Illia Kovtun competes for Croatia in Zagreb; returning after nationality change

2026 European Gymnastics Championships men’s competition featuring McClenaghan, Petrounias and Hepworth: Stars in action and how to watch live

The continental championships take centre stage in Zagreb, Croatia, with the men’s event taking place from 19-23 August in Croatia’s capital.

With less than two years to go until the Olympic Games LA28 , the European Championships in Men’s Artistic Gymnastics hosts the best of the continent’s gymnasts in Croatia for the first time.

The women’s event finished in the nation’s capital of Zagreb on Sunday (16 August) and now it’s the men’s turn.

From Wednesday 19 August to Sunday 23 August, titles will be decided in the individual all-around, the apparatus finals, and the team event, unusually, in that order.

Great Britain field a strong team with Olympic bronze medallist from Paris 2024 Harry Hepworth and the 2019 parallel bars world champion and three-time gold medallist at the 2022 Europeans, Joe Fraser leading the line.

The recent Commonwealth Games in Glasgow meant an either

or scenario for the GB men’s gymnasts with three-time European floor champion Luke Whitehouse choosing instead to compete in Scotland. Six-time Olympic medallist Max Whitlock withdrew prior to the Commonwealth Games with a wrist injury.

The 2024 European team champions, Ukraine, could be challengers but will be without their talisman, Illia Kovtun , who will instead be competing for the home nation, Croatia, in his first international competition back following his nationality change. The Olympic silver medallist on parallel bars from Paris 2024 will compete alongside the experienced Tin Srbić , an Olympic silver medallist on horizontal bar and Filip Ude , the 40-year-old Beijing 2008 silver medallist on pommel horse, giving the home crowd plenty to cheer.

Nazar Chepurnyi , a two-time world bronze medallist on vault and part of the squad that won the team gold two years ago will likely take up the mantle for Ukraine.

2026 European Gymnastics Championships: Schedule, final results, scores, and medals - full list

Men’s Floor, Women’s Vault, Men’s Pommel Horse | Artistic Gymnastics | Olympic Games Paris 2024

This Artistic Gymnastics session took place at the Bercy Arena, France, on 03

At the Men’s Floor Exercise Final Carlos Edriel Yulo (PHI) won the Gold medal, Artem Dolgopyat (ISR) claimed the Silver, and Jake Jarman (GBR) took the Bronze. At the Women’s Vault Final, Simone Biles (USA) won the Gold medal, Rebeca Andrade (BRA) took the Silver, and Jade Carey (USA) claimed the Bronze. And at the Men’s Pommel Horse Final, Rhys Mc Clenaghan (IRL) claimed the Gold medal, while Nariman Kurbanov (KAZ) won the Silver and Stephen Nedoroscik (USA) took the Bronze.

European men’s gymnasts set to take centre stage at Zagreb 2026

Armenia could also be contenders both in the team and individual events with an increasingly strong side that includes the experience of two-time world and Olympic medallist on vault, Artur Davtyan , and the exciting second-year senior, 18-year-old Hamlet Manukyan , already a senior continental champion on pommel horse.

The reigning Olympic and world champion on pommel horse, Rhys McClenaghan of Ireland, will be competing at the Zagreb Arena in an individual capacity, hoping to put the errors made at the Commonwealth Games behind him as he continues his return to the arena after a long injury layoff.

Another apparatus specialist, Eleftherios Petrounias , is back for an incredible 14th European championships, with the Greek hoping to add an 11th medal on still rings – eight of those have been gold – to his continental collection.

Two-time all-around and still rings champion, Adem Asil of Türkiye also returns to the fray and is eyeing the defence of both titles he won in 2025. Marios Georgiou of Cyprus, the 2024 all-around champion looked back to his best at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland, while Spain’s Rayderley Zapata , an Olympic silver medallist on floor exercise, France’s Benjamin Osberger, and Yumin Abbadini , one of Italy’s European team gold medallists from 2023, will also be looking to make their collective marks.

Both senior and junior competitions will take place but there is no mixed team competition, a new Olympic event at LA2028 , which made its debut at the 2025 continental championships in Leipzig, Germany.

2026 European Gymnastics Championships men’s edition – Full schedule

Qualifications seniors, including all-around medal decision

10:00 – 13:30 Subdivision 1 – LTU, HUN, WG1, SWE, Mixed Group 2 (SVK, LUX, SRB), Mixed Group 1 (ROU, LAT, MON), UKR, GEO, ESP

14:00 – 17:30 Subdivision 2 – BUL, WG2, CYP, NOR, ISR, ARM, IRL, BEL, CZE, ISL, GRE, POR

17:45 – 21:30 Subdivision 3 – FRA, NED, SUI, TUR, FIN, GBR, CRO, SLO, AUT, GER, Mixed Group 3 (POL, AZE, DEN), ITA

Qualifications juniors, including team medal decision

10:00 – 12:50 Subdivision 1 – ESP, ITA, FIN, POR, BUL, Mixed Group 2 (POL, ARM, SVK, GEO), LAT

14:00 – 16:50 Subdivision 2 – GER, WG2, GBR, TUR, CZE, BEL, Mixed Group 3 (SRB, LTU, ALB, MON), Mixed Group 1 (ROU, ISL), SWE, FRA, SUI, UKR

17:30 – 20:20 Subdivision 3 – WG1, AUT, IRL, AZE, CRO, GRE, NOR, HUN, ISR, SLO, CYP, NED

18:00 – 20:30 Apparatus finals, seniors, part 1, floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings

10:00 – 12:45 Apparatus finals, juniors

16:30 – 19:00 Apparatus finals, seniors, part 2, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar

10:00 – 12:00 All around final, juniors

14:00 – 17:05 Team final, seniors

How to watch the 2026 European Gymnastics Championships live

You can watch all the action from the women’s and men’s events of senior and junior qualifications and the junior finals on the paid-for gymtv.onlin e. See here for information.

The senior finals on Friday 21 (men’s apparatus finals part 1), Saturday 22 (men’s apparatus finals part 2) and Sunday 23 August (men’s team final), in addition to the third

last subdivision of the men’s qualification rounds on Wednesday 19 August, will be l ivestreamed via the Eurovision Sports platform European Gymnastics | Watch Gymnastics Online | Eurovision Sport .

Additionally, check your local TV listing s here .

An overview of the TV rights holders of the competitions is available for download here .

Live scoring will be available on Live Results - SmartScoring | Every second matters