Thu. Sep 19th, 2024
Occasional Digest - a story for you

Rhys McClenaghan won Olympic pommel horse gold for Ireland as Team GB’s Max Whitlock finished out of the medals in his final competition before retirement.

The world champion, from Northern Ireland, posted 15.533 to edge out Kazakhstan’s Nariman Kurbanov (15.433) and American Stephen Nedoroscik (15.300).

Defending champion Whitlock, who was seeking to become the first gymnast to win medals on the same apparatus at four successive Games, was just 0.100 off the podium in fourth.

McClenaghan, 25, was the top qualifier for the eight-man final and put in an even better routine to win a third gold for Team Ireland in Paris.

Whitlock had been the second gymnast to compete and could only watch on while those following leaped above him on the scoreboard.

Earlier, Jake Jarman won bronze on the floor for Team GB’s first artistic gymnastics medal of the Paris Games, but Whitlock – Britain’s most decorated gymnast – heads into retirement with two fourth-place finishes after the team final ended that way too.

Source link