German Gymnasts Miss World Championship Final – Eder and Kevric Save the Day

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents German Gymnasts Miss World Championship Final – Eder and Kevric Save the Day.

235.928 points – that is the number that stands on October 18, 2026 in Rotterdam, when the German men's team finishes qualification at the Gymnastics World Championships. The squad of the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) lands at 15th place, well outside the top 8 that will compete for medals on Tuesday evening. National coach Jens Milbradt makes no bones about what that means: "15th place is our current value in the world – there's no sugarcoating it. We left far too many points on the table overall."

The critical factor was clear from Milbradt's perspective: "Our performance on floor was the absolute critical point. After that, we had no chance at the final. I did not expect errors at this frequency." Japan topped the leaderboard with 254.529 points, ahead of Great Britain (251.460) and the "neutral athletes" from Russia. China, the USA, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Colombia also secured their spots in the team final.

Eder scrapes into all-around final by 0.4 points

One name stands out from the German men's performance: Timo Eder. The 21-year-old from MTV Ludwigsburg, an Olympic participant from Paris, made the all-around final with 78.432 points – the narrowest of margins – where 24 gymnasts will compete for medals on Thursday evening. Had he scored just 0.4 points less, it would have been over for him too. "My personal goal for the all-around final is to score more points than this time," says Eder himself.

Stelmach as second-best German – Dunkel weak on signature apparatus

Behind Eder came Radomyr Stelmach with 76.931 points. The athlete born in Ukraine has only been competing for Germany since this year. For parallel bars European champion Nils Dunkel, who had recently been struggling with a hand injury, things went poorly on his signature apparatus with a score of 11.900 – and as for Stelmach, Glenn Trebing and Lucas Kochan, the World Championships ended without a trip to a final.

Women's squad lays solid foundation – Kevric shines on uneven bars

The outlook looks considerably better for the women's team. In the first of ten qualification rounds overall, Helen Kevric (Stuttgart), Karina Schönmaier, Lea Marie Quaas, Emma Malewski (all Chemnitz) and Madita Mayr (Jetzendorf) posted 158.661 points. Better at the opening were only the USA with 164.529 points, along with Italy and Japan. Whether the squad actually reaches the team final will only be decided late Monday evening.

Kevric delivered a stellar 14.766 points on her signature uneven bars routine, taking a big step toward the apparatus finals next Saturday. "I am very satisfied with my performance – the team also performed well," said the Paris Olympic sixth-placer. In August, she had won gold on uneven bars at the European Championships in Zagreb, ending her ordeal following a knee injury sustained the previous year in Leipzig. She can already plan on the uneven bars final.

Schönmaier falls on vault – and wrestles with herself

Karina Schönmaier, by contrast, suffered a setback on vault: on her second attempt she lost her orientation in the air and fell. "It wasn't my day! I simply lost my orientation in the air before my fall," said the 21-year-old, who had triumphed on vault at the home European Championships in Leipzig the year before. The competition on vault is over for her. After defending champion Angelina Melnikova of Russia was ruled out due to a visa not being issued, Schönmaier had entered the competition as Germany's medal hope. "I set myself a very big goal and maybe also put myself under pressure," she tried to explain her mistake.

Teammate Lea Marie Quaas, meanwhile, drew a conciliatory conclusion from the first round: "We did it mega well as a team." Now it's "lots of fingers crossed and wait and see."