Background
Italy comes into this year’s competition as the reigning European Champions and are fielding the exact same team as last year with the addition of Salvatore Maresca in the individual specialist role. As the host team, they will be looking to repeat at European Champions. They will likely face stiff competition from the British men who won the European Games Championships in 2022. With the withdrawl of Max Whitlock, and the addition of James Hall, the British Team is almost identical to the team that won in Munich, the only difference being Harry Hepworth in for Giarnni Regini-Moran.
The podium this entire Olympic Cycle has consisted of Italy, Turkey, and Great Britain in varying orders; however, Turkey may have a more difficult road to the podium this year without their first Olympic medalist, Ferhat Arican.
In terms of all-around and event results, all champions from 2023 are returning with the opportunity to defend their titles. A full list of the champions and medalists can be seen in the table below.
This year, junior athletes will also compete in the team, all-around, and event competitions. Like the seniors, the Italian juniors are expected to be strong in front of a home crowd - particularly Tommaso Brugnami, who is the current junior world vault champion. Coming in as a double world champion, Hamlet Manukyan of Armenia is also expected to challenge not only for the still rings and pommel horse titles, but also for the all-around title as well.
2023 Senior European Gymnastics Championships Medalists
Format
Wednesday, April 24: Senior Qualifications + All-Around Finals (3 subdivisions)
| Subdivision | Local Time | Eastern Time | Pacific Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (Norway, Sweden, Romania, Belgium, Iceland, Netherlands, Hungary, Slovania) | 10:00 am | 4:00 am | 1:00 am |
| 2 (Greece, Armenia, Georgia, Austria, Finland, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Ukraine, France, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan) | 2:00 pm | 8:00 am | 5:00 am |
| 3 (Ireland, Switzerland, Great Britain, Spain, Lithuania, Turkey, Israel, Italy) | 5:45 pm | 11:45 am | 8:45 am |
Thursday, April 25: Junior Qualifications + Team Medal
| Subdivision | Local Time | Eastern Time | Pacific Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (Isreal, Slovenia, Hugnary, Romania) | 10:00 am | 4:00 am | 1:00 am |
| 2 (Spain, Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ukraine) | 2:00 pm | 8:00 am | 5:00 am |
| 3 (Lithuania, Greece, Finland, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey, Armenia, Norway, Bulgaria) | 5:30 pm | 11:30 am | 8:30 am |
Friday, April 26: Senior Floor, Pommel Horse, Still Rings Finals
Saturday, April 27: Senior Vault, Parallel Bars, and High Bar Finals; Junior Event Finals
Sunday, April 28: Senior Team Finals; Junior All-Around Finals
The full schedule can be found here.
Olympic Implications
The highest ranked all-arounder in the qualification round (April 23, 2024) who is not from a pre-qualified team or who has not already earned a nominative spot will earn a birth for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France. Ivan Tikhonov (AZE), Sofus Heggemsnes (NOR), Robert Kirmes (FIN), Oskar Kirmes (FIN) and Illias Georgiou (CYP) . Likely, the score to earn that spot with be a high 79. At last year’s European Championships, the highest ranked all-arounder from a non-qualified team was Elias Koski (FIN) who scored a 79.798. However, the majority of athletes behind him, were also from non-qualified teams and there were in total nine athletes who scored between 79.033 and 79.798.
How To Follow
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Article by: Kensley Behel
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