Baku World Cup – four things not to miss including Carlos Yulo, the pop-star like crowd favourite

In the third of four FIG Apparatus World Cup events in 2023, Baku in Azerbaijan takes up the mantle in showcasing a star-studded spectacular of world and Olympic artistic gymnastics medallists alongside emerging newbies.

The first World Cup took place in Cottbus, Germany 23-26 February, which saw the likes of Tokyo 2020 Olympic floor exercise champion Artem Dolgopyat of Israel bag another win, while world bronze medallist in the women's vault, France’s Coline Devillard, went two steps higher in Doha (which took place from 1-4 March), to claim gold.

Both will compete again in Baku and will be joined by the likes of 47-year-old eight-time Olympian Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan, while Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun, the 2021 all-around bronze medallist, is going for a sixth consecutive World Cup title on parallel bars.

Gymnasts from as far afield as Mongolia and Peru will be competing, and there’s a first appearance in the World Cup series this year for the United States with Joshua Karnes, Blake Sun and Stephen Nedoroscik, the bespectacled 2021 world pommel horse champion blowing off the cobwebs.

Below, Olympics.com brings you four not-to-miss moments from Baku.

Pop star vibes for Carlos Yulo

There’s no getting away from it, Philippines’ Carlos Yulo is a crowd favourite. Banners in Doha dotted with hearts surrounding his name in giant letters plus screaming fans gave a touch of Yulo-mania to the proceedings. But the 23-year-old floor exercise and vault world champion, from 2019 and 2021 respectively, held his nerve to secure four medals in the 2023 World Cup series so far, including gold on floor last time out in Doha. He’ll be looking to add more to his tally this weekend.

Also look out for the crazy skills of 2021 world silver medallist on floor, Minami Kazuki of Japan, who has started showcasing a rare 2.5 twisting double tuck. Flamboyant Italian Nicola Bartolini, who is making his first appearance at this year’s World Cup series, will be making his renowned entrance onto the floor exercise where the 27-year-old will be hoping to replicate his world floor gold from 2021. And, of course, the reigning Olympic floor champion, Dolgopyat will be hoping for that top spot too.

Italy’s Giorgia Villa returns

Giorgia Villa, another fan favourite, makes a welcome return to the arena. One part of the team that won European team gold in August, the 20-year-old is part of Italy’s women’s squad who are looking super strong and cohesive ahead of Paris 2024, to which they are hoping to qualify at the World Championship from 30 September to 8 October in Antwerp, Belgium.

The team, which includes twins Asia and Alice D’Amato, just missed out on automatic qualification of a five-person squad at the 2022 edition in Liverpool, UK, coming fourth to the top three – the United States, Great Britain and Canada – who all qualified.

"This medal means a lot to me, winning a medal after so long,” said the three-time Youth Olympic Games gold medallist Villa after bagging the European title and who missed Tokyo 2020 due to injury. “And with the team it means double because they are like my sisters."

Stacked men’s pommel horse competition

Reigning world champion Rhys McClenaghan, 2022 world silver medallist Ahmad Abu Al Soud of Jordan, and Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist Lee Chih-Kai of Chinese Taipei, and Nedoroscik are all hoping to reach the final of the pommel horse discipline in Baku.

McClenaghan, Ireland’s first ever artistic gymnastics world champion has yet to the hit the heights of his November triumph but came close in Doha with a second-place finish. Despite scoring a sensational 15.033 after competing first in the final, up stepped Kazakhstan’s Nariman Kurbanov to whisk away top spot with a sensational performance of his own to score 15.400 to his great delight.

The pommel horse final at Paris 2024 is already looking like a hot event with the competitive return of double Olympic champion Max Whitlock of Great Britain earlier this month, who is eyeing a history-making fourth medal on the same apparatus, an Olympic first, having also claimed bronze as a 19-year-old at London 2012.

• Max Whitlock: "It would eat me up inside if I stopped because I was scared of failing in Paris"

Qiu Qiyuan – waiting in the wings

The People’s Republic of China’s gymnasts have just begun to venture overseas to get into the rhythm of international competition with Doha’s World Cup their first foray into 2023 events. Qiu Qiyuan had some nervy moments last week with mistakes resulting in a podium miss, but the potential is there, and should the 15-year-old hit her routines, there will be few to beat her.

Qiu will be hoping to dominate in the same way as another 15-year-old, Romania’s highly-regarded Sabrina Maneca-Voinea who won two gold medals on her World Cup debut in Doha – on beam and floor – but who is not competing in Baku.

The final World Cup in the 2023 series takes place in Cairo, Egypt from 27-30 April.