As a part of the International Gymnastics Federation's (FIG) new World Cup format, Australia will host a stop on the Individual Apparatus World Cup circuit for the next four years for both men's and women's artistic gymnastics. Gymnastics Australia was successful in bidding for one of four stops on the circuit along with Cottbus (GER), Baku (AZE), and Doha (QAT).
Aly Raisman, a memeber of Team USA's Final Five, the team gold medallists at the Rio Games, was announced as the ambassador for the World Cup in Melbourne and will be in Australia for the events.
The events to be hosted by Australia in 2017 and 2018 will serve as a part of the 2016-2018 FIG Artistic Gymnastics Individual Apparatus World Cup Series, for which the first event was recently held in Cottbus, Germany, where Australia's own Emily Little took home the gold medal on Vault, and the bronze on Floor.
Across the eight events in the 2016-2018 FIG Individual Apparatus World Cup series (one held per year in each host city), gymnasts will be attributed points based on their rankings on each apparatus at the different World Cup stops. The points from each gymnast's best three finishes will be totalled to determine the World Cup series winner on that apparatus. A prize purse of 5,000 Swiss francs will be awarded to each winner at the end of the series.
The events hosted in 2019 and 2020 will serve as qualifying competitions for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and will be sure to draw even more world-class athletes to compete on Australian shores.
In 2017 the Australian leg of the FIG Individual Apparatus World Cup Series will be held at Melbourne's Hisense Arena from February 22 to 25. Athletes from 13 countries have already confirmed their attendance, and will compete across two days of qualifications (Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 February), with the top eight athletes on each apparatus advancing to the finals to be held on Friday 24 and Saturday 25 February.
For more information about the event, including session times, what each session will entail, and how to stay up to date with the latest ticketing information, visit the event website.
