Swiss 'ready to rock' Europeans

Niki Böschenstein

With a victory over Belarus Sunday, the Swiss team gained momentum toward the upcoming Men's European Championships in Lausanne.

Switzerland upset Belarus by nearly five points in the northeastern Swiss town of Wallisellen. Originally scheduled as a tri-meet, the event became a two-country match when the Polish team missed its flight in Warsaw.

The Swiss outscored Belarus on floor exercise, pommel horse, vault and high bar. With only four gymnasts competing on floor exercise, Belarus was forced to count a 12.000 on floor exercise from Igor Kozlov.

Belarus' Dmitry Savitsky was the top all-arounder with 89.450, though only three athletes competed all six events. Switzerland's Roman Gisi (88.750) and Claudio Capelli (86.450) finished second and third.

The 28th Men's European Championships will be May 8-11 in Lausanne, and will feature team and apparatus finals for seniors and team, all-around and apparatus finals for juniors. The competition will be at Malley Hall, site of the 1997 World Championships.

Belarus was third at the 2006 European Championships in Volos, Greece, behind Russia and runner-up Romania.

The Swiss seniors finished eighth in Volos, and the team hopes to at least match that result again this year, team member Niki Böschenstein told IG Monday.

Böschenstein said he recently launched a new design for his personal Web site, www.niki-boeschenstein.com, under the banner "Ready to rock the hall."

"We want to capture a top-eight finish, and my goal is to reach the parallel bars final," said Böschenstein, a member of the Swiss teams that placed seventh at the 2006 Worlds and 14th in 2007.

Click here to download detailed results

External Link: 2008 Men's European Championships