31st European Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships: nominative entries

The federations have announced the athletes who are going to represent them.

 

This competition is for both junior and senior gymnasts who will compete as a team and in the individual competition on each apparatus. The juniors participate also in the all-around final.

The nominative entries revealed the presence of the key gymnasts of the discipline, already on the road to the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

 

A total of 39 countries (39 for seniors (36 in 2012) and 36 for juniors (35 en 2012)) with 327 gymnasts (177 seniors (150 in 2012) and 150 juniors (159 in 2012)) will compete in these European Men’s Artistic Gymnastics Championships to be held from May 21^st to 25^th in Sofia, Bulgaria.

 

It will obviously be a highlight to watch the British team defend their title (in the senior and junior categories); at the 2012 Olympic Games in London they achieved the 3^rd rank and were the best European country in the ranking per nation. 3 of the 5 gymnasts of the present team (Daniel Purvis, Kristian Thomas and Max Whitlock) were already part of the team competing at the 2012 ECh and the 2012 OG. Sam Oldham, the fourth gymnast, was only part of the team competing at the London Olympic Games. These gymnasts, individually, could also obtain good results at the apparatus finals on Sunday.

 

Silver and bronze medallists at the European Championships in Montpellier/FRA in 2012, the Russian and Romanian senior teams as well as the Swiss junior team will again compete for podium places. The Russian team that had ranked 2^nd will try with its multi-titled gymnasts (Denis Abliazin, Aleksandr Balandin, David Belyavskiy - European champion in the all-around competition - and Nikolai Kuksenkov who joined the Russian team in December 2012) to outscore the British.

Will the German team, European champion in 2010 and composed of, among others, Fabian Hambuechen and Marcel Nguyen, succeed to step once again on the podium?

 

For the apparatus finals, some gymnasts will have to be followed very closely; on floor the British D. Purvis (ranked 4^th on this apparatus during the WCh 2013) and M. Whitlock, 1^st at the ECh last year in Moscow sharing his place on the podium with A. Shatilov/ISR. The Russian D. Abliazin won the bronze medal on this apparatus at the London Olympic Games.

 

On pommel horse, the British Whitlock and the Hungarian Berki prevailed these last two years at the European and World Championships winning a place on the podium but Berki is the favourite with his gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

 

On rings, the competition will be tight between the Russian A. Balandin (second at the WCh 2013), and the French S. Ait Said, current European champion on rings together with the Ukrainian I. Radivilov.

 

On vault, the favourites are D. Ablyazin/RUS, European champion on this apparatus and silver medallist at the OG in London, I. Radivilov/UKR, bronze medallist at the OG 2012 and K. Thomas/GBR, 3^rd at last year’s WCh.

 

On parallel bars, the gymnast to count with for a podium place is the German NGUYEN, silver medallist at the London OG; on high bar, the competition will be tight between his compatriot F. Hambuechen, silver medallist at the OG 2012 and the WCh in 2013 and E. Zonderland/NED, 2012 Olympic champion and 2013 World champion.

 

Some gymnasts who competed in 2012 in Montpellier as juniors will compete this year in the senior category and could hope for good results as Casimir Schmidt/NED, gold medallist on vault at the ECh junior in 2012, the Romanian Daniel Vasile Radeanu, second ranked on floor, or the Turk Ibrahim Colak, silver medallist on parallel bars in Montpellier.

 

Good luck to all and let the best ones win!

 

O. Do Rosario/UEG

Photo: - V. Minkus/UEG