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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December 14, 2020 - Tin Srbic defended his silver medal on Sunday at the European Championships in Mersin, Turkey, winning another silver medal on the horizontal bar with a score of 14,600. And he wasn't the only Croatian gymnast to take home a silver medal. 

It was the most successful European Championship for Croatian gymnasts because two more silver medals were won in Sunday's finals.

Slobodan Kadic

Namely, Filip Ude won silver on the pommel horse and repeated 2008 when he was also the European runner-up. In the same discipline, Robert Seligman took fourth place.

Slobodan Kadic

Aurel Benovic also won the silver medal in his first European final in the floor exercise.

Slobodan Kadic

Croatia has won nine medals in men's gymnastics since 1992. In 2008 in Lausanne, Filip Ude won the silver and Robert Seligman bronze on the pommel horse. 

Marijo Možnik was the runner-up in Montpellier in 2012, and the European champion in 2015 in the same city.

Robert Seligman won silver in 2018 in Glasgow, and Tin Srbic won silver in Szczecin last year, while three more silver medals were won in Mersin this year.

Slobodan Kadic

Slobodan Kadic

Mateo Žugec, an 18-year-old from Varaždin, a member of GK Vindija, and a student of coach Emil Šanjek was sixth at the 2018 Junior European Championships, took 5th place at last year's World Junior Championships, and is now one step closer to the podium. He received a score of 13,100 for fourth place.

"The fact is that I am 4th in Europe, but I am not very satisfied. The exercise was clean all the way to the very end, where I made two mistakes, and it cost me medals, even the silver. But, all in all, with the state of my hand, and also a lot of problems with my wrist, this is also good. During the warm-up, both my hands ached, I was convulsing, I thought I wouldn’t be able to do any element at all, especially not the whole exercise. But I got it all out of my head and said ‘whatever happens will be,’ and here I am, 4th in the end. I know I have to be satisfied, but I need a little more time to cool down," Mateo said after the final.

Liam Rabić (ZTD Hrvatski Sokol), another pearl from the factory of coach Lucijan Krce, who created world champion Tin Srbic, celebrated his 17th birthday in Mersin on Thursday, and he wished for this final, his first European, as a gift. In the end, he came in fifth place with a score of 13,066.

"I am satisfied because I gave my best; I think I did the best I could. I was expecting a higher score, but I'm also happy with this. I have no objections. After this, I now have a lot of work to do on the new elements and actually just a lot of training," Liam said.

After Mersin, Croatian juniors have participated in 15 finals at the European Championships since Croatian independence, and have won two medals.

Source: HRT

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