June 19, 2022 - Croatian gymnast Ana Đerek won two new medals at the World Cup tournament. After Varna (gold on the beam and bronze on the ground) and Osijek (silver on the beam and ground), she climbed the podium in Koper twice on Sunday.

She gilded the ground floor and won silver on the beam, continuing an incredible series, the third SK in a row this season to win two medals each, reports 24sata. Or even better, she is thrilled for the fourth weekend in a row, since she had the Croatian Championship between Varna and Osijek, where she won gold twice.

The Olympian of the GK Marjan from Split opened the "vintage" in Slovenia with 2nd place on the beam with a score of 13,250. Only Hungarian Zsofia Kovacz (13,650) was better, while her compatriot Greta Mayer (12,450) was bronze. The second Croatian finalist on the beam today, Tina Zelčić (ZTD Hrvatski sokol) remained one step closer to the podium, she is fourth with 11,700 points in her third SK final in her career.

Ana Đerek's silver on the beam was the 18th medal in the World Cup tournaments, but only a few moments later she reached the 19th in her 33rd final thanks to gold on the ground floor.

She won it with a score of 12,900, and stood on the podium with silver medalist Poppy-Grace Stickler (12,750) and bronze medalist Greta Mayer (12,650). This is Ani's second gold this season after the one on the beam in Varna, but also the fifth in her career at SK.

''Three World Cups in a row, six medals, today gold and silver, I really couldn't be happier'', said Ana.

''Things happened this time on my own, considering that I made a small mistake at the beginning of the exercise on the ground floor where I think I thought that I had dropped out of the fight for gold, but in the end, things turned out so well that even with that one mistake I won gold'', she added.

The Croatian national team is now turning to the Mediterranean Games, and Tin Srbić, Jakov Vlahek, Mateo Žugec, Ana Đerek, and Tijana Korent, their coaches Lucijan Krce and Miroslav Končarević, and judges Dunja Lederer and Ratko Vuković will travel to Algeria on Wednesday.

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June 10, 2022 - Croatia has secured four finals in the Dobro World Cup qualifications, which will be hosted by Osijek's City Garden Hall until Sunday!

On the first day of qualifications, Filip Ude and Robert Seligman on the pommel horse, Aurel Benović on the floor, and Tijana Korent on the vault won a spot among the eight best and Saturday's fight for medals, while World Cup debutant Antea Ercegović is the second reserve for the vault finals. 

Filip Ude came to his 65th World Cup final with the best qualifying exercise and a score of 14,350, while Robert Seligman entered the 63rd final of his career as 6th (13,550).

"65 career finals ... there are still up to a hundred! I'm joking. I am satisfied, I went for an easier exercise, and I did great, even though I did not warm up the best. Somehow I felt hard on the warm-up, a little powerless, but as soon as I raised my arm, and received the pommel horse, the strength appeared and the tremor disappeared, so this is one of the few exercises that I did better than in training. Every element just sat in place and timed exactly when I should be in the exercise," said the former silver medalist.

Slobodan Kadic

"We are not bad for grandparents", he commented with a laugh because he and Seligman are 36 and in the grand final.

"Next year will be me, and I believe Robert, 30 years as we train. I think 95% of gymnasts here are not even 30 years old, and we train that much. I am proud of us, of myself and Robbie, that we are still at the top of the World Cup, we are fighting with twice as many young people and I hope that we are an example to someone that we can. Finals? I’m going to practice with the Busnari element that I haven’t competed in 2.5 years. That's a 50-50 chance. I started preparing the exercise for next year and the Olympic qualifiers."

Before the competition, Robert Seligman announced that this was his last tournament in Osijek and that he wanted to say goodbye in the finals, but for him today he trembled until the last qualifying group.

Slobodan Kadic

"The final is important. I’m very happy about it, but I’m still a little empty. I was the first of 6 groups, it was hard to watch it all until the end, you all know how much this performance in Osijek means to me. I want to perform on Saturday in front of full stands and thank them in the most beautiful way possible for all these years of unconditional support. The 13,550 score isn’t something I’m really happy with, but it turned out to be enough for the finals. On Saturday, everything starts from scratch, we will change something a little in the exercise. I am well prepared, I showed that last weekend at PH here, and I believe I will train at a high level again. We’ll see what that score will bring. Who knows what may happen in the final," Seligman said enigmatically.

"I'm going to enjoy the final."

Another Osijek resident will perform in front of his fans in his hometown. Aurel Benović reached the 9th final of his career with the fifth place in the floor qualifications (13,900), where the best was Adem Asil from Turkey (14,200). The current Olympic winner, Israeli Artem Dolgopyat, did not have his day, and due to a series of mistakes and falls he finished 31.

Slobodan Kadic

"I did the exercise at a medium level, but I am satisfied. I hope to do better in the final and fix the 4th diagonal that I screwed up now and I hope it will be a much much higher grade. Dolgopyat performed before me, unfortunately, he did not sit down to practice in this competition, but he is the strongest when it comes to getting the most, and he showed that in Tokyo. This will just be his rehearsal for the future. I’m sorry we're not in the finals to fight together. I will go with this same exercise in the final with a start of 6.3, but I hope to fix the exercise, and for the Euros that await us in Munich I expect to increase to 6.5, as Artem. If I stabilize it, I can work on it until the end of my career, and I think I will stand on the highest pedestals," said Aurel.

The most experienced member of the Croatia women's national team, Tijana Korent, reached the 37th final of her career in sixth place with 12,849 on the vault. Slovenian Teja Belak was the best (13,733).

"After 10 days, I managed to enter another World Cup final. But I have to admit, I still prefer this to the one in Varna, this is the World Cup at home, the home crowd. It was tense until the very end, the competition is really strong this year because everyone likes to come to Osijek. Today I jumped one new jump, the first one, I had a small mistake when landing, however, that jump was still made on my feet. For the fourth time in a row, I managed to make it now and I hope this is an indication that I can do it as a constant in competitions. I will try another new jump in the final. Everyone asks me how much longer I will, and I only planned to be there as long as I see that I can, as long as I feel good. When I feel my body not allowing it, I will stop. Now I feel good and I enjoy being here," said Tijana.

Antea Ercegović also shone. The second reserve for the finals of the high jump, 10th place among the 25 high jumpers is more than enough for her first time.

"I was very excited, but also nervous. All this is new to me, I compete with girls who have experience in competitions like this, who train for a long time, they are much better than me, but I made both jumps great, better than I imagined. I have no complaints and I can't wait to compete in such a big competition. Now I know why all our national team members adore Osijek."

In the qualifiers, the best was the great Turkish Ferhat Arican (15,400), one of the biggest names in this competition, and in the uneven bars, Hungarian Zoja Szekely (13,600).

On Friday, the second qualifying day, which starts at 3 pm in the hunt for the finals,  Tin Srbić will compete on the horizontal bar, Ana Đerek on the beam and the floor, and Tina Zelčić on the beam.

GOOD World Cup, part of the FeelGood Tour conference

Gymnastics has been the number one story in Osijek in recent days, and the Dobro World Cup, which has just reached its 13th edition, is one of the main stories of the "FEELGOOD Tour" Conference on the topic of sports tourism. Organized by the Regional Competence Center of the Catering and Tourism School from Osijek, Gymnastics Society Osijek-Žito, and Osijek-Baranja County, the aim of the conference was to improve the offer of sports facilities, all in order to enable educational fair-play sports associations and give wind to all organizers of sporting events that sport and tourism are a great combination. Among a number of great lecturers was the manager of the World Cup competition in Osijek, Ivana Maltašić with the topic of Case Study.

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May 29, 2022 - Ana Đerek won two medals at the World Cup in Varna on Sunday!

First, she won gold on the beam, and soon after she won the bronze on the floor! After Mate Žugec's silver medal yesterday on the pommel horse, Croatia returns from Bulgaria with a set of medals, which is a great announcement for the World Cup in Osijek, which awaits us from June 9 to 12.

The Split double Olympian and member of GK Marjan already in the qualifications on Friday showed that she is more than ready for the international season. In her first competition this year with both new exercises both on the beam and on the floor, she reached the finals with the third-best scores. And then today in the finals she shone even more.

Slobodan Kadic

Ana Đerek won gold on the beam quite convincingly, with a score of 13,300 ahead of silver medalist Maise Kuusikko (13,000) and bronze medalist France's Aline Friess (12,450).

Slobodan Kadic

"I am very pleased, overjoyed, and proud to have shown what I did today. This is my first gold at the World Cup on the beam and while the anthem was playing there were tears of joy. This gold on the beam came after a hard period of training. Since the beginning of the year, on the one hand, I have been training on the beam so much, and on the other hand, I hate her so much that this came to me like a fool's dance. The reward for all these months of fighting with ‘do I need this device, why am I doing it so much, why is this not going to get better’… I am so proud because I have a new jump. If someone had told me at the beginning of the year ‘you’re going to do a D jump on the beam’, I would have said ‘well you’re crazy, I don’t have that in me’. In the end, I have the only jump in this competition. I am most proud of that," said the double medalist from Bulgaria.

Soon after one podium, another came. Bronze on the floor with a score of 12,900. France's Aline Friess (13,000) celebrated, while the silver medalist was Greta Mayer (12,950).

"I could have been better, I have better exercises, but to say I'm dissatisfied would be crazy. I did the exercise again, with minor mistakes, but since I had the beam before which tested me both mentally and physically, I pulled out the floor again. As tired as I was, 12,900 is a good grade, bronze is too good a medal. I'm satisfied."

In her career, including Varna, Ana has competed in 29 World Cup finals and has won 15 medals. Croatian gymnastics, on the other hand, has improved its overall numbers and our women's gymnastics currently has 123 finals at World Cups - 7 gold, 16 silver, and 15 bronze medals.

“I hope that this start of the season will not be all I will do in 2022. I am aware that I still have a lot of competition, a lot of opportunities, and that a lot of work still needs to be done so I can end the season and say I am satisfied. But this start is great, great, great!"

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October 29, 2021 - The 30th Team, All-Around, and Individual Croatian Gymnastics Championships, with almost 500 athletes from all over Croatia were held on Sunday, beginning with the women's absolute program at the Osijek City Garden Hall.

Double Croatian Olympian Ana Đerek (GK Marjan) became a two-time Croatian champion by winning gold on the beams (13,050) and floor (13,350).

Slobodan Kadic

“I finished the last competition this year which was full of competitions and I think they were all done successfully. When I look back, I wouldn't change anything. I have very few stumbles this year. Now again after a break from the World Cups and the Olympics I have shown two good exercises - 13,050 on the beam and 13,300 on the floor. I did both exercises really well and I am very satisfied. I came to perform in two disciplines and I won gold in both. I am overjoyed because it is really two difficult weeks for me and because of my obligations in college and life, training, everything. I'm going to a wedding tomorrow, and then I have a few days off. I am ready for a vacation more than for anything else," said the double champion Ana Đerek.

Slobodan Kadic

The all-around champion in the senior competition is Christina Zwicker (ZTD Hrvatski sokol) who collected 49,550 points, silver is Petra Furač (GK Sokol Karlovac) with 48,950, and bronze Ira Benčinić (GK Rijeka) with 36,900 points. Zwicker also won 4 more individual medals - gold on uneven bars (12,250), silver on the beam (12,800) and floor (11,850) and bronze on the vault (12,075).

Slobodan Kadic

"I can proudly say that I am the all-around champion of Croatia. I am still gold on the bars, silver on the beam and the floor, and third on the vault. I am going home to Zagreb with 5 medals, which I am overjoyed with, especially because this competition was after the World Championships in Japan when the top form had actually passed. Admittedly, I have more one competition this year, at the Hungarian Open. They invited me to be part of their team. I am proud that they chose me," said Zwicker.

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October 23, 2021 - Croatian pommel horse gymnast Filip Ude was graded 13,833 for his exercise at the 11th World Championships, in his fourth world final, which wasn't enough for a spot on the podium.

The finals were delayed by more than half an hour, and Japan again showed disorganization at this championship. This long wait certainly upset the pommel horse finalists, which affected their final exercise, reports HRT.

The world champion is American Stephen Nedoroscik with 15,266 points, while silver was shared by Chinese Hao Weng and Japanese Kazuma Kaya (14,900).

"We waited a long time; we cooled down a lot. We waited for 40 minutes in the draft; we were cold. But we were all in the same boat. The conditions were the same for everyone. No one excelled on the pommel horse today. Except for the American gymnast, even though he didn't do the exercise properly. We all stumbled. I felt great, despite that delay. I didn't feel any great pressure; I just wanted to do my thing. I started great; I felt feather-light, full of strength. The horse was very slippery. And I put my hand on magnesium, not honey, and unfortunately, my hand twitched a bit, I slipped, I lost my balance. It all happened in a second, and unfortunately, I didn’t do the whole exercise. I did not lubricate the horse enough," said Filip after the final.

It took a minimum of 14,900 points for the medal, which was very accessible to Filip if we consider that he won 14,866 in the qualifications with the start of 6.0.

"Now, whether it would be enough for a medal or not, I don't know. Others may think, 'I did everything' ... Let's let it go now. I am overjoyed. At the age of 35 to be 7th in the world... I am proud that I did this World Champs as I planned, as I imagined, and that is to enter the finals. In the finals, anything is always possible; unfortunately, this time, I was not judged. But I have more motives, will, desires. Next year, I hope to intensify the exercise with "Busnari" to be even more competitive and to be able to fight with everyone. I look forward to the next competitions. I like that. I love gymnastics; I live for gymnastics. I hope to last as long as possible," said the silver Olympian, former world runner-up, and two-time runner-up in Europe.

Today was a good day for Italy in Kitakyushu. Nicola Bartolini brought her country the first world gold ever on the floor (14,800) in a final in which Japanese Kazumi Minami won silver (14,766) and Finn Emil Soravuo bronze (14,700). Shortly afterward, two Italians were on the hoop podium won by the Chinese Xingyu Lan (15,200). The silver went to Marco Lodadio (14,866), and the bronze to Salvatore Maresca and Russian Grigory Klimentev (both 14,833).

Asia D'Amato is the world runner-up in the vault (14,083), which was celebrated by the Olympic winner, Brazilian Rebeca Andrade (14,966), while the bronze medalist Russian Angelina Melnikova (13,966) is the all-around champion at this World Champs. The uneven bars were gilded by the Chinese Xiaoyuan Wei (14,733), the silver by Andrade (14,633), and the bronze by the Chinese Rui Luo (14,633).

Today, Croatian Lana Sambol traveled to the World Championships in Kitakyushu with coach Niko Robert Crevatini and Mirjana Starčević Bosnar. Namely, next week is the World Championships in rhythmic gymnastics.

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ZAGREB, 13 June, 2021 - Croatian gymnast Ana Đerek won the gold medal in the women's floor exercise and the bronze medal in the balance beam exercise while Tin Srbić won men's high bar gold on Sunday, the last day of the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in the eastern Croatian city of Osijek.

Đerek and Srbić's medals put the total number of medals won for Croatia at World Cup competitions at 382 - 274 for men's gymnastics and 108 for women's gymnastics.

Nina Derwael of Belgium won the gold in the women's balance beam exercise while Diana Varinska of Ukraine won the silver.

Marlies Männersdorfer of Austria won the silver in the floor exercise and Elina Vihrova of Latvia won the bronze.

In the men's high bar, the silver went to Krisztian Balazs of Hungary while the bronze went to Adem Asil of Turkey.

On Saturday, Aurel Benović of Croatia won the silver medal in the men's floor exercise.

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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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December 11, 2020 - As many as six Croatian gymnasts will compete for medals in Mersin, Turkey, on Sunday as part of the European Championships - juniors Liam Rebić and Mate Žugec on the pommel horse, and seniors Aurel Benović on the floor, Filip Ude and Robert Seligman on the pommel horse, and Tin Srbić on the horizontal bar.

Of the entire Croatian delegation, Jakov Vlahek did not make the finals, as he came 14th on the pommel horse. Tin Srbić, the defender of the European silver medal, received the best score of 14,333 in the qualifying round. Aurel Benović deserved his first European final by coming in sixth in the qualifications.

"I went through the qualifiers at this year’s strange European Championships. Honestly, I planned to go into the exercise with a start of 6.2; in the end, it turned out to be 5.8 because I started off poorly, pulled out the jumps, and decided to throw out the "Možnik" element in the middle of the exercise. It would be a little too much for me at that point. I felt like it was training. There are certainly no such calculations in the finals, and I am going with my best exercise, and we are going to attack the medals," said Srbić.

As expected, there were many big names in Turkish gymnastics (Ibrahim Colak, Ahmet Onder) in the finals, and it is a great pity that we cannot see top Russian and French gymnasts in Mersin who canceled their arrival.

Due to the pandemic, Mersin, Turkey replaced Baku, Azerbaijan, where the European Gymnastics Championships were to be held this spring. So far, the strangest EP in the history of gymnastics is being held with strong epidemiological measures and daily COVID-19 testing. The entire national team of Azerbaijan and the juniors from Serbia have already returned home due to infection.

Hard times, but we must wait for Sunday.

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October 4, 2020 - Croatian gymnast Robert Seligman wins the silver on the first final day of the World Cup in Szombathely, Hungary.

HRT reports that in the pommel horse final, Seligman received 14,350 points, and only the Kazakh gymnast Nariman Kurbanov (14,600) was better than him to win the gold. Croatia's second finalist on the pommel horse, Filip Ude, finished 4th with 14,000 points just 0.050 points away from bronze.

For Seligman, this was the 62nd World Cup final in his career and the 27th medal he won, and for Croatian gymnastics, the 135th medal from a World Cup tournament.

"After a seven-month break, I won the silver at the first World Cup! This means a lot because seven months ago, I was injured in the SK final in Melbourne, so I am extremely happy and satisfied today. I deservedly won silver. I did my best both days, and it paid off. The exercise was really great, and I am proud of this silver," Robert Seligman said after the final.

In the second Croatian final of the day, Tijana Korent took seventh place in the high jump (13,125).

"Unfortunately, not everything went according to plan today, but it is important that everything went without injuries. I did the jumps, but not the best I could. Still, it’s all part of the sport. Now we are preparing for the European Championship. I am hoping that it will really take place," said Korent.

On the second final day, which will take place on Sunday in Hungary at 3 pm, Christina Zwicker will fight for a medal on the beams and floor routine, Tina Zelcic will also perform on the beams, and the current vice-champion of the world and Europe Tin Srbic will try to add a medal to his celebrated collection on the bars. 

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October 14,  2019 -  Croatia’s best gymnast Tin Srbic won the silver medal at the World Championships in the men’s horizontal bar final on the last day of the competition in Stuttgart, Germany. He even performed in the final with an injured wrist.

Namely, HRT reports that the 2017 World Champion in Montreal had to practice with a lower starting grade due to an injury, but with a very accurate performance, he earned a total score of 14,666 points, which was enough for the silver medal.

The world champion is Brazilian Arthur Mariano, who achieved a score of 14,900 points, while the bronze medal went to Russo Artur Dalaloyan (14,533), who also won the silver medal in the vault on Sunday.

After winning the silver medal in Stuttgart, young Croatian gymnast Tin Srbic won his fourth Croatian medal at the World Championships and his 11th at major international competitions.

Srbic also became the first Croatian gymnast with two medals at the World Championships. Recall, the Zagreb gymnast won the gold medal two years ago in Montreal, and now in Stuttgart, he’s booked the silver.

However, Srbic isn’t the only Croatian to take home a medal this weekend. Filip Ude celebrated the silver medal on the pommel horse, while Mario Moznik received a medal on the bars. 

This is Ude’s second medal after the at the 2014 World Championships in Nanning, while Moznik won third in the same championship.

Let's add that Srbic has won a total of eleven medals for Croatia at the Olympics, World and European Championships.

Namely, Croatia has received one medal at the Olympics and one silver thanks to Filip Ude in Beijing in 2008. Croatian gymnasts have won four medals at the World Championships and six at the European championships.

You can watch videos of Tin's performance on HRT here. 

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