November 6, 2022 - Filip Ude came in eighth in the world on the pommel horse! In his fifth final at the World Championships in Liverpool, he made a mistake on a jump that cost him a score of 12.500 and the initial score of 5.7. However, Filip was anything but a disappointed finalist.

"I survived. I decided to take a risk. I had no chance with that qualifying exercise. The last time I competed in this exercise was a year ago, and unfortunately because of that Gymnova horse tlly doesn't suit me, I couldn't train for the exercise I did today. For the first time now, I raised my hand and tried it. I decided to take a risk; it doesn't matter, it's fifth or eighth, it doesn't matter to me', Filip said in a breath after the final in which he took a risk with the element of "three Russian rounds between the grips" which significantly increased his starting rating.

Photo: Slobodan Kadić

Before the final he said, "when I come to the last warm-up and try that element, I will know if I will go for it or not." And it worked great on that "one touch." "I did it well during practice, too, but it took an awful lot of energy. 30% of my energy is taken away by that element, that's why in the qualifications I did one that comes easy to me. Well, after the "roller coaster" it was as if someone took away all my energy. I dragged on, I don't even know how I dragged it to the end. On the jump I thought I would fall on the horse like the Dutchman De Munck, but I shot the jump in the wrong direction. It could have been better, but the maximum I could do with that exercise was fifth because I spread my legs. I'm not going to say 'if this, if that'..., the Čakovčan, who in his career already won world silver in 2014, was fifth in 2010 and seventh last year on pommel horse, said in all honesty.

What impressed everyone the most with Filip was that he really took risks and that he fought until the end. After a mistake on the jump, he got back on the horse and went for another jump. "Honestly, I don't know, I have no idea why I even went to do the jump again, because then I made a mistake. I was so exhausted... I don't know, I wanted to try to do an E jump to at least finish in style, but my hands weren't mine. Anyway, I'm satisfied, I'm happy." And he looked happy.

Photo: Slobodan Kadić

"I'm happy that I entered the final at all, considering the problems I had in training with that horse. I have nothing to complain about. Yes, the grade is what it is, but for me this final is like I won a medal, considering everything I went through. I'm in the top 8 in the world, being this old... Look, an Armenian won bronze at 38. I have a few more years for sure, but next year I have to practice more. This time I took a risk, it didn't pay off, but my time will come."

The world champion on pommel horse is the Irishman Rhys McClenaghan (15,300), bronze medalist from the 2019 WC and European champion in 2018. The runner-up is Ahmad Abu Al Soud (14,866), who brought Jordan the first medal in the history of the gymnastics WC. The bronze medalist is the oldest finalist here, the 38-year-old Armenian Harutyun Merdinyan (14,733), current European champion and bronze medalist from the WC 2015.

"The boys were better today. Next time I have to prepare better", said Filip Ude.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated Sport section.

April 6, 2022 – The Vukovar Gymnastics Club performed outstandingly in the 1^st round of the Croatian Cup, bringing home team gold and an array of individual medals.

As hrv writes, the 1^st round of the Croatian Cup in the Basic Program of Women's Sports Gymnastics was held on April 3 at the Sokol Centre in Osijek in the organisation of the Osijek-Žito Gymnastics Society. The Vukovar Gymnastics Club had representatives in all categories in the team and individual competition. The oldest category was the only one without new competitors. In the other three categories, in addition to already experienced competitors, new members of the competition group performed. In the junior category, one new competitor performed, while in the cadet and junior categories half of the team consisted of girls who all took part in a competition for the first time. All of them did very well and successfully completed the first competition. Special praise goes to those who won individual medals in their first official competition: Lea Služek, Franka Markešić, and Iris Špehar.

The Vukovar Gymnastics Club was the most successful in this competition where the gymnasts in all categories won the team 1^st place, as well as the most individual medals. All Vukovar’s gymnasts performed as follows:

Cadets – team 1^st place. Individually: 1^st Ema Županović, 2^nd Franka Markešić, 3^rd Una Baždar 5^th Jana Cvetković, 8^th Marina Đerđ and 9^th Franka Ljubić.

Younger juniors – team 1^st place. Individually: 1^st Služek Lea, 2^nd Špehar Iris, 6^th Mirosavljević Adrijana, 7^th Gavrilović Ljiljana, 11^th Velerajter Natali, 18^th Horvat Livija.

Juniors – team 1^st place. Individually: 1^st Badanjak Helena, 2^nd Gavrilović Olivera, 4^th Jaman Mirjam, 5^th Božanović Ana, 10^th Mirosavljević Marijana and 11^th Roša Lorena.

Younger seniors – team 1^st place. Individually: 1^st Gužvić Kristina, 2^nd Ivanković Tena, 4^th Skokić Lana, 5^th Andrašević Dijana and 9^th Mašić Tea.

The next competition for the Basic Program will be held in June.

After this competition, The Vukovar Gymnastics Club has brought home another 4 team gold medals, and individually 4 gold, 4 silver, and 1 bronze medal.

To read more about sports in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

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