German Championships – July 6-9

German Championships will get underway with the women’s all-around on July 6th (15:00), followed by the men’s all-around on July 7th (15:30), and event finals on the 8th (13:30) and 9th (11:00)—streaming on ZDF.

Coming off triumphant team bronze at 2022 Euros in Munich, the German women finished just 9th at Euros this year and will be eager to show that’s not the new normal by putting up some high scores at nationals. Elisabeth Seitz and Pauline Schäfer-Betz will, as usual, headline the event, which also features 2022 Euro beam champion Emma Malewski and 2022 worlds team members Karina Schönmaier, Anna-Lena König, and Lea Marie Quaas.

Of note, Sarah Voss’s injury has forced her to withdraw from the nationals roster, which is also missing last year’s junior national champ Meolie Jauch.

American Classic – July 9, 9:45am CT

The senior session of American Classic, the pre-Classic Classic (just to keep things crystal clear), comes our way this Sunday on FlipNow.

Technically, American Classic is the exact same competition as August’s US Classic, just less of a thing, since the qualifying standard required to compete at both meets is the same (50 AA) and both meets can be used to qualify to nationals (51 AA). American Classic is just the one that’s at a gym instead of an arena, and the one where Simone and Suni aren’t there.

Typically, American Classic is used by those athletes who haven’t pre-qualified for nationals and, most sensibly, want to give themselves two shots at reaching that 51 AA rather than absolutely needing a hit at US Classic. This year, however, a couple bigger names are joining them on the roster. Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos will compete at both American and US Classic, doing the important work of teaching Americans that there are people from other countries, while world bronze medalist Kayla DiCello will also be back to elite after her first year at Florida. 

One thing to keep in mind at the Classic meets is that gymnasts who compete the AA at either one become ineligible to petition to nationals. So for those who aren’t already qualified for nationals (from 2022 worlds or from camps and competitions post-August 2022), they need to be confident in their ability to score a 51 if they’re going to compete AA at a Classic.

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July looks fairly slow this year, but the elite division at Spanish Championships gets underway on July 21 with Ana Perez, Alba Petisco, and Laura Casabuena headlining the women’s field, and for fans of the littles, gymnastics at the European Youth Olympic Festival runs from July 25-29.

Things ramp up again at the beginning of August, with competition at the University Games starting August 1st, and the senior US Classic on August 5th.