McClenaghan & Steele join Slevin in Historic European Gymnastics Finals

22nd April 2021 Basel, Switzerland; Rhys McClenaghan and Adam Steele have joined Emma Slevin in qualifying for finals at the 2021 European Gymnastics Championships.

McClenaghan, 2018 European Champion and 2019 World bronze medallist on Pommel, today secured his place in the Pommel Horse top-8 Final qualifying in 1st position with a score of 14.766. McClenaghan, who has his eyes firmly fixed on Tokyo 2021, will compete in the final on Saturday 24th April from 1.00pm – 3.15pm Irish time with the final being aired live on RTE One.

Following on from Emma Slevin yesterday, Adam Steele had an excellent competition competing on all 6 of the men’s apparatus and finished in 20th position with a score of 79.731. In doing so he makes history by securing Ireland’s first place in a senior men’s All-Around Top 24 European Final.

The Men’s All-Around Final will take place tomorrow, Friday 22nd April from 4.00 – 7.00pm Irish Time on RTÉ Player. This will be after the Women’s All-Around Top-24 Final on RTÉ2 from 12.15 - 2.45pm Irish Time which will feature rising Irish women’s star Emma Slevin who qualified for the All-Around final yesterday.

Adam scored 12.700 on rings; 14.366 on vault; 12.900 on parallel bars; 12.866 on horizontal bar; 13.566 on floor and finally 13.333 on pommel horse. 159 gymnasts competed from 35 countries in today’s event.

Speaking following the competition, Gymnastics Ireland CEO Ciaran Gallagher said:

‘3 gymnasts through to finals at the European Championships – a superb sporting achievement for Gymnastics Ireland & Ireland as a sporting nation! Rhys did what he does best on Pommel Horse with his qualification secured for the Pommel Final in 1st place and Adam pulled out one of his best-ever competition performances to secure his first slot in a senior All-Around European Final. Our support team of coaches Luke Carson & Will Banthorpe, Performance & Technical Manager Sally Johnson & Physio Julie-anne Ryan have done an amazing job preparing the guys for this crucial event! With RTE covering the finals live via RTE One, RTE2 and RTE Player over the next 3 days Rhys, Adam & Emma will be on show with Europe’s best at a level of visibility gymnastics & wider sports fans have not seen in Ireland since the coverage of the 2018 European Championships - we can’t wait! On behalf of all of us at Gymnastics Ireland I would like to wish our 3 finalists the very best of luck!’

Tomorrow will see Emma Slevin & Adam Steele compete in the All-Around Finals on Friday 23rd April. Emma will compete in the women’s AA Final competition from 12.15pm – 2.45pm Irish time with the competition being broadcast on RTE2 while Adam will compete in the men’s AA Final from 4pm – 7pm Irish time and can be viewed on RTE player.

Event info

The 24 gymnasts with the highest ranking obtained in the qualifying competition advance to the All-Around Final with a maximum of 2 gymnasts per country. The 8 highest ranked gymnasts in the qualifying competition per apparatus advance to the Apparatus Finals, again with a maximum of 2 gymnasts per country / final.     

2 Olympic quota for men and 2 for women will be determined based on the results of the all-around qualification competition. For the Tokyo 2020 Qualification, the handling of eligibility and results is the responsibility of FIG.     

See below schedule of the event   

Friday 23rd April

• Women’s Artistic All-Around final – 12.15 - 2.45pm Irish Time on RTÉ TWO
• Men’s Artistic All-Around final – Friday 23rd April from 4.00 – 7.00pm Irish Time on RTÉ Player https://www.rte.ie/player/onnow

Saturday 24th April

• Apparatus final Day 1 - 1.00pm – 3.15pm Irish Time on RTÉ ONE (Men's Floor, Pommel Horse, Rings and Women's Vault and Uneven Bars)

Sunday 25th April

• Apparatus final Day 2 - 11.45am-3pm on RTÉ TWO (Men's Vault, Parallel Bar and High Bar and Women's Beam and Floor)

For more information about the event please visit https://www.europeangymnastics.com/event/2021-european-championships-artistic-gymnastics/overview     

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