Paris 2024 Olympic All-Around silver medallist Zhang Boheng (CHN) is making his World Cup debut this weekend in Antalya (TUR) amidst a deep Chinese team likely to clash with mature rivals — and one very strong newcomer — from Japan.
At 25 Zhang is the undisputed leader of the Chinese men, with a World All-Around title and three Olympic medals to prove it, an official FIG preview said.
Just 0.233 points stood between him and the Olympic crown in Paris, and the Chinese are now counting on him to show the way for the next generation.
Zhang has registered to compete on Pommel Horse and Still Rings, two apparatus where he can contend with the best and where it is almost certain he will.
On Pommel Horse, he is likely to come up against Olympic silver medallist Nariman Kurbanov (KAZ), who like Zhang is competing internationally for the first time since the Olympics, as well as two-time World medallist Ahmad Abu Al Soud (JOR).
There will be no shortage of contenders for gold on Still Rings, either: the Antalya field includes 2021 World champion Lan Xingyu (CHN), Olympic finalist Vahagn Davtyan (ARM), and red-hot Nikita Simonov (AZE), the victor from the last World Cup in Baku (AZE).
Overall, China’s biggest competition may stem from continental rival Japan, whose delegation includes an Olympic champion in 35-year-old Tanaka Yusuke, a team gold medallist from the Rio 2016 Olympics. Tanaka came out of retirement in 2024 and nearly made the Paris team, and Antalya is his first World Cup start in five years. At the other end of the experience spectrum is 20-year-old Tanida Masaharu (JPN), a young man who shows tremendous promise.
2025 Artistic Gymnastics Apparatus World Cup Antalya Schedule
Competition schedule: The affair will proceed in typical World Cup fashion, with podium training 19 March before qualifications 20-21 March. Finals on men’s Floor Exercise, Pommel Horse, and Still Rings and women’s Vault and Uneven Bars will take place 22 March, with medal events for Men’s Vault, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar and women’s Balance Beam and Floor Exercise set for the 23rd.
2025 Artistic Gymnastics Apparatus World Cup Antalya: LIVE Streaming, When And Where To Watch
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2025 Artistic Gymnastics Apparatus World Cup Antalya: Gymnasts To Watch Out For
A number of World Cup regulars will appear in Antalya, including two-time Olympic Vault medallist Artur Davtyan (ARM) and Tokyo 2020 Horizontal Bar silver medallist Tin Srbic (CRO).
The incomparable Oksana Chusovitina (UZB), fresh from winning the women’s Vault title at the World Cup in Baku (AZE) two weeks ago, will renew her rivalry with Cottbus champion Teja Belak (SLO).
In their first World Cup appearances of the season, Japanese Olympians Okamura Mana and Sugihara Aiko will meet several notables from China, among them the talented Chen Xinyi, a thoroughly capable tumbler on women’s Floor Exercise, and tidy Tian Zhuofan, who has terrific potential on Balance Beam.
Two years on from the Junior World Championships in Artistic Gymnastics in Antalya, the setting of this World Cup is bound to bring back happy memories for at least a few in this field.
Tanida led the Japanese men to gold under the bright white lights of Antalya’s Ibrahim Colak Gymnastics Hall, while Jayla Hang (USA) finished fourth in the women’s All-Around and nabbed silver with her team. Claire Pease (USA), the reigning U.S. junior champion, will be making her World Cup debut too. Both gymnasts plan to try their hands at all four apparatus.