Italy's Manila Esposito and Alice D'Amato 1-2 at 2024 European Gymnastics Championships in Rimini
Manila Esposito is European all-around champion on a night full of highs and lows for Italy's home gymnasts at the Fiera Arena in Rimini on Thursday (2 May).
Compatriot Alice D’Amato claimed silver with 54.831 to Esposito’s sparkling 55.432, with Great Britain’s Alice Kinsella securing bronze (53.599) ahead of a third Italian, Angela Andreoli, who scored higher with 53.766, but the place went to Kinsella due to only two gymnasts per nation allowed to compete in a final.
The first day of the women's European Championships featured the all-around final, plus qualification for the team final, and apparatus finals. One quota berth for the Olympic Games Paris 2024 was also secured by Belgium's Maellyse Brassart, who was the highest eligible qualifier in the all-around competition.
Brassart joins compatriot and Tokyo 2020 Olympic bars champion Nina Derwael at the Bercy Arena in Paris, at the XXXIII Olympiad, starting 26 July.
Italy topped the standings in team qualification but will be without Asia D'Amato who left the arena with an injury, stopping after her final tumble on floor and clutching her leg. Twin sister Alice was in tears but continued through the competition to take the individual silver medal.
Italy, GB, France, Romania, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden make the team final on Sunday (5 May).
Finalists were also decided on vault, bars, beam, and floor.
-
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
-
Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.
European gymnastics showdown in Rimini
After the first two subdivisions of four, Romania's great hope Sabrina Maneca-Voinea was just ahead of Spain's Alba Petisco by the smallest of margins, 0.001, following a flawed final piece of apparatus for the 16-year-old, the bars.
In the third subdivision, Sweden performed outstanding routines, particularly on bars, which helped them secure a first ever qualification for the European team final, courtesy of Tonya Paulsson, Nathalie Westlund, Jennifer Williams, Elina Gravin, and Maya Ståhl.
Kudos also to Valëza Rama, Katrina Thaqi, and Vilëza Zeqiri who made history for their nation when they made a first ever appearance for Kosovo at the women’s European Championships.
The fourth subdivision hosted the main medal contenders from Great Britain and Italy, although defending all-around champion, Briton Jessica Gadirova, was absent with a long-term injury, as was the silver medallist from 2023, Zsófia Kovács of Hungary. The bronze medallist, Alice D'Amato, was one of the Italians in the mix.
Esposito immediately laid down the gauntlet, however, with a 14.200 on the usually nervy balance beam, which would turn out to be the highest mark of the day on the apparatus, a score that would help toward gold.
"It's an emotion unique, I can't describe it," said Esposito afterwards. "I never experienced something so strong in my life. This was my second Euros and this year I could make up for what I wasn't able to do last year. I hope to achieve my best in these two finals (floor, beam) and do better than last year."
Devastating scenes on the second rotation of four in the final subdivision, as Asia D'Amato stopped after her final tumble run in her floor routine, clutching her knee, which silenced the until-then exuberant home crowd. Carried from the arena in tears, her twin sister was likewise distressed but was able to carry on through vault and bars to claim silver.
A tearful Alice said afterwards: "I would have preferred to win a silver at the Euros under other circumstances. I would rather not have won a medal and have my sister with me...
"She had a lot of injuries and every time she came back stronger, but each time she got injured again in no time. I would like to be with her now, I know that she's very upset now, because it's not fair...
"I hope for her it's nothing too serious and that she could recover soon."
Kinsella, meanwhile, performed elegantly as ever on floor exercise – the apparatus on which she is a European silver medallist – to round out her competition to take the bronze.
"I'm really happy with coming third. It wasn't my best competition, I could have done a lot better, but I also made floor final so I'm happy with that as well."
Beam was a nervy apparatus for the Brits, with two falls, but Kinsella is confident all will be well come the final, and the chance to defend their title.
"In team final we'll definitely do a lot better. I think we qualified second and I think we need to come out of this competition and find the positives and that's what us girls are doing, and it's a new team so I'm super, super proud of the girls."
The team competition, taking place unusually on the last day of the championships, Sunday 5 May, will be a fierce occasion with Italy, Great Britain, France, Romania, Spain, Netherlands, Germany and Sweden all qualifying for the showdown.
In the apparatus finals, Coline Devillard safely qualified for vault final with a two-vault average of 13.983. Her first vault, a handspring front with 1.5 twists, scored a spectacular 14.500. She'll be favoured to defend her title.
Great Britain's Becky Downie, a World silver medallist on bars in 2019, will be hoping to upgrade her European silver from last time out, after qualifying second to Alice D'Amato on the apparatus.
Maneca-Voinea will challenge on beam, where she qualified in second, and floor, leading the Romanians in a happy resurgence after a fallow few years.
European Gymnastics Championships 2024: Women's individual all-around results
- Manila Esposito ITA 55.432
- Alice D'Amato ITA 54.831
(Angela Andreoli ITA 53.766 – not a medallist due to the two-per-country rule) - Alice Kinsella GBR 53.599
- Sabrina Maneca-Voinea ROU 52.700
- Alba Petisco ESP 52.699
- Georgia-Mae Fenton GBR 52.665
- Morgane Oyssek-Reimer FRA 52.432
- Lilia Cosman ROU 52.366
- Zjoa Szekely HUN 52.032
- Maellyse Brassart BEL 51.932
European Gymnastics Championships 2024: Women's vault final qualifiers
(Average of two vaults)
Coline Devillard FRA 13.983
Ming van Eijken FRA 13.833
Valentina Georgieva BUL 13.816
Ana Barbosu ROU 13.633
Camille Rasmussen DEN 13.433
Karina Schoenmaier GER 13.383
Marlene Gotthardt GER 13.183
Sara Peter HUN 13.149
European Gymnastics Championships 2024: Women's bars final qualifiers
Alice D'Amato ITA 14.633
Becky Downie GBR 14.500
Elisa Iorio ITA 14.300
(Manila Esposito ITA 14.066 – two per country rule)
Helen Kevric GER 14.066
Nathalie Westlund SWE 13.733
Georgia-Mae Fenton GBR 13.733
Filipa Martins POR 13.700
Zoja Szekely HUN 13.666
European Gymnastics Championships 2024: Women's beam final qualifiers
Manila Esposito ITA 14.200
Sabrina Maneca-Voinea ROU 14.100
Marine Boyer FRA 13.800
Alice D'Amato ITA 13.766
(Angela Andreoli ITA 13.700)
Lilia Cosman ROU 13.266
(Asia D'Amato ITA 13.233)
Alba Petisco ESP 13.133
Polina Diachenko UKR 13.000
European Gymnastics Championships 2024: Women's floor final qualifiers
Sabrina Maneca-Voinea ROU 13.700
Manila Esposito ITA 13.600
Alice Kinsella GBR 13.466
Morgane Osyssek-Reimer FRA 13.400
Angela Andreoli ITA 13.400
Abigail Martin GBR 13.233
Alba Petisco ESP 13.166
(Ruby Evans GBR 13.100)
Ming Van Eijken FRA 13.033