The World Artistic Gymnastics Championships is an exciting gymnastics competition showcasing the greatest gymnasts from countries across the globe as they perform in a variety of disciplines. With both male and female gymnasts competing at the same event, spectators can admire and applaud the phenomenal skill, balance, agility, and strength required across a broad range of apparatus.
An expected total of 550 gymnasts from 75 countries are due to compete at the 2022 event which will be a 9-day global spectacle hosted by the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, UK from 29 October to 6 November. Tickets start at just GBP £33.90 for Bronze level seating on qualification days (29-31 October) and rise to £135.60 for the premium Platinum level seating on finals days (1-6 November).
The first edition of the World Championships was held as far back as the early 1900s, but it was not until 1934 that women’s and men’s disciplines were held at the same event. The competition takes place every year except years in which the Olympic Games take place, although the last edition of the competition did happen in 2021 in Japan the same year as the postponed 2020 Games in Tokyo.
Women and men compete separately on different apparatus. Men compete on:
- Floor exercise – a specially prepared routine with tumbles, flips, and dance elements performed on an open surface
- Pommel horse – gymnasts perform routines by swinging either one or both legs around the pommel horse and aim for a perfect dismount
- Rings (or still rings) – requiring upper body strength, ring routines consist of swings and holds
- Vault – gymnasts run up and use a springboard, then the vault to propel themselves through a routine of rotations and hopefully into the perfect landing
- Parallel bars – gymnasts perform a routine of swings, releases, and holds on a set of level bars roughly shoulder-width apart
- Horizontal bar – similar to the women’s uneven bars, but with just a single bar where gymnasts perform rotations and changes of direction
Women compete on:
- Vault – gymnasts run up and use a springboard, then the vault to propel themselves through a routine of rotations and hopefully into the perfect landing
- Uneven bars – similar to the men’s horizontal bar, but with 2 bars at different heights where gymnasts perform rotations and releases and catches between the bars
- Balance beam – on a padded beam, gymnasts perform routines displaying balance skills, spins, leaps, and turns, and hopefully a perfect dismount
- Floor exercise – a specially prepared routine with tumbles, flips, and dance elements performed on an open surface
There are individual – including individual all-around where gymnasts collate scores across all apparatus - and team competitions and event sessions/days normally have a complete rotation of apparatus, so spectators generally get to see the entirety of the competition they have been watching. Gymnasts are scored on difficulty and execution of the routine by a panel of judges.
So, here comes the fun as gymnasts come together and get back to competing against the best at the World Artistic Gymnastic Championships!
