7th October 2019: Rhys McClenaghan has qualified to the pommel-horse final at the 2019 FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, the first ever world final for an Irish gymnast. McClenaghan scored a superb 15.200 on pommel yesterday during the first of the two-day qualifying rounds and goes into the finals in the hugely impressive 2nd position. In doing so his qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is looking very positive, however the official confirmation will come from the international gymnastics federation (FIG) once the apparatus final draws to a close next Sunday 13th Oct. Rhys will compete in the pommel horse final on Saturday 12th October with finals starting at 3pm.
Commenting on the achievements Ciaran Gallagher, CEO Gymnastics Ireland said:
‘Rhys has done it again! Another historic result firstly for himself and secondly for Ireland as a sporting nation. I can only congratulate Rhys, our national coach Luke Carson and Performance Manager Sally Johnson on faultless preparation for this event following his shoulder surgery in later 2018. Along with the rest of members and staff at Gymnastics Ireland We can wait to see him compete in the World Pommel Final on Saturday!’
Fellow gymnast Adam Steele scored 77.431 in the All-Around competition, ranking 76th in the world concluding competition. Earlier in the week gymnasts Emma Slevin, Meg Ryan and Kate Molloy also finished on the Women’s All-Around qualifiers Friday with the highest score of 13.400 on Vault for both Ryan and Slevin. For the Women’s Artistic gymnasts this competition was focused on gaining experience at their first senior Worlds and continuing in their long-term preparation and development targeted at the World Championships in 2022 and Paris 2024. For full results, live scores and more details of this competition visit the official World Championships website here. https://www.stuttgart2019.de/en/event/finale-geraete-1/
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Editors notes
For more information contact Caroline Ledwith caroline@gymnasticsireland.com
Photography is available FOC to sports desks