KIT kings and queens more successful than ever!
This was a completely new experience for most of the Karlsruhe participants, as the journey exceeded the 300km mark for the first time in years. In order to be on time for the gymnastics of the ladies at 12:00 o'clock, the kings from Karlsruhe therefore started the journey already at 06:20 o'clock with a chartered coach. Within the two days, more than 400 gymnasts competed for 75 different teams. For this, the organizer, the German Sports University Cologne, provided excellent equipment.
As usual, the event started on Friday noon with the German University Team Championships (DHMM). In this competition, women and men gymnastics according to international scoring rules, which are revised every four years after the Olympic Games.
The Queens DHMM squad was the first team from Karlsruhe to slip into their new green, black and white leotards. They started their competition on parallel bars, which is the most thankless apparatus with the lowest scores in the women's competition due to the scoring rules. But the team from Karlsruhe mastered this first hurdle royally. Isabelle Zwirtz, Maike Roll and Katja Eckhardt even qualified for the apparatus finals the next day, where they took second, fourth and fifth place. No other team in the event managed to qualify three participants on one apparatus.
After the successful start, the queens continued their competition on beam, carried along by the cheers of the numerous fans. There, Maike Roll qualified for the apparatus finals, where she secured second place the next day. In the next round on floor, Isabelle Zwirtz secured her second ticket for an apparatus final, which she used the following day to take the title on this apparatus.
After two breaks, the queens finally finished their competition on vault. Here again, led by Isabelle Zwirtz (5th place in the apparatus final), the class of the Karlsruhe women's team became apparent. Marlen Di Nocco, Katja Eckhardt, Charlotte Knab, Maike Roll and Isabelle Zwirtz performed the highest team score on each apparatus. Thus it was clear that the victory in the DHMM with 142.55 points went to a Karlsruhe women's team for the first time in the history of the DHMM. Second place went to the team from Wettkampfgemeinschaft Heidelberg (138.15 points), followed by the hosts from Cologne with 132.45 points. The cherry on the cake was Isabelle's third place in the individual.
In the men's competition, the golden winner's pin went to WG Cologne with 238.25 points, led by Fabian Hambüchen. Second place went to the gymnasts from TU Chemnitz (237.60 points), followed by the gymnasts from Munich (225.8 points). Lazar Bratan, Max Eisele, Thomas Hanke, Vincent Hiemer, Roman Janetzko and Johannes Leveringhaus put on the jerseys for the Karlsruhe team. They just missed the podium but secured fourth place with 217.95 points despite bad luck due to injuries. The six-men Lazar Bratan and Thomas Hanke gymnastics on rank 8. on 19. Lazar qualified additionally for the apparatus finals and reached rank 6 on vault and rank 5 on parallel bars on the following day.
On Saturday, the adh Cup was held, where gymnastics is performed according to national regulations, which are somewhat easier. This year the competition started for the queens at 10:30 a.m. and not as usual in the first round at 6:30 a.m. Helen Decker, Elisabeth Graf, Constanze Jakowski, Maike Munich, Judith Schlanderer and Cornelia Wolf could therefore rely on a well rested fan block. They did not disappoint them. Especially on floor and parallel bars they showed beautiful and flawless routines. After a very cleanly gymnastics competition, the head-to-head race was unfortunately decided in favor of the gymnasts of the organizer, the WG Cologne. With 147.40 to 148.05 points, the queens finally had to admit defeat. With 31 teams, however, the result is impressive. Third place this year went to WG Erlangen-Nuremberg with 145.65 points.
On Saturday afternoon, the gymnasts of the adh Cup took to the apparatus. Christian Gutenkunst, Manuel Hafen, Alexandre Levinski, Mario Ostwald, Dr. Jens Rudat and Ansgar Sehlinger started for Karlsruhe. After an exciting competition, the 20 teams of the adh Cup had to wait until late in the evening for the award ceremony. The reason was a technical defect. However, this did not change the good mood in the team and the gymnasts from Karlsruhe were even happier when they learned at the DHM party in the beach club that they had won first place with 214.85 points, ahead of the gymnasts from WG Munich (214.30 points). Third place went to WG Dresden with 213.55 points. The best individual gymnast with a crown on his head was Jens Rudat, who secured third place with 71.20 points.
After the apparatus finals, which followed the adh-Cup, gymnasts, judges and fans went out for a pasta party. With full stomachs, the athletes then finally shifted from the refectory to the nearby beach club, where the more than 400 participants of the DHM celebrated until dawn, true to the moral maxim of Turnvater Jahn "fresh, pious, cheerful, free".
At the breakfast on Sunday morning all participants could see the melancholy about the end of the DHM and they were already looking forward to the DHM next year.