Seven times gold! Lefteris Petrounias at the top again!

On August 21, 2022 in Germany, Lefteris Petrounias equaled the performance of Hungarian side horse specialist Christian Berki, who held the absolute record of six titles in the same discipline (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012).

On April 26, at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championship, the 33-year-old “golden” Greek Olympian managed to do what no other gymnast in the 69-year history of the institution (from 1955 to today) has done.

He was crowned European champion for 2024 after a great performance in the hoops final, reaching nine medals in the event, including 7 gold and two bronze.

The Greek gymnast passed with the best performance from the preliminary (14,966 points), in the final he collected 15,000 surpassing his main rival and last year’s European champion in Antalya, Adem Asil (Turkey), who collected 14,900 points.

Petrounias was the last to perform his program in the final among the eight finalists, collected 15,000 points (difficulty score: 6,300, performance score: 8,700) and triumphantly returned to the top of Europe!

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, the Egyptian-born but competing for Turkey, Adem Asil, who also got 14.900 points but finished 3rd because he had a lower individual execution score.

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.

In the rest of Friday’s (26/04) finals, the British Luke Whitehouse (14.866 b.) emerged European champion in floor exercises, ahead of the Israeli Artem Dolgopiat (14.833 b.) and the Hungarian Christopher Mesaros (14.600 b.), while in the pommel horse the Irish Rhys McClenaghan (15,300 m) prevailed, with 2nd the Dutchman Laurent DeManck (14,933 m) and 3rd the Cypriot Mario Georgiou (14,800 m), who won another medal in Rimini after the triumph in the combined individual, which was combined with the Olympic qualification.

The results in the final of the hoops:

1. Lefteris Petrounias (GREECE) 15,000 b.
2. Nikita Simonov (Azerbaijan) 14,900 b.
3. Adem Asil (Turkey) 14,900 b.
4. Artur Avetisyan (Armenia) 14,800 b.
4. Vincent Heck (Austria) 14,800 b.
6. Courtney Tulloch (Great Britain) 14,700 b.
7. Salvatore Maresca (Italy) 14,566 b.
8. Ibrahim Colak (Turkey) 14,500 b.