Historic gold for Origin gymnast on final day of action in Skopje 2025
In an historic moment for Team Ireland today at the European Youth Olympic Festival, when gymnast Chester Enríquez won not only Ireland’s first gold medal at these Games, but the first gymnastics gold medal for Team Ireland ever. Added to his bronze medal from yesterday, the Newtownabbey’s gold medal brings the total of Irish medals at these Games to six.
Earlier in the day on the track, the girls’ medley relay finished 4th in the final, smashing the Irish record by 2 seconds with a time of
Full breakdown and reactions below. The flagbearers will be announced later this evening.
This year the Games ran from the 20-26 July and took place in Skopje, North Macedonia, with the gymnastics events taking place in Osijik in Croatia. Team Ireland enjoyed significant success at the EYOF winning six medals, three fourth places, and a wide spread of national records and personal bests from athletes.
GYMNASTICS
Chester Enríquez qualified for the final of the vault ranked third and executed a perfect routine to finish with a score of 13.599, securing the gold medal. His teammate Finlay Hazelton who had also qualified for the final, performed outstandingly also to finish in fifth place with 13.083.
Speaking after the competition, a proud Enríquez said,
“It was surreal, an experience I’ll never forget for the rest of my life being the starting point of my career, coming home with a gold medal and a bronze medal, I could have asked for more, really.
“I can’t even express how I feel in the world because I’m that ecstatic and that I’m just so proud of myself and our team for what we’ve come out here and done. And I’m so thankful there’s so many people who have supported me along my journey up to this point in time. It’s unbelievable.”
Ranked seventh going into the final, Finlay Hazelton performed outstandingly also, reacting afterwards he said,
“It was a really positive experience for me today because I knew that I was going in there with less difficulty than everyone else, so I just decided to go out and be as clean as I could. And I’m very happy with the goals that I did because I think I achieved that goal.”
Reflecting on the phenomenal showing of Team Ireland in gymnastics, coach Conor McGovern said,
“I’m so tremendously proud of Chester Enriquez. The tenacity, the perseverance, the sheer determination he possesses is unmatched in his age group, I think. And he’s went out here and he is showing that not only can he medal on floor, but he can medal on vault. He’s became the first ever EYO/f champion in gymnastics. He’s became the first EYOF champion in Ireland so far at this particular EYOF.
ATHLETICS
The Girls’ Medley Relay knocked two seconds of the Irish U18 record with a time of 2.07.06. The performance sinched fourth place, just outside of the medals.
At 15 years of age, Limerick’s Destiny Lawal kicked off with a blistering pace in her 100m leg, putting the team in a strong starting position. A clean pass to Molly Daly for the 200m sprint kept the team in contention. Daly said,
“Destiny had such an unreal start yesterday as well, and she’d exactly the same today. Everyone ran 100%. I knew I got the baton in a really good position so I just tried to keep it in that position, and maybe go a bit more ahead.”
Yesterday’s bronze medallist in the 400m hurdles, Ellis McHugh ran the 300m leg where the eventual winners Italy made their move, spreading out the field. Keeping contact with the leaders, McHugh, who ran three championship races in the space of 24 hours, recognised that the Irish team worked together excellently to produce an Irish record,
“As a team I obviously can’t really complain, a national record by two seconds. I think individually, I might have liked to just be able to hold a bit stronger at the end, but again, I can’t complain. I went out, and did as best as I could. The team dynamic is so nice, you’re warming up as a team, you’re going out as a team, and yesterday, we were so delighted as a team. Fourth is tough to come, but like, we still ran as a team.”
Coming into the final baton pass, Ireland was sitting in fifth position, and bronze medallist in the 400m Erin Friel found her speed to kick to the line for fourth and a national record,
“I was ready to go as soon as Ellis got to me and I think the 400 went pretty well. I found another gear there. It was about 50 metres to go and I just really pushed, drove my arms to get to the line. But I think everyone we really we left at all out there. But I’ll say fourth is fourth. It’s not a nice place to get, but then we just have to think it’s fourth in Europe. It’s not fourth in Ireland, it’s fourth in Europe, so we have to be proud of ourselves.”
Summing up a brilliant week for the athletics, team, with four of the five medals won by Team Ireland at the Games, team leader Jacqui Freyne said,
“I’m really happy with how the team have performed. I set the standards high, and the athletes rose to it. We had a team of 13 out here and for them to perform so well is great. It’s probably been the toughest EYOF I have ever been to, and I’ve been to a few! The standard in events have been really high and those that meddaled got season’s best PBs to get that far. and that shows that they really have what it takes to compete at an international competition.
“An early medal gave the team confidence, and they know that they have the right to be here. And they’re competitive. I think every athlete going out there fielt that they had the backing of the full team. This is the most cohesive team we’ve ever had anywhere. They’ve helped one another and supported one another through what has been a really long week.”
RESULTS – THURSDAY 24 JULY:
Athletics, Girls’ Medley Relay Final, Destiny Lawal (100m), Molly Daly (200m), Ellis McHugh (300m), Erin Friel (400m) 4th with 2.07.06 (Irish record)
Gymnastics, Boys’ Vault Final, Chester Enriquez gold medal with 13.599, Finlay Hazelton 5th with 13.083.
SCHEDULE DAY 6 – SATURDAY 25 JULY (All times are Irish times – North Macedonia is one hour ahead)
19:30 Closing Ceremony