In a long awaited announcement, the FIG confirmed that the All-Around World Cup Series has been canceled. The series was supposed to be a way for top teams from the 2019 Worlds to compete for extra non-nominative Olympic spots. The first competition of the series, the American Cup last year already took place during the pandemic and, as a result, competitors from several countries withdrew. This originally seemed like they took themselves out of contention for the extra spots since all four cups were supposed to count towards the final country placement. Then the FIG made the decision to count only points from three World Cups in the series and it was still possible to miss one and earn an Olympic spot. The other three World Cups (Stuttgart, Birmingham, and Tokyo) were then postponed until 2021 with the hope that things would look better by then.
However, with the pandemic becoming even worse this year, the World Cup in Stuttgart was canceled. If the Birmingham and the Tokyo World Cup went through, it would effectively mean a disadvantage for the countries that skipped the 2020 American Cup. Last week, Valentina Rodionenko indicated that the Birmingham WC would be canceled as well but the official announcement was only made this week.
The Tokyo World Cup might still happen and it’s supposed to be an Olympic test event but with only two World Cups the series cannot proceed. That means that the Olympic spots are given to the countries that placed in the top three in the qualification at the 2019 Worlds. For women, it’s the USA, Russia, and China, and for men, it’s Russia, China, and Japan.
Russian men might get another Olympic spot from the Apparatus World Cup Series (Vladislav Poliashov is currently sharing the lead on parallel bars), while Russian women have several gymnasts capable of winning an extra spot at the European Championships in April. US women effectively got their two extra spots by now because Jade Carey is leading both vault and floor at the Apparatus World Cups Series. China should also get their additional spots on both men and women’s sides through the Apparatus WC series. Japan has Hidetaka Miyachi sharing the lead on high bar with Epke Zonderland. If Zonderland wins the tie, Japan will have another chance to win an extra spot through the Asian Championships and they are extremely likely to do so. On the women’s side, Japan doesn’t yet have additional Olympic spots but they should have no problem getting two – Urara Ashikawa is leading beam at the Apparatus WC Series and Mai Murakami will be eligible to qualify a spot at the Asian Championships since she missed the 2019 Worlds.
The pandemic is also affecting the competitions that are not canceled. The Apparatus World Cup in Doha which was postponed from last year will take place without spectators this year on March 10th-13th. The European Championships scheduled for April 21st-25th in Basel will also take place without spectators.
