Olympic Games Paris 2024

Devillard, D'Amato and Esposito win European apparatus titles in Rimini

By Jo Gunston
6 min|
Manila Esposito of Italy with three gold medals from 2024 European Gymnastics Championships in Rimini, Italy

Picture by Olympics.com

All four apparatus finals were decided at the women's European Gymnastics Championships taking place in Rimini, Italy on Saturday (4 May).

Coline Devillard defended her vault title with an average score of her two vaults of 13.866, boding well for the Frenchwoman ahead of her home Games starting in less than three months time. Compatriot Ming van Eijken secured bronze (13.699) with Bulgaria's Valentina Georgieva the filling in the sandwich, claiming silver with 13.799.

"I think this one is special because it's the year of Games, obviously, too," Devillard said of receiving her third European gold medal, second consecutive, on her favoured apparatus. "In fact, it's a lot to take on and it also allows me to show that I accept my status... So I'm full of emotions. I'm not going to say that it's the most beautiful individually, but I think it was the hardest to get, so I'm very happy."

Less than two years after a serious knee injury at the European Championships in Munich, Georgieva, secured second place on vault, the same apparatus on which she suffered a femoral fracture and torn ACL in the final in 2022. Weeks before the second place in Rimini and the former rhythmic gymnast obtained a quota berth for Paris 2024, via the FIG Apparatus World Cup series. On vault.

Speaking to Olympics.com afterwards, Georgieva admitted to feeling emotional. "I feel incredible right now because this is my big competition after my surgery, after my injury in the last European Championships. So I don't know how to feel right now, because I didn't know I will win the medal, and I'm so, so happy about that."

European Gymnastics Championships 2024: Women's vault champion – Coline Devillard

  1. Coline Devillard FRA 13.866
  2. Valentina Georgieva BUL 13.799
  3. Ming van Eijken FRA 13.699
  4. Ana Barbosu ROU 13.666
  5. Karina Schoenmaier GER 13.466
  6. Camille Rasmussen DEN 13.199
  7. Marlene Gotthardt GER 13.166
  8. Sara Peter HUN 13.033

Italy's national anthem reverberates through FieraRimini arena

Alice D'Amato followed the lead of Devillard, retaining her uneven bars title with a score of 14.600, while the home crowd erupted into wild screams, the loudest of all coming from her injured sister Asia, who was sitting in the stands.

Compatriot Elisa Iorio claimed silver (14.366) and Great Britain's Georgia-Mae Fenton won bronze with the last routine of the final, pipping Helen Kevric to the final place on the podium, scoring 13.900 to the German's 13.866.

"After a gold medal it always feels good, doesn't it," said Alice D'Amato after her win. "Last year I won my first gold medal and being always at the top is difficult, so there is more tension, especially at home, with the audience rooting for you, but I tried to focus on the exercise and to do it as best as I could."

When asked about how she coped during the competition today after the emotions of Thursday when her twin was carried from the floor exercise clutching her leg, Alice said: "It wasn't easy and it's a good thing the competition was today and not yesterday, because yesterday I was still recovering from the shock.

"Let's say that the more the days go by, the more I'm convincing myself that Asia right now is not going to be here, that I have to do it both for me and for her, so she's going to be there for me, I'm going to be there for her, and together we're going to achieve what we hope to achieve."

"Asia feels bit so-so," Alice continued after being asked how her sibling is feeling. "She feels pain in her knee, but we don't know anything yet. We are keeping our fingers crossed."

Britain's Becky Downie, who qualified in second behind D'Amato, almost pulled off the routine of her dreams but a fall curtailed that moment. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion on the apparatus, Nina Derwael, fell in qualification and did not make the final.

European Gymnastics Championships 2024: Women's uneven bars champion – Alice D'Amato

  1. Alice D'Amato ITA 14.600
  2. Elisa Iorio ITA 14.366
  3. Georgia-Mae Fenton GBR 13.900
  4. Helen Kevric GER 13.866
  5. Filipa Martins POR 13.700
  6. Nathalie Westlund SWE 13.700
  7. Becky Downie GBR 13.633
  8. Zoja Szekely HUN 12.700

Balanced on beam with zero falls and floored on floor

None of the eight gymnasts fell during the beam final and it was Italy's Manila Esposito (14.400) who secured gold. Romania's Sabrina Maneca-Voinea won silver (14.166) and Marine Boyer of France, the bronze (14.033). Esposito and Maneca-Voinea repeated the 1-2 in the floor final, with Angela Andreoli of Italy in bronze medal position.

"From 1 to 10, I think my level of happiness is 100,000," said an exuberant Esposito medals clanking around her neck. "I didn't expect this for sure: I was aiming for the final in beam and I managed to achieve it in floor too, and I think it couldn't go better. I'm super happy."

Maneca-Voinea flew off the podium and into the arms of her waiting mum, Camelia Voinea who also just happens to be her coach, and the silver medalist on floor from the 1987 European Championships.

"We didn't expect to win so many medals," said Andreoli of her Italian squad. "When we came here we wanted to do well and we managed to deliver. Now for the team competition we aim for the maximum result."

The women's team competition concludes the 2024 European Gymnastics Championships, taking place Sunday (5 May).

European Gymnastics Championships 2024: Women's beam champion – Manila Esposito

  1. Manila Esposito ITA 14.400
  2. Sabrina Maneca-Voinea ROU 14.166
  3. Marine Boyer FRA 14.033
  4. Lilia Cosman ROU 13.500
  5. Alice D'Amato ITA 13.266
  6. Alba Petisco ESP 13.033
  7. Ana Perez ESP 12.933
  8. Polina Diachenko UKR 12.500

European Gymnastics Championships 2024: Women's floor champion – Manila Esposito

  1. Manila Esposito ITA 13.833
  2. Sabrina Maneca-Voinea ROU 13.700
  3. Angela Andreoli ITA 13.666
  4. Alice Kinsella GBR 13.633
  5. Morgane Osyssek-Reimer FRA 13.300
  6. Alba Petisco ESP 13.233
  7. Abigail Martin GBR 13.200
  8. Ming Van Eijken FRA 12.700

Artistic Gymnastics European Championships 2024 schedule

Sunday 5 May – Women's team final

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