European Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2023: Meet the top three men's all-around qualifiers

Get to know the top three qualifiers for the men’s individual all-around final at the artistic gymnastics European Championships who are going head-to-head for the 2023 title in Antalya, Türkiye on Thursday (13 April).

The trio are from three different nations and have 12 European medals between them and each will be doing their utmost to be crowned the best gymnast in Europe for 2023.

They have a field of 21 other gymnasts to contend with and qualification marks count for nothing as all gymnasts start from zero, so there is much to navigate.

All scores from the six pieces of apparatus for men – floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars and high bar – are combined to decide the winner, so consistency is key.

Let’s meet the top three qualifiers – Illia Kovtun of Ukraine, Türkiye's Adem Asil and Great Britain's Jake Jarman.

European Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2023: 1. Illia Kovtun UKR 85.432

The best result to date for the 19-year-old Ukrainian is a world bronze medal. The discipline? The individual all-around in 2021, so the teenager has top-level pedigree in this event.

Kovtun is also an Olympian, competing at Tokyo 2020, and won gold in the team event, all-around, parallel bars and high bar plus silver on floor at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2019.

Known as a parallel bars World Cup wonder, Kovtun claimed six consecutive titles on the apparatus, before being bested by Philippines’ Carlos Yulo in the third round of the 2023 Artistic Gymnastics Apparatus World Cup in Baku in March.

European Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2023: 2 Adem Asil TUR 83.665

Turk-iy-e, Turk-i-ye will once again reverberate around the Antalya Sports Hall when Adem Asil takes to the stage for his challenge on the top individual prize.

The reigning rings world champion also has six European medals to his name but is yet to win a gold. Three silver and three bronze include a third place in the all-around last time out in Munich and the Egyptian-born Asil will want to equal or better that performance.

Asil matches Kovtun in being a Tokyo 2020 Olympian and is also part of the Turkish squad who claimed silver behind first-time men’s European team champions Italy on Tuesday (11 April).

European Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2023: 3 Jake Jarman GBR 83.098

In his second year as a senior, Jake Jarman claimed nine international medals. These included world bronze in the team competition at the Liverpool-hosted championships, which qualified Great Britain for Paris 2024 courtesy of the top three finish. If Jarman continues on this trajectory, a debut Olympic Games could await when the team is selected next year.

The 21-year-old is a two-time European champion in the team and vault disciplines from Munich 2022, and already a bronze medallist from this year’s championships in the team event.

This time round though, he’s on his own, and ready to challenge for an all-around medal to add to his growing collection.

European Artistic Gymnastics Championships 2023: Schedule

Times are local to Türkiye

Thurs 13 April – day 3
• 4pm-6.45pm MAG All-Around Final

Fri 14 April – day 4
• 4pm-6pm WAG All-Around Final

Sat 15 April – day 5
• 1.30pm-2pm MAG floor apparatus final
• 2.10pm-2.55pm WAG vault and MAG pommel horse apparatus finals
• 3.10pm-3.55pm WAG bars and MAG rings apparatus finals

Sun 16 April – day 6
• 1pm-1.45pm WAG beam and MAG vault apparatus finals
• 2pm-2.45pm WAG floor and MAG parallel bars apparatus finals
• 3-3.30pm MAG high bar apparatus final