Aerobic Events of the 2013 World Games

Initially introduced to the World Games programme in 1997 in Lahti (FIN), the discipline will see two new categories on display in Cali: Aerobic Step and Aerobic Dance. These will complement the traditional categories of Individual Men, Individual Women, Mixed Pairs, Trios and Groups.

Apart from the Individual categories, with eight entries each for men and women, all disciplines feature six units with a total number of 144 Aerobic gymnasts, the largest number for Gymnastics in Cali. Aerobic Groups are composed of five gymnasts, while Aerobic Step and Aerobic Dance units include eight gymnasts each. Trios, Groups and Aerobic Step and Aerobic Dance units may be composed of male or female competitors only or mixed.

Finals in Cali will start from zero and include the top four units in each category with a maximum of one per federation and discipline.

Aerobic Gymnastics stages seven medal events and there is no team ranking at the World Games.

Aerobic Gymnastics competitors qualified for The World Games 2013 Cali at the 2012 World Championships in Sofia (BUL)  and the high-profile line-up in Cali includes numerous World Champions and medallists across all categories.

Sara Moreno of Spain headlines the Individual Women’s field, while her compatriot Vicente Lli and France’s Benjamin Garavel are among the contenders for the men’s title after the withdrawal of China’s 2012 World Bronze medallist Li Liang. Reigning World Champion Moreno identifies the experienced Aurélie Joly (FRA) and Austria’s Aerobic star Lubov Gazov as her main challengers. Aerobic powerhouse Korea and newcomers Thailand are represented in both categories. Mexico’s Juan José Quiroz and Colombia’s own Carlos Andrés Prieto are the sole Latin American representatives in these categories.

Moreno and Lli are the favourites in the Mixed Pair category, but they will have to keep a close eye on the pairs from China, Russia and France.

A head-to-head race between the Chinese and Korean entries is expected in the Trio category, with defending World Games Champions Romania on their heels, while the Colombian crowd is anxiously anticipating the display of the host country’s representatives.

China have dominated the Aerobic Groups category in the past and are set to continue their supremacy in Cali. However, France, Romania and Russia will not let them get away easily.

The new disciplines of Aerobic Step and Aerobic Dance that were included in the 2012 World Championships programme for the first time have also been conquered by China. The country holds the World title in both categories. However, they are not without competition, having tied with Russia for first place at Sofia’s Aerobic Step tournament. Mongolia, too, are not to be underestimated. In Aerobic Dance Romania and France are China’s main challengers.

Competitors have been closely following the previous Gymnastics events at El Pueblo Coliseum and look forward to performing before Cali’s lively and supportive crowd.
* source: f i g