Christian Baumann


Christian Baumann is a Swiss former artistic gymnast. He represented Switzerland at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. He is the 2015 European [Artistic Gymnastics Championships|2015 European] silver medalist and the 2021 European bronze medalist in the parallel bars. He also won bronze medals with the Swiss team and on the pommel horse at the 2016 European [Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships|2016 European Championships].

Early life

Baumann was born on 25 February 1995. He started gymnastics at the age of five at the TV Lenzburg club in Switzerland.

Gymnastics career

At the 2015 European Championships, he tied with Romania's Marius Berbecar for the silver medal on the parallel bars behind Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev. Then at the 2016 European Championships, he helped the Swiss team win the bronze medal. He won a bronze medal in the pommel horse behind Harutyun Merdinyan and David Belyavskiy. He then competed with the Swiss team that finished ninth in the Gymnastics at the [2016 Summer Olympics – Men's artistic qualification|qualification round] for the 2016 Summer Olympics, making them the first reserve for the final.
Baumann competed at the 2019 American Cup and finished sixth in the all-around. At the 2021 European Championships, he tied with Lukas Dauser for the bronze medal on the parallel bars. He then competed at the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics alongside Pablo Brägger, Benjamin Gischard, and Eddy Yusof. They qualified for the Gymnastics at the [2020 Summer Olympics – Men's artistic team all-around|team final] for the first time since 1984 and finished sixth.
Baumann was selected to compete at the 2023 World Championships. There, the Swiss team finished seventh during the qualification round and earned a Gymnastics at the [2024 Summer Olympics – Qualification|team berth for the 2024 Olympic Games]. Then in the team final, the Swiss team placed fifth which was the country's best finished at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships since winning bronze in 1954.
Baumann competed at the 2024 European Championships alongside Matteo and Luca Giubellini, Noe Seifert, and Taha Serhani. The team qualified for the team final in fourth place, but they finished eighth in the final after several mistakes.
Baumann was an alternate for Switzerland's team for the 2024 Summer Olympics. He announced his retirement from the sport in September 2024.

Eponymous skill

In April 2017, the Technical Committee of the International Gymnastics Federation officially included a skill named after Baumann as a scoring element in the Code of Points. At the 2017 Doha World Cup, he performed the element for the first time in a competition.
ApparatusNameDescriptionDifficultyAdded to Code of Points
Parallel BarsBaumannGiant Swing bwd. to MakutsF 2017 FIG [Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series|World Cup Doha]