Historic 3 finals at Junior Euros for Ward & Hazelton

20th August 2026, 21:23p.m. | International

Ireland’s junior gymnasts Robert Ward and Finlay Hazelton have qualified to the vault final with a score of 13.499 for Robert and 13.233 for Finlay ranking 5^th and 8^th consecutively at the 2026 European Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. Ward also made history by qualifying for the junior All-Around Top 24 final.

This event marks a historic debut for all junior gymnasts at European level. The Junior Men’s Apparatus final will take place on Saturday 22^nd August from 9.00-11.15am (Irish time) and the All-Around on Sunday 23^rd August from 9.00-10.40am (Irish time).

Team Ireland has completed their competition with a score of 217.728 ranking 16^th.

Commenting on today, Robert Ward said: “I was definitely happy with the overall, definitely some mistakes I can come back to the gym and work on and I was really happy with how Gymnastics Ireland accommodated me with everything they have done in the last couple of weeks for my build up and stuff.”

Teammate Finlay Hazelton added: “My competition was pretty good. I wasn't extremely happy with my AA result, because I feel like it wasn't a proper reflection of my prep, but it's made me more motivated to go back to the gym and work on my mistakes and maybe fix up on nerves and how to deal with them as I go out but I'm happy with my vault, with my two vaults and making it into the vault final and I'm excited to see where that vault final takes me.”

Coach Wayne Healy added: “I couldn't be prouder of how the team stepped up at Europeans today.

Rob put in a phenomenal performance to secure not only his place in the Vault final on Friday but also in the all-around final on Sunday too. His team mate Finn showed incredible composure to join him in the Vault final with an amazing stuck landing on his Yurchenko Double Twist alongside some great performances for the team.

Matthew narrowly missed out on the Pommel final but gained invaluable experience which he can hopefully use towards his European Youth Olympics next year, for such a young gymnast at this competition he is showing huge promise. Evan performed some fantastic routines and was a calm anchor for the team which in his first major international showed incredible maturity.

We’re thrilled with the results, but the job isn't finished yet—we're ready to get back to work and bring our best for the finals”

Gymnastics Ireland Performance and Technical Director, Sally Johnson said: “Congratulations to Evan, Robert, Finlay and Matthew on a really encouraging performance for our Junior Men's team at the European Championships, finishing in with a team score of 217.728 placing 16^th

Individual highlights included Finlay and Robert both producing superb vaults to qualify into the apparatus final, in 8th and 5th respectively. It was also great to see all our gymnasts competing in the all-around doing all 6 apparatus with excellent developmental standards, with Robert scoring 73.332 qualifying him for the All-Around final!

Results like these reflect the hard work these gymnasts and their coaches have put in over the past year and provide a strong platform to build on as they continue their development.

Well done to all the gymnasts and coaches involved.”

Gymnastics Ireland CEO, Ciaran Gallagher added: “Superb results for our junior boys today showing real depth developing in our men’s programme. Evan and Matthew delivered some really stable performances for the team. Finlay was superb in qualifying for the vault final and Robert knocked it out of the park today qualifying not only for the vault final but also making history as our first Junior European All Around finalist hitting six for six routines - no mean feat for his first Europeans, as with the rest of the guys. Huge congratulations to the gymnasts, their coaches & clubs, our national performance team and of course the gymnasts’ family & friends who share in their success today!”

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

Stay tuned for tomorrow's Senior apparatus final to support Rhys McClenaghan on pommel and Eamon Montgomery on floor from 5.00pm (Irish time).