Swiss gymnast makes history with bronze at World Championships

This is the first gymnastics all-around medal for Switzerland since 1950 Keystone-SDA

Noe Seifert wrote Swiss gymnastics history in the all-around final at the World Championships in Jakarta. The gymnast from Aargau showed impeccable performances on all six apparatus and fulfilled his medal dream by finishing third.

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Seifert was the first all-around gymnast from Switzerland to win a world championship medal since 1950. The last Swiss to do so were Walter Lehmann and Marcel Adette. The duo even snatched all-around gold (Lehmann) and silver at the home World Championships in Basel.

At the highlight of the season, Seifert managed to “rehabilitate” for the European Championships in Leipzig in May, when he was the best gymnast in the qualification for the all-around final, but ultimately came in sixth. He missed out on bronze on his dismount from the last apparatus.

Best on pommel horse

In Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, Seifert achieved the top score of all 24 finalists on the pommel horse (14.000). He also recorded the second-best score on the floor with 13.866 points behind the eventual winner Daiki Hashimoto. Seifert’s weakest performance was on vault with 13.733 points, which was still the twelfth best score.

One week before his 27th birthday, Seifert delivered an exceptionally high level competition. He did not make any major mistakes on the six apparatus. He only slipped up slightly on his dismount from the rings.

Thanks to his consistency at the highest level, Seifert also kept the higher-rated Chinese gymnast Shi Cong (4th place) and Shinnosuke Oka (5th place) at bay. The Japanese athlete won three gold medals at the Olympic Games in Paris last summer, including in the all-around.

Langenegger also performs well

Gold went to Oka’s compatriot Hashimoto in Jakarta. The 2021 Olympic all-around champion scored 85.131 points, keeping China’s Zhang Boheng at bay by just under eight tenths. Seifert scored 82.831 points – a strong result for him.

Florian Langenegger, who scored 79.599 points to finish tenth, was the second Swiss all-around gymnast to finish in the top 10 – a feat that has not been achieved at a World Championships in the 75 years prior.

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

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