Great Britain win men's team gold in Zagreb; 0.57-point margin

Great Britain win men’s team gold in Zagreb; 0.57-point margin

European Gymnastics Championships 2026: GB win men’s team gold in a contest that went down to the wire in Zagreb

World Gymnastics 2 finished with the silver medal while Switzerland claimed bronze on Sunday, 23 August.

Great Britain ’s Joe Fraser , Harry Hepworth , Jonas Rushworth , Courtney Tulloch and Sol Scott won team gold in the European Championships of Men’s Artistic Gymnastics in the final event in Zagreb, Croatia, on Sunday (23 August).

A nervy conclusion saw World Gymnastics 2 team of Arsenii Dukhno, Mukhammadzhon Iakubov, Daniel Marinov, Savelii Sieedin and Ilia Zaika finish in second on 246.158 to GB’s 246.728. Switzerland claimed bronze (242.094) courtesy of Matteo Giubellini, Florian Langenegger , Mattia Piffaretti , Noe Seifert and Dominic Tamsel.

The Brits defended their 2025 title with all that they had in Croatia’s capital riding a rollercoaster of a day to ultimately win a fourth men’s team title in continental championships history.

Rushworth steadied the team on the very first apparatus, the pommel horse, always a dicey place to start but he knew what he had to do he told Olympics.com afterwards.

“I think the main goal for me was just to set the standards on the piece that I had, make sure I stayed on. Staying on the pommel horse is a big deal when there’s three up three to count, and that’s a real positive I’ll take away from this competition.”

GB were in fourth place by rotation end, with their soon-to-be protagonists, WG2 topping the leader board. Switzerland were in fifth after starting their competition on the still rings while Italy, who shared the rotation with GB and would dice with the Swiss for the final podium spot until the end, were sixth.

Hepworth and Tulloch, both renowned for their still rings work both stuck the landings of their incredibly difficult triple back somersaults scoring 14.566 and 14.300, respectively to launch the team to the top of the table, 1.6 points ahead of WG2 who had just counted a fall on pommel horse.

Scott, the bronze medallist on vault on Saturday , performed a sky-high triple-twisting Yurchenko in front of his grandmother watching on from the stands, scoring 14.333. The Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist on vault, Hepworth, punched the air after a mark of 14.533, the second highest mark on any apparatus of the day. The first was his own score on rings.

GB extended their lead after their hugely successful outing on vault, surging 4.670 marks ahead of WG2 at the halfway point of the competition while Switzerland were in third with Langenegger’s mark of 14.066 on parallel bars aiding the rise.

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Rotation four and GB hit the parallel bars with the 2019 world champion on the apparatus, Fraser, scoring 14.200 but nerves started jangling for the team when Tulloch struggled, then fell, clutching his shoulder. However, he was able to complete the routine, scoring 11.866, knowing every mark would count.

Great Britain were still in the lead but the deficit had been cut to 0.537 with two apparatus to go after WG2 had taken to vault with both Dukhno and Marinov performing triple-twisting Tsukaharas scoring 14.300 and 14.466, respectively to close the gap.

GB’s fifth rotation, horizontal bar, was a bit of a struggle with Scott’s 13.666 the highest score while WG2 secured two marks over 14.000 on parallel bars.

Switzerland, who were competing alongside WG2 on the apparatus finished the rotation in third after two high 13.000 scores from Seifert and Langenegger.

And so, to the sixth and final rotation, and it came down to the final gymnast, Hepworth, on floor exercise against WG2 on horizontal bar. It was the Brits who emerged with the spoils after the two-time European medallist on the apparatus performed a clean routine to score enough to defend the continental title, in the end by half a mark.

“I was just watching his every move,” Hepworth told Olympics.com afterwards of watching Dukhno on high bar while he waited to compete on floor. “I just needed to know what we needed to get to win. I put an extra bit of pressure on myself just to get the routine done but I loved every moment of that.”

Tulloch, meanwhile, described how the team managed to hold it together at the vital moments: “It’s just being around these boys, they’re just such good competitors, and if you see how calm Joe is, Jonas, Sol, Harry, how they delivered today, it just makes you more relaxed and calmer as well. So, it’s just a pleasure to go around and be a part of this team.”

A more wide-eyed Scott, meanwhile, at his first major senior international, wasn’t quite sure how to react. “To be honest, I’m not really feeling a lot. I think it will sink in when we go back to the hotel, when we’re chilling and stuff, but I just can’t stop smiling. It’s just been great fun. I’ve loved it.”

Meanwhile, Fraser, who has just about seen it all with 11 World and European medals concluded: “Team finals are always bonkers if you ask me. Like three on three to count is on another level. You can’t write it.”

Meanwhile. Switzerland’s Dominic Tamsel told Olympics.com how proud he was of his team.

“It was an amazing competition and yeah, we fought until the end, and we stand here with the bronze medal.”

The European Youth Olympic Festival alumni from 2017 cited high bar as his favourite apparatus of the day. “You train for these moments where you can compete on a big stage in front of a huge crowd. You have to hit the routine in order to win a medal, and yeah, it just feels amazing.”

European Gymnastics Championships 2026 men’s team final medallists

🥇 Great Britain 246.728 🥈 WG2 246.158 🥉 Switzerland 242.094