The team finals at the World Championships in Liverpool will take place without the German gymnasts. With 155.64 points, the heavily weakened squad of the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) had no chance and missed the final battle in tenth place after eight of ten qualifying rounds in the M

But the group, which included Elisabeth Seitz, 18-year-old European balance beam champion Emma Malewski, her club colleague Lea Marie Quaas, who was a year younger, Karina Schönmaier, who was the same age, and 16-year-old Anna-Lena König, all did well Only one fall in the first round and showed an impressively stable performance.

"We're proud of what we've achieved here," said national coach Gerben Wiersma. During the preparation, the athletes had come together to form a real team. Seitz was always available to answer questions from the less experienced, "I feel a bit like a proud mother right now," said the Stuttgart native later.

Also all-around final without German participation

But she still had to tremble. As eighth with 14.40 points, she was still on a final place on both bars at the time, but the strong teams from Great Britain and Italy were to follow later in the evening. Malewski, also decorated with EM gold in August, had to bury hopes of a medal on her flagship device at her first World Championships after several uncertainties in 14th place with 12.933 points. The all-around final on Thursday will also take place without German participation.

Three of the gymnasts from the European Championship quintet, which finished third in August, were not available this time: Kim Bui from Stuttgart ended her career after the European Championships at home, Sarah Voss from Cologne and Pauline Schäfer-Betz (Chemnitz), second at the World Championships on the balance beam. , had to pull out due to injury.

Seitz and Malewski struck at the start

Seitz and Malewski weren't 100% fit when they started either. The uneven bars specialist caught a coronavirus infection at the beginning of the preparation and only showed up on the two bars and on the jump. Malewski is still suffering from a toe injury and therefore did not play at the table. Schönmaier (50.633) and König (49.999) presented a complete four-way battle.

The Germans, who performed in the long-legged suits, got through their programs very well on floor (38.266), vault (40.166) and parallel bars (40.433). On the beam (36.799) Quaas had to leave the device once. "The atmosphere was great and I'm very happy that I was here," said Schönmaier, expressing what her teammates thought. "It was great fun."