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McClenaghan successfully defends his European title

Rhys McClenaghan has retained his European Championship pommel horse title, winning gold at the event in Rimini, Italy.

McClenaghan turned on the style in his final routine, winning with a score of 15.300, ahead of Loran De Munck of the Netherlands in second and Cypriot Marios Georgiou, who took bronze in a surprise result.

The Irishman completed his final routine with a 6.5 difficulty and was awarded 8.8 in execution, with an impressive dismount rounding things off as he finished with no penalties.

It's the third time that McClenaghan has claimed the European gold as he successfully defended the title he won at Antalya in 2023, having also won in 2018.

Speaking afterwards, Irish national coach Luke Carson hailed McClenaghan's achievement. He said: "Very proud moment, triple European Champion! The goal was to come here and showcase Olympic level gymnastics, that was certainly achieved.

"Now we recoup, reenergise and work towards final improvements for Olympic Games"

With gold already secured, Ireland have further medal hopes in Italy as Dominick Cunningham competes in the vault final on Saturday, with coverage live on the RTÉ Player.

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