Zagreb is looking back at another week of world-class apparatus gymnastics. From 19 to 23 August, it was the men shaping the second week of the European Championships in the Croatian metropolis – with qualifiers, apparatus finals and the subsequent team final. For the German gymnastics team, this competition clearly highlighted the lineup’s potential: two final spots and a position in Europe’s top five.
Qualifiers: two apparatus final reached – team final secured
The German gymnastics team began the European Championship event on Wednesday. Radomyr Stelmakh, Alexander Kunz, Timo Eder, Gabriel Eichhorn and Lucas Kochan performed clean routines in the qualifiers and came sixth, securing a spot in the team final.
The apparatus qualifiers were held at the same time:
- Artur Sahakyan qualified for the rings final.
- Radomyr Stelmakh also reached the final round on the horizontal bar.
Sahakyan seventh on the rings – Stelmakh eighth on horizontal bar
Artur Sahakyan performed a clean routine in the rings final on the Friday evening and came in seventh place. Amid a strong field, he confirmed his position as a German rings specialist and gained vital international experience.
‘I am delighted to have reached the final and relatively happy with my performance. My dismount could have been better, but otherwise the routine was as good as it could have been’, Sahakyan said after the competition.
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I am delighted to have reached the final and relatively happy with my performance.
– Artur Sahakya
Radomyr Stelmakh competed in the horizontal bar final on the Saturday evening with a risky routine. He came eighth, with small errors preventing him from placing any higher. For him, it similarly represented a valuable opportunity to compete on the European Championship stage.
Team final: fifth place on Sunday to round off the European Championships
On Sunday, the German group competed in the European Championships team final. Stelmakh, Kunz, Eder, Eichhorn and Kochan ultimately finished fifth. The team put in a united performance across all six apparatus.
The routines on the parallel bars, pommel horse and vault were performed particularly well. Errors on the horizontal bar cost them points, but their final placing was still in line with expectations following the qualifiers.
The German team’s fifth place – one higher than in the qualifiers – confirmed their position as one of the top countries in Europe and ended the European Championship week on a high.
Before the European Championships began, head coach Valeri Milbradt noted that the goal was to compete in the team final and some individual apparatus finals. They managed to achieve both. Given this, the European Championships served as a yardstick that provides a boost of confidence for upcoming events. ‘We knew that the rings would make for a difficult start to the competition. We worked our way up gradually from there, so we can be very happy with fifth place, even if we could still do even better’, head coach Jens Milbradt said.
World Championships in October as next milestone
‘Fifth place shows where we currently stand. We have potential that we now need to exploit. The European Championships were a clear yardstick ahead of the World Championships’, director of sport Thomas Gutekunst said.
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The European Championships were a clear yardstick ahead of the World Championships.
– Thomas Gutekunst
After the European Championships, attentions are now turning to the World Championships in the autumn. The team have shown that they can hold their own on a European stage – and that developments towards this year’s World Championships and Los Angeles 2028 are continuing to take shape.
