2026 Europeans - McClenaghan & Montgomery qualify Top 8 to apparatus final!

19th August 2026, 22:15p.m. | International

Ireland’s Olympic Champion Rhys McClenaghan and World Cup medallist Eamon Montgomery have qualified to the top-8 apparatus finals at the 2026 European Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.

McClenaghan hit 14.400 on Pommel Horse ranking 5th whilst Montgomery scored 14.033 ranking 6th on floor - a superb achievement for both in a top tier field.

This event marks the first ever European final for Eamon following his return to international competition earlier this year! Both gymnasts will compete on Friday 21st August at 5pm Irish time.

The qualification round saw the European Senior debut of James Hickey and Oisin O'Connell, 2 young gymnasts with huge potential and a return to the international stage for seasoned competitors Adam Steele & Daniel Fox who's maturity showed through today.

Also of huge importance is the potential for James Hickey and Adam Steele to qualify through to the World Championships in October with their All-Around results. Official confirmation will be made public by European Gymnastics in the comming days.

Team Ireland has completed their competition with a score of 226.496, ranking 21^st.

Commenting on today, Rhys McClenaghan said:

“I’m pleased to have qualified for my fifth European final. There’s definitely room for improvement from qualification, so I’m looking forward to stepping things up in the final. It was also brilliant to see Eamon make his first European floor final, and as a team we showed strong improvement and plenty of positives to build on.”

Teammate Eamon Montgomery added:

“I was really happy with my routine on floor even before the score came out, was just glad to get another clean routine under my belt. I had some nerves across all around for today and it definitely showed on pbars. But besides from that I’m happy with the other 5 routines. And also proud of the rest of the lads, it was fun going around with them.”

Commenting on the competition today, National Coach Conor McGovern said:

"I'm extremely proud of the boys they worked right to the very end, they worked their hardest, they supported each other the whole way round the competition, which is great to see. I'm particularly proud of Eamon who did his first international all around competition and was able to secure a spot in the floor final, with an absolutely excellent routine where he really focused in on the execution and took advice on in short notice a quick turn around from the Commonwealth Games and Rhys did exactly the same and in a similar vane was able to change his routine around slightly and refine it and that's enough to get into the finals. Then we're looking for in finals a little bit of a cleaner routine and we're well on our way towards making the standrad that the boys are at that little bit higher every day and that's all we can ask for.”

Commenting on the competition today, National Coach Sergey Sizhanov added:

"Our team represented Ireland with 5 members of team plus Rhys as individual performer. The competition was difficult with a very strong field of incredible athletes, some of the worlds best coming from Europe. The team completed the competition finishing in 21st place with a total score of 226.496. A tough day for Oisin who showed true character to carry on after making a mistake on Kovac in his High Bar routine. Dan performed well with a clean routine, well executed until slight mistake on dismount for landing but showed he is very close to making a European final on Rings. Adam Steele completed his competition with a score of 74.298. This was a good performance from Adam due to having some problems earlier on in the week. His & resilience, positive energy & support were vital in keeping this team going throughout the competition. Dan & Adam’s leadership qualities helped our youngest members of the team when things didn’t go to plan. James Hickey made his senior Europeans debut with a score of 75.365 which could qualify him to World Championships in an individual all-around spot. Eamon stepped up his game today by improving on his performance from Commonwealth Games on the Floor Exercise with a score of 14.033. This secured his place in the floor final in 6th position. Rhys demonstrated a good performance with a score of 14.4 & qualified into the Pommel final in 5th position. This routine still has areas to improve & hopefully he will be able to showcase more of his quality in the final.

Finally, I want to say thank you very much to the team in how they supported each other. We are now looking forward to seeing what this team can do with its potential in the future. Also, a huge thank you to the personal coaches, Gymnastics Ireland staff, medical team and everyone involved in making some good performances for our team at these championships."

Gymnastics Ireland Performance and Technical Director, Sally Johnson said:

“Great performances for Eamon Montgomery qualifying for the floor final in 6th with a 14.033, and Rhys McClenaghan qualifying for pommel horse in 5th with a 14.4, are exactly the kind of individual performances that show the depth and quality continuing to come through our programme. Our team selection is built on individual performances like these, the challenge, and the opportunity, is bringing all our individual performances together to convert into a stronger team score.

Great AA results from both James Hickey and Adam Steele who are targeting the World Championships qualification for All Around.

Well done to all involved and thank you to Sport Ireland for all the support in our programmes.”

Gymnastics Ireland CEO, Ciaran Gallagher added:

“Great day for the Irish team in Zagreb - Adam Steele showed real consistency and Dan was solid as a rock on rings. Our younger team members Oisin & James showed their huge potential as relatively new seniors and it was a superb day for Rhys & Eamon making it through to top-8 apparatus finals on Pommel & Floor.

Huge congratulations to to the gymnasts, their coaches & clubs, our national performance team and of course their families & friends for supporting them getting here!”

Well done and congratulations to all gymnasts, coaches and judges!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's Junior qualifications where Robert Ward, Matthew Hickey, Finlay Hazelton and Evan Kinsella will compete in Subdivision 3 from 4.30pm (Irish time).