The Madness of Ángel Barajas: He Qualified for Two More World Cup Finals, This Time in Turkey

Ángel Barajas's achievements in international artistic gymnastics are incredible. With astonishing regularity, the young prodigy of this sport, who in 2024 at 17 years of age won a silver medal at the Paris Olympic Games, flew to two new World Cup finals and this Sunday will seek to add more success to his brilliant record in a season in which he surprises with his great level and pleasant results. This time in Antalya, Turkey, host of the third leg of the apparatus World Cups, the native of Cúcuta once again impressed with his routines to finish among the best in the parallel bars and horizontal bar specialties. It is a city that brings him great memories, as it was in Antalya in 2023 that he became the first gymnast from the country to achieve a medal in a Junior World Championship, becoming champion in floor and parallel bars, in addition to obtaining silver in the all-around and bronze in the horizontal bar. The national representative continued to cause a sensation with his talent. In the horizontal bar, he finished second in the qualifying round with a score of 14.366, the same score as Japan's Tsuyoshi Hasegawa. In parallel bars, Ángel was first, with 14.933 points, followed by Russia's Aleksandr Kartsev (13.933). Barajas comes from competing in the Baku World Cup, Azerbaijan, last week, where he won gold in parallel bars and bronze in horizontal bar, adding three medals this year on said circuit, as on February 22nd, in Cottbus, Germany, he won silver in horizontal bar. “In these World Cups, Ángel is gaining experience and consolidating his name and routines more, being very important for all the aspirations we have planned for him. He is a very disciplined, receptive boy, we are very happy with his progress,” commented the national coach Jairo Ruiz. It should be recalled that Barajas has eight medals in his World Cup history. In Baku, but in 2024, Barajas won two bronze medals, one in horizontal bar and another in parallel bars. He also won bronze in parallel bars at the 2024 Cairo World Cup, while his silver medals arrived later in parallel bars at the 2025 Paris and 2025 Szombathely World Cups. What apparatus does Ángel Barajas compete in the final in Turkey? : Ángel Barajas will compete for medals in parallel bars (where he qualified first) and horizontal bar (where he qualified second). These are his two strongest specialties after his Olympic success. What score did Ángel Barajas get in the 2026 Antalya World Cup? : The native of Cúcuta achieved 14.933 in parallel bars, surpassing his closest pursuer by a full point, and 14.366 in horizontal bar, tying in technical score with Japan's Tsuyoshi Hasegawa. Who is Ángel Barajas's coach? : Ángel Barajas's technical process is led by Jairo Ruiz, Colombia's national coach, who has guided the gymnast from his beginnings in Cúcuta to the Olympic podium.