Davtyan, Wevers, Kovtun, Gadirova and Srbic crowned European Champions on closing day of #Antalya2023

On a gorgeous sunny day in the Turkish seaside resort Antalya, the gymnasts entered the Antalya Sports Hall for the last time of these Europeans. Today, we witnessed mesmerising performances in the second part of event finals. The men competed on vault, parallel bars and high bar while the women fought for the medals on beam and floor.

The vault final featured an interesting mix of seasoned competitors and European debutants. Execution proved to be the deciding factor as reigning World Champion Artur Davtyan showcased his exquisite form to take the European title. Defending Champion Jake Jarman (GBR) came within two hundreds of a point to settle for silver, outscoring veteran competitor Igor Radivilov, a familiar face on international vault podiums.

Back in action for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics, 2016 Olympic Champion Sanne Wevers (NED) showed off her trademark pirouettes and leaps, for a solid 13.800 in the beam final and her second European title. A third European medal on this event for the Dutch grace, after gold in 2018 and silver in 2021. Italy’s Manila Esposito and Hungary’s Zsofia Kovacs both scored 13.700. As Esposito had the highest execution score, she was awarded the silver medal while Kovacs got the bronze.

When you post both the highest difficulty and highest execution score, the European title is yours. That’s what Ilia Kovtun must have thought going into the parallel bars final. What a fabulous routine by the young Ukrainian, outscoring Turkish superstar Ferhat Arican for the European crown. Spain’s Thierno Diallo has been making a name for himself for a few years now. In Antalya he was right up there with the big names, executing a 6.4 D-score routine with ease. The bronze medal was his to take.

On floor, Jessica Gadirova cruised to victory with sky-high tumbling and entertaining dance passes, her third gold of these Europeans. It marked also the first time a gymnast had won the floor title three consecutive times. At still only 18 years old, Gadirova is already breaking many records! Teammate Alice Kinsella  performed the floor routine of her life to take silver while Romania’s Sabrina Maneca-Voinea fought hard to tumble her way past Naomi Visser (NED) for the bronze.

Last but certainly not least, the high bar final allowed for a spectacular end to #Antalya2023. Silver in 2019 and in 2020, Croatia’s Tin Srbic stepped up his game here to finally clinch that long-awaited European title, fighting with Italian showman Carlo Macchini to the bitter end. Just 0.033 separated these two gymnasts. Ilia Kovtun grabbed another medal, his third in this competition as finished third in this final.

Congratulations to the medallists!

Men’s vault

GOLD Artur DAVTYAN (ARM) 15.033

SILVER Jake JARMAN (GBR) 15.016

BRONZE Igor RADIVILOV (UKR) 14.750

Women’s balance beam

GOLD Sanne WEVERS (NED) 13.800

SILVER Manila ESPOSITO (ITA) 13.700

BRONZE Zsofia KOVACS (HUN) 13.700

Men’s parallel bars

GOLD Ilia KOVTUN (UKR) 15.166

SILVER Ferhat ARICAN (TUR) 14.933

BRONZE Thierno DIALLO (ESP) 14.733

Women’s floor

GOLD Jessica GADIROVA (GBR) 14.000

SILVER Alice KINSELLA (GBR) 13.666

BRONZE Sabrina MANECA-VOINEA (ROU) 13.566

Men’s high bar

GOLD Tin SRBIC (CRO) 14.233

SILVER Carlo MACCHINI (ITA) 14.200

BRONZE Ilia KOVTUN (UKR) 13.966

Find the full results on our event website: 2023 European Championships in Artistic Gymnastics | European Gymnastics

As the curtains fall on these Artistic Europeans, we wish to express our gratitude to the Turkish Gymnastics Federation for the excellent organization and of course to all gymnasts who worked so hard to deliver their routines when it counted!