Irish Gymnast Rhys McClenaghan will compete in the World Championship Final of the Pommel Horse in Antwerp on Saturday with the action getting underway at 3:50pm local time, 2:50 Irish time.
The Final will be televised live on BBC with Double Olympic and three time World Champion Max Whitlock their local favourite to take on Rhys who took his crown in the most recent renewal.
RTÉ television is committed to the Rugby World Game between Wales and Georgia and the Sports Direct FAI Cup clash between Galway United and Bohemians that both take place at the same time but the finals will be streamed on All Gymnastics.TV and there may yet be a late showing on the RTÉ Player.
The finals session will also include Simone Biles competing in the Women’s Vault in what will be a perfect teaser for next year’s Olympic Games as well as a great event in its own right.
“I’m very happy with my performance,” said McClenaghan after qualifying for the final earlier in the week. “It was enough to make the Pommel Horse final, my 3rd World Championships final and my 6th World Championships as well. So I’m happy with how the performance went and I’m looking forward to improving on that performance in the final”.
He won European Championship Gold in 2018 and 2023 as well as World Championship Bronze in Stuttgart in 2019 before becoming Ireland’s first ever World Champion Gymnast in Liverpool in 2022.
The sport has been through a tough period with a blistering media and political spotlight on an incident that took place at a Gymstart event in 2022. Gymnastics Ireland issued a full apology for the actions of one of its officials in a seemingly racist overlooking of a young athlete which caused great upset at the time and since.
While the sport is dealing with the aftermath of that, and ensuring the right processes are in place to ensure it is never repeated, this will shine a light on the very many good things that the sport has delivered over recent years.
It is just a shame that it cannot be seen on Irish TV but that is the complexity of the sporting calendar and the confluence of major events.
