Angelina Melnikova wins women’s all-around title in Zagreb; Reigning world champion adds European title
European Gymnastics Championships 2026: Angelina Melnikova wins women’s all-around title in Zagreb
European Gymnastics Championships 2026: Angelina Melnikova wins women’s all-around title in Zagreb
Anna Kalmykova claimed second in Croatia, while France’s first-time European Championships entrant, Elena Colas, won bronze.
The first day of competition at the European Championships in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics on Thursday (13 August) saw reigning individual all-around world champion Angelina Melnikova add the European title to her résumé with a score of 55.932.
Her team-mate, Anna Kalmykova, from the World Gymnastics 2 team secured second in Zagreb with 54.632, while France’s continental championship debutant and sometime prodigy, Elena Colas, 16, claimed bronze with 53.966.
It took five subdivisions to shake down the medallists of the all-around competition, which unusually, featured in the qualification day for the apparatus finals on Saturday and team finals on Sunday.
Having competed in subdivision three, the top two gymnasts from WG2 had a few hours to wait to see if they’d remain in the top two spots.
Remain they did but if it wasn’t for Colas hitting her toes on the low bar, the teen could potentially have finished higher in Arena Zagreb. As it was, a consistent series of scores of 13.266 (floor), 13.600 (vault), 13.800 (uneven bars) and 13.300 (beam) secured the final place on the podium.
“This medal represents a lot,” Colas told Olympics.com afterwards. “It is a realisation of this year that has been really long and hard. I was very happy with what I was able to produce, even if the competition was not perfect.”
Courtesy of finishing in the top eight nations in Croatia with those qualifying competing in Sunday’s final, Italy, who finished second to WG2, have also secured a spot for a team at the World Championships in Rotterdam in October. Great Britain, Germany, France, Netherlands, Spain, and Belgium, respectively, also qualify for the Netherlands’ hosted Worlds, as do the ninth to 13th placed teams, Ukraine, Switzerland, Romania, Sweden and WG1.
“I am happy because we have… qualified for the World Championships and that we are in the top eight,” said Colas before citing what her goals are for the rest of the time in Croatia’s capital. “We will try to enjoy ourselves as much as possible and if there is a result, it will be even better.”
The two-time consecutive champion, Italy’s Manila Esposito, opted not to compete in the all-around competition so did not defend her title but qualified top for the beam final, an apparatus on which she won Olympic bronze at Paris 2024, and on floor exercise.
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European Gymnastics Championships 2026 women’s individual all-around final medallists
🥇 Angelina Melnikova WG2 55.932 🥈 Anna Kalmykova WG2 54.632 🥉 Elena Colas FRA 53.966
Picture by Yong Teck Lim