Great Britain enjoyed a strong start to the 2017 Artistic Gymnastics European Championships in Cluj, Romania as the men’s team qualified spots in six different finals.
James Hall and Dominick Cunningham were the top performers, securing their places in two finals apiece while Joe Fraser and Courtney Tulloch also booked their spot in a final apiece.
British all-around champion Hall was in a confident mood, putting in clean routines across all six pieces to score 84.473 and finish in third, with 2015 European Youth Olympic Festival all-around champion Fraser scoring 81.131 in his first senior major international for 14th place and a place in Friday’s final.
Hall’s score of 14.200 on the high bar was also enough to secure him third place going into the individual final, which takes place on Sunday.
He said: “I got off to a shaky start with a few nerves but managed to find my form and really got on a roll with the last few apparatus and by the end I was flying.
“There was a lot of new routines and skills in my competition and there’s even more things I can change to try and up my score again on Friday (all-around final). It felt great to compete and I feel like I’ve really arrived on the world stage.”
Cunningham was also competing in his first major international and he did not hold back, finishing with 14.333 on the floor to qualify in eighth place for Saturday’s final as well as posting 14.366 to make Sunday’s vault in seventh.
“I’ve done my job, two competitions and two finals so I couldn’t be happier,” he said. “I’m now going to rest up and go for it in the finals, I’ve been working so hard for so many years for this and the relief when I landed my routines was massive.
“It’s my first major championships and that does creep in to your mind but I have great coaches and teammates who guided me through.”
Tulloch meanwhile continued to show his strength on the rings – his only piece – as he produced an impressive routine to score 14.933 to make Saturday’s final in third.
A few small errors cost London 2012 bronze medallist Sam Oldham as he missed out on finals on the parallel bars and high bar while former junior European Champion Frank Baines was back in action and performed strong on the parallel bars, floor and pommel. The women's team begin their qualifying on Thursday.
Sportsbeat 2017