April the 14th, 2025 – Olympic gymnast Aurel Benović performed brilliantly in the vault final and won in front of his home crowd at the Osijek DOBRO World Cup.
In an ever-stronger competition, with as many as six participants in the Olympic final, the fantastic Aurel Benović received a score of 14.300 in the first vault and 14.500 in the second. Those scores brought him a total of 14.400 and to an amazing victory at the packed Gradski vrt hall. Silver went to Britain’s Harry Hepworth (14.383), and bronze to Armenian Artur Davtjan (14.216).
Benović also celebrated in Osijek for the same reason last year. While at the Paris Olympics, he came fifth in this discipline, which he has been training seriously for only one single year. In his original discipline – floor gymnastics, he failed to make the final due to an injury obtained when landing during practice. Since competing at the Osijek DOBRO World Cup without having recovered from his injuries, his success is even greater.
“Honestly, I’m so proud, I’ve been wishing for this and I’m happy that I performed among the best vaulters in the world, and that I won gold. I proved to myself that I can do it, I’m glad for my mother and for this wonderful audience. I started last, and my leg hurt so much during the warm-up that I even considered giving up.
I knew that with my two jumps – if I did them well – I could compete for a medal, but this is a dream come true. Next come the European Championships, but first I need to let my injuries heal,” said the remarkably talented Croatian national team member.
The gold medal in vault is the only one for Croatian gymnastics at this year’s Osijek DOBRO World Cup, and it was with great pleasure that the president of the Croatian Olympic Committee, Zlatko Mateša, awarded it. In addition to congratulating Aurel Benović, Mateša also gave plenty of compliments to the host for another great organisation of the Osijek DOBRO World Cup.
