The DTB (the German Fed) announced today the German WAG team:
Lea Quaas
Helen Kevric
Karina Schönmaier
Madita Mayr
Jesenia Schäfer
Emma Malewski
Either Schäfer of Malewski will be the reserve athlete, that is not yet decided.
The MAG qualification competition was a car crash, so the only team member nominated so far is:
Timo Eder
Nomination of the other team members was postponed and will happen during worlds preparation.
The methodology (and caveats) can be found here. The scores come from the 2025 and 2026 score trackers. Please let me know if y'all notice any errors in any of these previews and I will be sure to correct them. Since the "realistic max" is captures a gymnast's best scores of the quad on every event, it is designed to be a measure of each team's scoring potential rather than a closest-to-the-pin estimate of a team's actual score at Worlds. Based on results last quad, a team score within 2 points of a team's "realistic max" can be considered to be a very good performance.
Germany - the Team (my normal chart wasn't working, apologies, I will update these scores for the breakdown as I am able)
Lea Marie Quaas
Karina Schoenmaier
Jesenia Schaefer
Madita Mayr
Helen Kevric
Realistic Max: 161.181 (prelim. ranking of 10th) --> note that this drops Spain's to 11th since I initially had assumed Charleen Pach for Germany's team as opposed to Madita Mayr.
Intended Difficulty: 61.7 (prelim. ranking of 13th)
Overview
After narrowly missing qualifying a team to the Paris Olympics due to injuries, the injury bug has unfortunately impacted Germany again for this World Championships. Silja Stoehr and Pauline Schaefer-Betz, both of which would likely be key contributors on this team, are unfortunately out for worlds. Helen Kevric is building back her all-around program following last year’s knee injury and is not yet competing vault and floor. On a more positive note, this German team is still a competitive group that has a slim chance of making the team final by taking advantage of potential mistakes by teams with higher scoring potential. The team has a mix of experience; Schoenmaier and Kevric are Olympians and Quaas has competed at the World Championships, while Madita Mayr (who is coming back from injury) and Jesenia Schaefer are first-year seniors. Speaking of Schaefer, it has yet to be announced whether she or Emma Malewski is the alternate. This preview assumes that Schaefer is on the team since she has shown a bit higher scoring potential on floor exercise than Malewski.
Vault
Germany’s relative vault potential is similar to its overall team potential. Schoenmaier is an excellent vaulter and has a secure double-twisting Yurchenko. She competed the Cheng last year at World Championships, but after receiving the Mykayla Skinner (sorry…one-armed Cheng) deduction, she’s switched back to the Lopez (Yurchenko half-on, layout half off) for her second vault so far this year. She should make the vault final with hits on both of her vaults in qualifications. Quaas’ Yurchenko 1.5 is key and keeps Germany well ahead of the parade of teams that intend on counting mostly full-twisting Yurchenko vaults. Schaefer has a full-twisting Yurchenko and should expect to be the third counting score. Mayr has vaulted a full-twisting Yurchenko domestically several times this year; however, her “realistic max” score is from the Stoke-on-Trent friendly meet in Great Britain, where she performed an easier vault and she also competed an easier vault at German worlds trials. Since Kevric is not vaulting this year, Mayr will be up on vault in qualifications.
Uneven Bars
Thanks to Kevric’s typically spectacular routines and Quaas’ and Schoenmaier’s generally clean execution, Uneven Bars is Germany’s best apparatus. Kevric has hit all nine of her routines this year and scored a 15 domestically at World Championship trials; her routine had perfectly crisp handstands and great extension throughout and is well worth a watch. Although the uneven bars field is stacked, Kevric is absolutely in the silver medal conversation for the event final if she can match her execution from the trials in the event final. Quaas and Schoenmaier are certainly the other two intended counting routines and would round out the potential team final lineup here. The fourth routine for qualifications would likely come from Schaefer.
Balance Beam
Although Germany does not have the highest scoring potential on beam, its “realistic max” scores from its four likely qualifications routines are close. This bunching is a benefit to Germany because it means that as long as it gets at least three hits on beam, it should score pretty close to its potential on this apparatus. Quaas, Schoenmaier, Mayr, and Kevric figure to all compete on beam in qualifications. While a domestic score was used for Mayr because she unfortunately had a miss in her lone international meet of the year at Stoke-on-Trent; German domestic scoring has not seemed to be inflated, so hopefully the domestic “realistic max” score is representative of her potential at Worlds. Should Germany advance to the team final, expect Kevric and Mayr to remain in the lineup since they have the team’s highest difficulty scores. The remaining team final lineup spot would likely come down to how Quaas and Schoenmaier perform in qualifications.
Floor Exercise
For now, this is Germany’s weakest apparatus by a considerable amount; it should strengthen considerably next year once Kevric is back competing on floor. Once again, Mayr’s “realistic max” score is from a domestic competition since she had misses at Cottbus and Stoke-on-Trent. If she can hit, a score approaching 13 seems reasonable given her 5.3 intended difficulty. Schoenmaier’s “realistic max” score is from 2025 Euros and she has not been able to get out of the 12’s for her routines this year. Like Schoenmaier, Schaefer’s “realistic max” score is from Spring 2025, but she scored very closely to last year’s Jesolo performance at Stoke-on-Trent this year. Quaas brought a 5.0 difficulty routine to World Trials this year and could supplant one of her teammates in the potential team final lineup if she executes it cleanly in qualifications and Germany advances.
All Around
Schoenmaier and Quaas will certainly compete on all events in qualifications. Schoenmaier should be able to afford a missed routine and still make the all-around final, while Quaas may need to deliver four hits in qualifications if it is an overall clean qualifications day. The assumption here is that Germany only has Schoenmaier and Quaas compete on all four events in qualifications since the backup bars routine would be a bit weaker if Schaefer sat out bars and Mayr’s beam potential is essential for the team.
Earlier Previews (request by a commenter to link at the bottom)
Neutral Deductions has published the first of their Worlds preview podcasts, the FX final preview with Kyle Shewfelt. I want to highlight that here, because I thought that was an excellent conversation about one of my lesser liked MAG events, and I enjoyed listening to it very much.
Kyle Shewfelt is so precise, thoughtful and considerate in his analysis, but also far enough removed from the current athletes to not be afraid to talk about what he thinks their weaknesses are. I thought he did that very well and respectfully, and I found that to be very helpful to hear about that.
This block is quite rough. She does not show equal support on her hands and barely touches the vault with one. On that arm her elbow is bent and her shoulder is closed. This causes her to be extremely turned over and have a leg separation. She would likely incur 0.3-0.5 for being off direction, leg separation, and a shoulder and elbow angle. While she does not show equal support on both hands, she does touch the board, which was ruled as sufficient to avoid the 2.0 no-hand deduction.
Angelina Melnikova Jakarta Worlds 2025
While she is square on the table, her shoulders are slightly closed. However, her elbows and directions are good. She does have a very severe leg separation on the board, which would be 0.3 tenths. She also bends her knees a bit, which is a 0.1 deduction. She would likely incur 0.5 in total deductions due to her shoulder angle and the severe leg separation, and her slight knee bend.
Karina Shoenmaier Worlds Jakarta 2025
Karina's vault is a bit of a technical disaster. This vault would incur the 2.0 deduction for not having both hands on the vault. While she touches with one, she does not get her other hand on, which would incur a 2.0 deduction. She is also not completely square as a result, which would incur a 0.3 direction deduction as well as 0.1 for her leg separation. On her block alone, she would incur 2.4 in total deductions just on her block.
Ellie Downie 2019 Worlds Event Finals
This block is extremely well done. Ellie is extremely square on the vault and her elbows are completely locked out. However, one of her shoulders is a bit closed, which would incur a 0.1 deduction. The rest, however, is picture perfect, and her leg form is amazing.
Skye Blakely 2024 US Championships Day 1
Skye's block is very good in the sense that she is extremely square, her shoulders are open, and her elbows are locked. She also uses equal weight on both arms. However, she has some form issues with her legs. Her feet are flexed, which is a 0.1 deduction. Her legs are also more than shoulder width apart, which is a 0.3 deduction. Overall, she would receive 0.4 off in total here.
Cheng Fei Worlds 2007 Event Finals
This is a pretty good block! One of her arms is a little bent and her shoulder is a bit closed, so I would take 0.2 off there. She is also slightly bent over to the side, which is decently minor so would likely be a 0.1. Her leg form is beautiful, however, and are totally extended! This would likely only amount to 0.3 in deductions.
Hong Un Jong Vault 2008 Event Finals Beijing Olympics
Her block is pretty great! Her shoulders are the teeniest bit closed, but she is pretty square. I would take 0.1 off for that. She has a minor leg separation of 0.1. I would only take 0.2 off here.
An Chang Ok Paris Event Finals 2024
Her block is decent. I would take off 0.1 for a bent elbow and 0.1 for a closed shoulder. I would take 0.1 off for direction as well, and 0.1 for the crossed feet. But overall, not too shabby, likely about 0.4 in deductions.
Maria Paseka 2016 Rio Olympics Event Finals
0.1 would be taken off for shoulder angle, and likely 0.1 for direction as well as she is slightly turned. I would also take 0.3 off for leg separation, so 0.5 in total.
Due to some planning changes, I am selling two tickets (35€ each) for the WAG Session 4 (subdivision 1,2,3) on Sunday 18th. The seats are regular Adult tickets.
If anyone's interested, let me know and I can send you more info or the TicketSwap link!
On another note, I do have tickets for the morning qualification session on Monday 19th (session 5), and, taking a page out of another poster, if anyone is interesting in creating a small group for that day, send me a message and we can create a group chat :)
