History continued to be made by Britain’s gymnasts at the 2017 European Championships as Courtney Tulloch won the country’s first-ever medal on rings at a major international championship, with silver.
Tulloch rounded off another strong day in Cluj as he finished second behind Olympic champion Eleftherios Petrounias with a score of 15.066.
That added to Britain’s medal tally with Ellie Downie having won vault silver and uneven bars bronze earlier in the day to add to her all-around gold clinched 24 hours previously, while James Hall also took all-around bronze on Friday.
"I'm super happy,” said Tulloch, who performed an impressive routine with just a small step on landing.
“My first major championship medal and I aim for more to come. I'm going to be chasing gold in the future, I just love competing and pushing myself. It's an honour to compete amongst the very best and I'm massively motivated to keep improving - this is my time!”
Downie meanwhile returned to the podium twice on Saturday, the first to pick up her vault silver.
She finished with an average score of 14.350 to finish second behind France’s Coline Devillard on 14.466.
She then went on to take bronze on the uneven bars – completing her full set of medals from the Championships – after finishing in joint-third with Germany’s Eli Seitz.
She had been lying in that position with just older sister Becky Downie left to compete although unfortunately the 25-year-old fell awkwardly, leaving her unable to finish her routine and requiring medical attention.
That in turn led to confirmation of gold for younger sibling Ellie with Belgium’s Nina Derwael taking the gold with 14.633 ahead of Russia’s Elena Eremina in silver with 14.300.
Ellie said after: “I was really happy with the vault silver. After such a crazy night (winning all-around gold) last night it was hard to get any proper rest so I wasn’t expecting big things today.
“Both my vaults could have been better so to take the silver is amazing. Bars was a totally different story.
“Going up second I expected everyone to then overtake me but that didn’t happen. It’s really hard to be happy after seeing my sister Becky fall and get injured, it’s definitely mixed emotions with that and winning bronze.
“Becky is such a hard worker and such a fighter and I know she’ll come back stronger. I’ve now got the complete set of medals and two more finals to come tomorrow, it’s ridiculous!”
Sportsbeat 2017