History was written in Rimini by Lefteris Petrounias.
The 33-year-old Olympic hoops gold medalist and legend of the event around the world won his 7th gold medal in the European championship in the Italian city.
The Greek super champion performed his program last in the rings final among the eight finalists, collected 15,000 points (difficulty: 6,300, execution: 8,700) and triumphantly returned to the European top!
At the same time, he sent the loudest message ahead of the Paris Olympics, as the Rimini European Championship was his first and only official match of the year before the summer’s big date.
The silver medal went to Azeri Nikita Simonov with 14.900 points, edging into a tie with last year’s winner, Egyptian-born Turk Adem Asil, who also got 14.900 points but finished 3rd because he had a lower individual execution score.
The 33-year-old “lord of the hoops”, who was also the leader in Wednesday’s (24/04) qualifier with 14,966 points, is now the most successful specialist of all time at the European Championships, leaving behind Hungarian Christian Berky, who he had won six side horse titles between 2005 and 2012.
Before this year’s seventh European title for Petrounia, they were preceded by the bronze medal in his debut at the event, in 2011 in Berlin, then six consecutive victories in 2015 in Montpellier, in 2016 in Bern, in 2017 in Cluj, in 2018 in Glasgow , in 2021 in Basel and in 2022 in Munich, as well as another bronze last year in Attalia.
At the same time, he reached a total of twelve gold medals in major events, including his triumphs in three World Championships (2015, 2017, 2018), the 2015 European Games and of course the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The ranking of the final
Lefteris Petrounias (Greece) 15,000
Nikita Simonov (Azerbaijan) 14,900
Adem Asil (Turkey) 14,900
Vincent Heck (Austria) 14,800
Artur Avetisyan (Armenia) 14,800
Courtney Tulloch (Great Britain) 14,700
Salvatore Maresca (Italy) 14,566
Ibrahim Colak (Turkey) 14,500
Petrounia’s medals
2011 Berlin Bronze
2015 Montpellier Gold
2016 Bern Gold
2017 Cluj-Napoca Gold
2018 Glasgow Gold
2021 Basel Gold
2022 Munich Gold
2023 Antalya Halkino
2023 Rimini Gold
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Antonis Patsouras
26.04.2024, 20:28
UPD: 26.04.2024, 21:14
