McClenaghan claims European gold in Turkey

Rhys McClenaghan has claimed European gold in the pommel horse event at the 2023 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antalya, Turkey.

The current world champion now has two Europen golds to his name after coming out on top in Glasgow in 2018.

McClenaghan, who topped qualifying, was first out and a score of 14.666 was 0.3 off his qualifying score, meaning that he faced a nervous wait to see if anyone could better him.

He delivered a fine routine with a minor leg separation moments before his dismount knocking his score back.

The Irishman’s difficulty score was one of the highest of the finalists though, and he was mostly in complete control with his arm strength and timing leading the way to a fine performance.

Maxime Gentges was out next with the Belgium scoring an excellent 14.566 in his first European final, a late bit of misbalance costing him the chance to overtake McClenaghan – but he did collect silver.

Third onto the pommel horse was Armenia’s Artur Davtyan whose execution was excellent but knew that his medal hopes would be hampered by his difficulty score (5.7). With a score of 14.266, it looked like he may miss out, but ultimately his score was good enough for bronze meaning that first three competitors ultimately finished first, second and third.

Matvei Petrov of Albania, the 2020 European champion, was fourth onto the horse and was expected to really challenge the medals having finished third in qualifying.

However, Petrov’s medal hopes were ended as he lost his balance and dismounted early in his routine. He returned to the horse and brilliantly finished out, but with a mark deducted for an unintentional dismount, his score of 13.266 left him out of contention.

The second half of the final started with Loran De Munck, second in qualifying with a score of 14.666 – McClenaghan’s tally in the final.

The Netherlands athlete, however, had a big leg separation early on and although he covered all three areas of the horse, untidy leg work saw him post a score of 14.266.

Radomir Sliz of the Czech Republic was sixth up with a slower routine than some of the bigger names that had preceded him. A clean finish was good, but a score of 13.6 saw him well off the leaders.

Italian Yumin Abbadini was seventh and was left delighted with his clean routine, but given his difficulty score, he was never going to touch the lead with his score of 14.166 leaving him just outside the medal positions.

Ukraine’s Illia Kovtun was the last challenger to the Newtownards man.

Fourth best in qualification, he was unable to get close to the lead (14.233) – meaning gold for McClenaghan.