Fil-American standouts Emma Malabuyo and Lee Jung-Ruvivar earned crucial points following their participation in the second leg of the 2024 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series in Cottbus, Germany on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Malabuyo landed 13th in the women’s floor exercises and did not reach the finals.
But the Mountainview, California-born Malabuyo got 14 Olympic qualification points for her effort after scoring 12.6 points during the preliminaries.
Meanwhile, the 17-year-old Ruvivar settled for 12th in the uneven bars prelims with 13.33 points and also missed the finals.
“I am happy, I improved on all events, by 3-tenths on bars and a full point on floor, as well as half a point on beam. And I am also pleased that I was able to gain more points on bars,” said Ruvivar in an interview with the Manila Standard.
With her effort, the Los Angeles, California-born Ruvivar earned to 12 points to stay at no. 6 in the 2024 Apparatus World Cup’s Women’s Artistic Gymnastics Reallocated Points Rankings of the International Gymnastics Federation.
Ruvivar said she is now in Berlin, preparing for the next leg from March 7 to 10 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
“Ultimately, I expect more of myself as my goal for both Baku and Doha is to make finals and place high enough to earn a spot to the Olympics. I am currently in Berlin training,” added Ruvivar.
“I know what I need to refine in order to get a better execution score. I’m very determined,” added Ruvivar.
The World Cup series serves as a qualification pathway to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Only the top two athletes per apparatus, based on the Olympic Qualification World Cup Ranking List, will get slots in the Summer Games in Paris.
Malabuyo, who is a five-time member of the US National Team before switching federations after the Tokyo Olympics, dropped from no. 1 during the Cairo meet to no. 2 in the Olympic qualification rankings.
She now has a total of 44 points, with Charlize Moerz of Austria taking no. 1 with 50 points, after snatching for the country the bronze in the floor exercise.
In men’s action, Juan Miguel Besana did not earn points in the men’s vault with his 19th place finish, with his score of 14.066 points.
And so did John Ivan Cruz in the floor exercises with his tally of 13.66 points, to be at 18th spot.