Kazakhstani gymnast Milad Karimi takes World Cup gold in Cairo
Milad Karimi captured gold in the floor exercise at the 2025 FIG Artistic Gymnastics Apparatus World Cup in Cairo, Egypt. According to Kazakhstan’s National Olympic Committee, Karimi also secured first place in the overall World Cup standings for this discipline.
In the finals on April 27, Karimi earned 14.133 points from the judges. Bulgaria’s Eddie Penev finished second with 13.966 points, while Ukraine’s Nazar Chepurnyi took third with 13.866 points. Kazakhstan’s 18-year-old Altynkhan Temirbek also competed in the floor exercise but failed to qualify for the final, placing 17th out of 18 participants in the preliminary round.
In the pommel horse event, Kazakh gymnasts fell short of the podium. Paris Olympics silver medalist Nariman Kurbanov placed fifth with a score of 14.500, while 19-year-old Zeinolla Idrissov finished sixth with 14.400 points. Armenia’s 17-year-old Hamlet Manukyan won gold with a 14.800, followed by Italy’s Gabriele Targhetta (14.766) with silver and American Patrick Hoopes (14.700) with bronze.
No Kazakhstani athletes competed in the rings event, which was won by Armenia’s Artur Avetisyan (14.466). Nikita Simonov of Azerbaijan (14.333) and Omar Mohamed of Egypt (13.866) rounded out the podium.
On April 28, gymnasts will compete for medals in the remaining three disciplines. Karimi will represent Kazakhstan in the horizontal bar competition. In the vault event, Temirbek did not advance past qualification, placing 11th out of 14 competitors. No Kazakh gymnasts entered the parallel bars competition.
Kazakhstan’s women’s artistic gymnastics team did not participate in the Cairo event.
At earlier stages of the 2025 World Cup, the Kazakhstani team collected a strong haul of trophies. Karimi previously won gold twice in floor exercises (in Cottbus and Doha) and twice in the horizontal bar (in Osijek and Doha). Kurbanov claimed a gold medal, winning the pommel horse in Antalya.
The final stage of the 2025 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series is taking place in Cairo from April 25 to 28.
