Gymnastics Ireland is happy to announce the selected Artistic gymnasts to compete at the upcoming 2019 World Gymnastics Championships, taking place from 4th -13th October in Stuttgart.
The 2019 World Championships is a qualification competition for Tokyo 2020 and the Irish gymnasts will have an opportunity to qualify through the Apparatus and All-Around competitions. Other opportunities for qualification exist through the 2020 World Cup Circuit and 2020 European Championships. While this competition will have an obvious focus on Tokyo 2020 qualification it is also important to note that all the gymnasts selected are very young in their careers and have the potential to target multiple future Olympic cycles post Tokyo towards Paris 2024 & LA 2028, particularly our women’s gymnasts who are all first year seniors and for whom is also their first World Championships.
Men’s Artistic Gymnasts
- Rhys McClenaghan (20 y/o)
- Adam Steele (22 y/o)
Women’s Artistic Gymnastics
- Emma Slevin (16 y/o)
- Meg Ryan (17 y/o)
- Kate Molloy (15 y/o)
- Jane Heffernan (non-travelling reserve) (15 y/0)
Coaches
- Will Banthorpe
- Luke Carson
- Sally Batley
- David-Roy Woods
Judges
- Mary Murray
- Denis Donoghue
Performance and Technical Manager
- Sally Johnson
The qualification schedule for our Men’s and Women’s Artistic is as follows…
-Friday 4th Oct: Women’s qualification session 2 – Subdivision 6 from 7pm (Irish time)
-Sunday 6th Oct: Men’s qualification session 1 – Subdivision 1, from 9 A.M. (Irish time)
For this 2019 World Championships Stuttgart will host 500 gymnasts from over 90 nations and will no doubt put on a superb event in the Hanns-Martin-Schleyerhalle Arena. While tickets for finals are already sold out tickets for qualification are still available for select sessions. For full information visit the official website here… https://www.stuttgart2019.de/en/
Best of luck in their final preparations for this competition!
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For Further information please contact Caroline Ledwith, Gymnastics Ireland at [email protected] or 087 9089807
World Championships competition structure
- Qualifications (All nations compete to qualify for the 3 competitions below)
- Teams Final: Top 8 men’s & top 8 women’s teams (Ireland has not entered a men’s or women’s team, so this competition will not be relevant to our results)
- All-Around Final: Top 24 men & top 24 women
- Men’s Artistic (MAG) gymnast competes on 6 apparatus with each score being added together for an all-around total score (in order; floor, pommel-horse, rings, vault, parallel bars & high bar)
- Women’s Artistic (WAG) gymnast competes on 4 apparatus with each score being added together for an all-around total score (in order; vault, uneven bars, beam & floor)
- Apparatus Final: Top 8 men on each apparatus & top 8 women on each apparatus
- Men’s Artistic apparatus finals: floor, vault, pommel, parallel bars, high bar & rings
- Women’s Artistic apparatus finals: vault, uneven bars, beam & floor
The Gymnasts:
Rhys McClenaghan (20 y/o) – specialty apparatus: Pommel-Horse
As a very young gymnast Rhys has already achieved so much and has huge potential for multiple Olympic cycles in his long-term development (men’s senior is 18+). In August 2018 McClenaghan was crowned the European Champion on pommel-horse in his 1st year as a senior competing against very experienced international counterparts (other medallists both over 30 years old). He also became the Commonwealth champion when competing for the Northern Ireland team in the same year and won multiple gold medals on the World Cup circuit and was also announced as the Young Sports Person of the year at the RTE Sport Awards alongside Johnny Sexton as the senior winner. Now in his 2nd year as a senior gymnast Rhys stepped on podium once again taking Silver at the World Cup in China and Gold in Slovenia following an excellent recovery from a shoulder surgery. Only as of Tuesday 24th Sep, Rhys was announced as the winner of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) World Cup Series on Pommel-Horse for his multiple medals and outstanding performance in the recent World Cup in Paris.
The upcoming gymnastics World Championships are a direct route of qualification to the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020. There is an opportunity for Rhys to qualify through Stuttgart on Pommel Horse as an apparatus specialist. Other opportunities for qualification exist for him through the 2020 World Cup Circuit and 2020 European Championships. For further clarification, see the following link… https://www.stuttgart2019.de/en/road-to-tokyo/
- Adam Steele (22 y/o) – All Around gymnast (meaning he competes in all apparatus)
Adam is another young and talented Irish gymnast and the current National All-Around champion. Adam ranked 20th at the 2019 European Games and 39th at the European Championships.
Adam underwent surgery about 6 weeks ago on one of his hands which has made his preparation for this year’s World Championships more difficult however he has made a great recovery. The Stuttgart Worlds is a qualification opportunity for Adam but through the all-around competition, he also has a further opportunity through the 2020 European Champs.
- Emma Slevin (16 y/o), Meg Ryan (17 y/o) & Kate Molloy (15 y/o)
Rising stars Emma Slevin and Meg Ryan are 1st year senior gymnasts who have come through the Irish High Performance pathway and who have also achieved a huge amount for their age. In 2018
Emma Slevin became the first Irish female gymnast to qualify for the Youth Olympic Games which she then attended in October last year and made history by qualifying for 3 apparatus and All-Around final during the event, establishing herself as an up and coming breakthrough Irish star on the international circuit. Similarly, Meg Ryan recently delivered Ireland’s first World Cup podium finish at the World Challenge Cup in Turkey winning silver on Uneven Bars. Kate Molloy debuted on the international stage at the 2018 Junior European Championships and most recently competed at the World Cup in Turkey.
- Non travelling reserve Jane Heffernan (15 y/o)
Jane is also a 1st year senior who has come through the High Performance pathway. She debuted on the International Stage where she was part of the 2018 Junior European Women’s team in Glasgow. Jane went on to claim bronze recently on the uneven bars in the World Challenge Cup in Turkey delivering Ireland’s first World Cup podium along with teammate Meg Ryan.
While Stuttgart Worlds is also a qualification opportunity for Tokyo 2020 through the all-around competition for the girls the expectation for them heading into this competition is focused on gaining experience at their first senior Worlds and continuing in their long-term preparation/development targeted at the World Championships in 2022 and Paris 2024.
