Chan Cheuk Lam (HKG) Darya Yassinskaya (KAZ) Lai Pin-Ju (TPE) Elvira Katsali (GRE) |
| MEN | Currently in qualifying position |
| Floor | Milad Karimi (KAZ) Aurel Benovic (CRO) Eamon Montgomery (IRL) Dmitriy Patanin (KAZ) Dominick Cunningham (IRL) Carlos Yulo (PHI) Filip Lidbeck (SWE) Abdulaziz Mirvaliev (UZB) |
| Horse | Nariman Kurbanov (KAZ) Rhys McClenaghan (IRL) Lee Chih Kai (TPE) Shaio Yu-Jan (TPE) Harutyun Merdinyan (ARM) Abdulla Azimov (UZB) Matvei Petrov (ALB) Ilyas Azizov (KAZ) |
| Rings | Nikita Simonov (AZE) Mahdi Ahmad Kohani (IRI) Artur Avetisyan (ARM) Vinzenz Höck (AUT) Ali Zahran (EGY) Eleftherios Petrounias (GRE) Nguyen Van Khanh Phong (VIE) Vahagn Davtyan (ARM) |
| Vault | Shek Wai Hung (HKG) Carlos Yulo (PHI) Mahdi Olfati (IRI) Ondrej Kalny (CZE) Tseng Wei-Sheng (TPE) Dominick Cunningham (IRL) Aurel Benovic (CRO) Trinh Hai Khang (VIE) |
| PBars | Carlos Yulo (PHI) Mohamed Afify (EGY) Milad Karimi (KAZ) Dilan Jimenez (COL) Ilyas Azizov (KAZ) Lee Chih Kai (TPE) Saba Abesadze (GEO) Filip Sasnal (POL) |
| Hbar | Tin Srbic (CRO) Ahmed El Maraghy (EGY) Milad Karimi (KAZ) Andres Martinez (COL) Neofytos Kyriakou (CYP) Ivan Dejanovic (SRB) Isaac Nuñez (MEX) Utkirbek Jurzev (UZB) |