Tokyo 2021 first reserve Meg Ryan and Youth Olympic Games finalist Emma Slevin competed this evening in the women’s qualification round of the 2021 European Gymnastics Championships. Slevin from Renmore Gymnastics Club in Galway, and Ryan from Douglas Gymnastics Club in Cork, who both haven’t competed in approximately 18 months due to Covid19, competed in Subdivision 4 – the last subdivision of this evening’s competition.
With 109 gymnasts competing from 38 countries Emma Slevin made history by becoming the first Irish female gymnast to qualify for a Senior All-Around Top–24 Final with a score of 50.432. She will now compete in the All-Around Final as one of Europe’s best on Friday 23rd April from 12.15pm – 2.45pm Irish time with the competition being broadcast on RTE2.
Meg Ryan only competed on 3 out of the 4 apparatus omitting Vault in order to make sure she prioritises a longer build up towards Tokyo 2021 seeing as she is first reserve for the Games. She had a good competition on the 3 apparatus she did compete and counted no major errors.
Speaking following the competition, Gymnastics Ireland CEO Ciaran Gallagher said:
‘A superb day for women’s gymnastics in Ireland! Emma’s performance cements her position as one of the best All-Around gymnasts in Europe and again a history maker as our first senior AA women’s finalist. With Meg focussing on building towards Tokyo, seeing as she is currently first reserve for the games, her performances on the 3 apparatus she competed were exactly what she needed to do… Both girls went through with no major errors. For all gymnasts the target is always for a clean competition which both girls delivered. On behalf of everyone at Gymnastics Ireland huge congratulations to Emma & Meg, their coaches Sally Batley & Emma Hamill and our Performance & Technical Manager Sally Johnson. Roll on finals on Friday and good luck to Rhys McClenaghan and Adam Steele who compete in their qualifiers tomorrow.’
Tomorrow will see Rhys McClenaghan, who has already secured his place for the Tokyo games, compete alongside Adam Steele in the Men’s qualifying round which is due to take place at 4pm Irish time.
The qualifiers can be viewed live on Gym TV at the following link http://gymtv.online/user/ with the finals being aired on RTE and RTE player.
Event info:
The 24 gymnasts with the highest ranking obtained in the qualifying competition advance to the All-Around Final with a maximum of 2 gymnasts per country. The 8 highest ranked gymnasts in the qualifying competition per apparatus advance to the Apparatus Finals, again with a maximum of 2 gymnasts per country / final.
2 Olympic quota for men and 2 for women will be determined based on the results of the all-around qualification competition. For the Tokyo 2020 Qualification, the handling of eligibility and results is the responsibility of FIG.
See below schedule of the event.
Thursday 22nd April
Men’s Artistic Qualifying round – Subdivision 3 – 4pm – 6.40pm Irish time live streamed on http://gymtv.online/user/
Friday 23rd April
Women’s Artistic All-Around final – 12.15 – 2.45pm Irish Time on RTÉ TWO
Men’s Artistic All-Around final – Friday 23rd April from 4.00 – 7.00pm Irish Time on RTÉ Player https://www.rte.ie/player/onnow
Saturday 24th April
Apparatus final Day 1 – 1.00pm – 3.15pm Irish Time on RTÉ ONE (Men’s Floor, Pommel Horse, Rings and Women’s Vault and Uneven Bars)
Sunday 25th April
Apparatus final Day 2 – 11.45am-3pm on RTÉ TWO (Men’s Vault, Parallel Bar and High Bar and Women’s Beam and Floor)
For more information about the event please visit https://www.europeangymnastics.com/event/2021-european-championships-artistic-gymnastics/overview
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