European Champions – Dolgopyat, Targhetta, Avestiyan

European Gymnastics Apparatus Finals Zagreb – day 1 were excellent.

*tie broken by higher Execution score

Floor Exercise:

  1. Artur Dolgopyat ISR 14.666
  2. Arsenii Dukhno WG2 14.333
  3. Harry Hepworth GBR 14.300

Pommel Horse:

  1. Gabriele Targhetta ITA 15.133
  2. Hamlet Manukyan ARM 15.000
  3. Mamikon Khachatryan ARM 14.900

In fact, I can’t recall a better Pommel Final.

Still Rings:

  1. Artur Avetisyan ARM 14.400
  2. Ilia Zaika WG2 14.400*
  3. Eleftherios Petrounias GRE 14.366

Happily, there were no agonizing judging controversies over the podium rankings.

Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat, Italy’s Gabriele Targhetta and Armenia’s Artur Avetisyan golden on first day of Europeans apparatus finals

Click PLAY or watch highlights on YouTube.

Men’s European Gymnastics Apparatus Finals 1

Full results. Click through to APPARATUS FINAL.

Floor Final always reminds me of Kyle Shewfelt. That guy loved the pressure. Almost always HIT.

Floor

  1. Artem Dolgopyat, Israel, 14.466
  2. Arseniy Dukhno, WG2, 14.333
  3. Harry Hepworth, Great Britain, 14.300

Full results.

A good final with many STUCK landings. I’m happy with the ranking of the medalists.

Pommel

1. Gabriele Targhetta, Italy, 15.133
2. Hamlet Manukyan, Armenia, 15.000
3. Mamikon Khachatryan, Armenia, 14.900

An amazing Final with only 1 missed routine. Mascot Luigi couldn’t believe it.

5 of the finalists are age-20 and younger. This is the most competitive apparatus in Men’s Gymnastics right now. I’m looking forward to World Championships.

I like the speed of swing of Hamlet.

Rings

AVERAGE AGE not nearly so low on this apparatus. Men can gain strength until at least age-30.

1. Artur Avetisyan, Armenia, 14.400
2. Ilya Zaika, WG2, 14.400
3. Eleftherios Petrounias, Greece, 14.366

Perfect strength holds from Illia Zaika.

And your champion. Better swing Handstand. Almost stuck landing.

Read Lauren’s LIVE blog.

Men’s European JR Gymnastics – GBR, WG2, ITA

The Men’s Junior TEAM competition was exciting.

  • Great Britain 237.559
  • WG2 237.360
  • Italy 234.592

Full results.

High praise from John Crumlish:

Brits greatest junior team at men’s European Championships

Here’s the post from British Gymnastics:

GB junior men retain European gymnastics title

The junior level is high. Top Juniors often graduate immediately on to their nation’s senior Team.

Click PLAY or watch highlights on YouTube.

In praise of gymnast Manila Esposito

Tony Retrosi has worked with Manila for 10 years as a guest coach.

He knows the Gymnastics superstar very well.

Tony wants people to know just how hard she’s worked:

The True Measure of a Gymnast: More Than Looks

  • Silver in TEAM at the 2024 Olympic Games 
  • Bronze on BEAM at the 2024 Olympic Games 
  • two-time European all-around champion (2024, 2025) 
  • European Beam and Floor champion 2024

    Before this controversy erupted online, I watched Manila win Floor — second on Beam — at European Championships 2026 in Zagreb last week. Against Russians.

She was the gymnast who impressed me most.

At Men’s Europeans, it was AA champ Illia Kovtun who impressed me most.

With both these superstars, I can’t understand how and why they are so good. So consistent in competition.

Manila is very difficult for a judge to deduct. Her movements so fluid. On Beam she shares that kind of quality with Sanne Wevers & others of the Dutch system.

Men’s European Gymnastics Championships JUNIOR All-around

The top 24 gymnasts (maximum 2 / nation) advance to the All-around Final Sun, Aug 23rd, 2026.

This was my first look at the NEW young gymnasts from Russia. They are already astonishingly good.

  1. SMIRNOV Daniil WG2 79.997
  2. MUSAEV Radmir WG2 78.997
  3. LE KHAC Tomasz POL 78.698
  4. SCHUMACHER Ben SUI 78.599
  5. GOLOVIN Volodymyr UKR 78.432
  6. CHOWDHURY Uzair GBR 77.898
  7. RUGGERI Riccardo ITA 77.731
  8. MAZZOLA Pietro ITA 77.597
  9. ATKINS George GBR 77.331
  10. CARRERES Otger ESP 76.865
  11. PATON Jayden NED 76.365
  12. BUCKLEY Michael SUI 76.198
  13. HAVRYLCHENKO Valentyn UKR 75.931
  14. AKINDURO Axel Andras HUN 75.799
  15. WACHTER Samuel AUT 75.565
  16. BALAZS Jeremy AUT 75.266
  17. TIROSH Tomer ISR 75.231
  18. SOLEBAN Sami NED 75.064
  19. GAL Kristof HUN 74.898
  20. ROLIN Maxime BEL 74.665
  21. STRYPSTEIN Noe BEL 74.298
  22. ALSHANOV Davyd GER 73.498
  23. WARD Robert IRL 73.332
  24. KARTASHOU Tsimur WG1 73.030

Full results.

The top gymnasts here may well move quickly on to their Senior teams. DUKHNO Arsenii, for example, was World Jr Champion 2025. A year later he was 2nd AA at Senior Europeans.

LEYKIN Danila was 4th at World Juniors last year. He’s already qualified to compete for USA with their senior team in 2026.

JUNIORS – Individual – Qualification AllAroundResultsMagDownload

Men’s European JR Gymnastics TEAM Final

The battle between Great Britain and World Gymnastics 2 was a thriller.

Both fantastic, with completely different styles. WG 2 very technical. Skills are done with excellent form and line.

GBR is high energy. The goal to compete the highest difficulty possible. They definitely took risks today. And it paid off.

  1. Great Britain 237.559
  2. WG2 237.360
  3. Italy 234.592
  4. Switzerland 230.229
  5. Germany 230.029
  6. Ukraine 229.393
  7. Hungary 226.261
  8. Austria 225.695

Full results.

JUNIORS – Individual – Qualification TeamRankingMagDownload

Tomasz Le Khac, Junior gymnast Poland

The most impressive gymnast in subdivision 1 of JR. Men’s European Gymnastics Championships Zagreb was Tomasz Le Khac. 78.698.

Still not strong enough on Rings at age-17. Everything else is world class.

He was 13th AA at Jr Worlds 2025 with 77.432.

Remember the name.