February 27, 2022 - Filip Ude won gold on the pommel horse, and Aurel Benović won silver on the floor at the Gymnastics World Cup in Cottbus! Current silver Olympian Tin Srbić will also compete in the final on Sunday.
The silver medalist from Beijing in 2008 shows that he still belongs to the world top, even at 35 years old. In Cottbus, he won the 17th medal of his career in his 63rd World Cup final, and this is his 4th gold overall. Eight years have passed since the last gold medal at the World Cup. So far, he was on top of the podium in Moscow and Maribor in 2006, but on the floor, and in 2014 in Osijek on the pommel horse.
Slobodan Kadic
"I'm happy. The second victory of my career on the pommel horse. After almost 30 years in my career! I did the best exercise in the final. I didn't go through my whole exercise, although I strengthened it compared to the qualifications, and it was enough for gold," said Filip.
He celebrated with a score of 14,366, while the silver went to Ukrainian Ilya Kovtun (14,166) and bronze to American Brody Malone (14,133).
"I haven't talked to anyone here about the current political situation. Coach Igor Križimski talked to everyone, saying that the situation was difficult. This is very unusual to me that in 2022 war can happen like that. I'm sorry about that. I feel sorry for those people. I hope it stops as soon as possible. To finish as soon as possible, with as few victims as possible and all the evil that goes with it," Ude said.
Former European runner-up on the floor, Aurel Benović, won his fifth medal in his sixth career World Cup final.
Slobodan Kadic
So far, the Osijek native has won gold at the World Cup in Varna in 2021 and Mersin in 2019, silver in Osijek in 2021, and bronze in Koper in 2019.
Only Jahor Sharamkov from Belarus (13,933) was better than Aurel (13,766) in Cottbus. The bronze went to Italian Thomas Grasso with 13,700 points.
"I am happy and satisfied with the silver medal. I have to be honest and say I’m not overly happy with the performance itself, but the medal is there, and I can’t complain. Some mistakes didn’t have to happen but thank God I have a chance to correct that at the World Cup in Doha that awaits me next week. We travel there on Monday, there is training on Tuesday, and we have qualifiers on Wednesday. I also hope to enter the finals and repeat such a good result. It's great that I immediately started collecting points to qualify for the World Cup in the fall in Liverpool," said Aurel Benović after winning the medal.
Slobodan Kadic
At 2 om on Sunday, on the last day of the competition in Cottbus, Croatia will have the finalist in the hurdles, the current silver Olympian Tin Srbić.
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