Artem Dolgopyat, who won Olympic gold in Tokyo, is set to return to competition for the first time since last year's Olympic Games ©Getty Images

Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat, who won Olympic gold for Israel in Tokyo, is set to return to competition for the first time since his triumph in Japan at the International Gymnastics Federation Individual Apparatus World Cup in Cottbus, Germany.

Dolgopyat won his country’s first Olympic gold medal in any sport since Athens 2004 when triumphing in the men’s floor exercise during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, scoring 14.933 on his way to victory.

Israel went on to win a second Olympic gold at the Games, also in gymnastics, when Linoy Ashram sprung a surprise to win the women’s rhythmic individual all-around title.

After eight months away from competitive action, Dolgopyat is due to return to a competition that he has good memories of - having claimed floor exercise victory in Cottbus in 2018.

Dolgopyat is expected to be one of a number of athletes in the field that skipped the World Championships in October 2021 in Kitakyushu, Japan.

Others are due to include Artur Davtyan of Armenia, last year’s European champion on pommel horse, the Olympic bronze medallist on the parallel bars Ferhat Arican of Turkey and his compatriot İbrahim Çolak, the 2019 world champion on the rings.

Germany's Pauline Schaefer-Betz won two medals when she last appeared at the FIG Apparatus World Cup in Cottbus four years ago ©Getty Images
Germany's Pauline Schaefer-Betz won two medals when she last appeared at the FIG Apparatus World Cup in Cottbus four years ago ©Getty Images

A host of medallists from last year’s World Championships are expected to line-up in Cottbus including Germany’s Pauline Schaefer-Betz.

Schaefer-Betz last appeared at this competition on home soil four years ago, winning medals on the balance beam and the floor.

At last year’s World Championships she won silver on the balance beam, following on from her gold on the same apparatus at the 2017 edition.     

World Championship 2021 bronze medallists Illia Kovtun of Ukraine, who earned his medal in the all-around category, Andrey Medvedev of Israel, whose medal came on the vault, and Brody Malone of the United States, who medalled on the horizontal bar, are all set to compete.

Cottbus is the first of four scheduled Apparatus World Cup events, with others due to follow in Doha, Qatar from March 2 to 5, Cairo in Egypt from March 17 to 20 and Baku in Azerbaijan from March 31 to April 4.

The World Cup in Cottbus is set to be an important warm-up for this year’s World Championships, due to be held in Liverpool, England from October 29 to November 6, and also plays a role in qualifying for the World Championships.