Current World Champion gymnast Rhys McClenaghan was crowned the 2023 European Champion on pommel horse on Saturday, scoring 14.666 after a great routine at the European Championships apparatus finals in Turkey.

This is his second European Pommel title having formerly been crowned in 2018.

“I couldn’t be more proud to bring home another European Title for Ireland and to my collection,” he said.

“It was an anxious wait going up first and not performing my best routine but it’s definitely putting up a score that can take the title and I’m glad to be walking away from another European Championships as the European Pommel Horse Champion.”

“I am exceptionally happy that Rhys completed another gold-winning routine,” added National Team Manager Luke Carson.

“It is great preparation for Olympic Qualification. I am very proud of Rhys today.”

“This was a fantastic result for Rhys with his second European Gold medal just 6 months after taking the World Title, congratulations to him,” said Gymnastics Ireland Performance and Technical Manager, Sally Johnson.

“We would like to thank Sport Ireland for the continued support and the Sport Ireland Institute staff for providing such great support for all our gymnasts.”

“It’s been an exciting week for both our Women’s and Men’s teams. This event has seen our best performance to date from the women’s team and we are hopeful for both Emma Slevin and Halle Hilton who should qualify to the World Championships later this year with Adam Steele also joining them. The World Championships is also the Olympic qualification route for All Around gymnasts.”

McClenaghan was presented his Gold Medal by Gymnastics Ireland CEO Ciaran Gallagher. “What an amazing thing to be able to say – current World and now European Champion at the same time,” he said after the presentation.

“This result of course is shared by our National Coach Luke Carson who works tirelessly with Rhys to make results like this possible. Thank you also to our Performance and Technical Manager Sally Johnson and Sports Ireland Institute team led by Julieanne Ryan plus our judges out here in Antalya. This is a great day for Gymnastics Ireland.”

The 2023 World Championships will take place in Antwerp in Belgium between September 30 and October 8 later this year.