Olympic gymnastics champion Rhys McClenaghan dismissed the Commonwealth Games as a “training day” after failing to win a third medal in the men’s pommel final for Northern Ireland at the Glasgow International Centre.
The 27-year-old scored 13.0 points to finish in sixth place, well below gold medallist Jordan Carroll of Canada, with two Scots – all-around champion Reuben Ward and his team-mate Cameron Lynn – taking silver and bronze respectively.
McClenaghan shrugged off the loss, which he blamed on a minor error on a new mount at the start of his routine, and said he would immediately shift focus to the upcoming European and World Championships.
“This is a training day for me, so we go back to the gym as soon as I can, and we tackle it just like we tackle any training day,” said McClenaghan, a double world champion who claimed gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics after falling in the final in Tokyo.
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“Even if I had won gold here it still would have been treated as a stepping stone. We go back to the gym as soon as we can, and we tackle it just like we tackle any training day. We’ve got our eye on the prize for the Europeans.”
McClenaghan was second last of eight gymnasts to go in the final and had to up the level of difficulty of his routine after witnessing the quality of performances from the two Scots and Carroll, who seized first position with a superb score of 15.0.
McClenaghan, who was third in qualifying, got off to a brilliant start with a superb mount, but the wheels came off threequarters of the way through his routine, with leg separation costing him dearly as he made a crucial error.
Although he successfully battled to hold on, he looked disappointed following his dismount and scored just 13.0, which left him outside the medals. He received 5.2 for difficulty and 7.8 for execution, a long way off the magnificent 15.533 he so memorably achieved in the Paris Olympics.
McClenaghan’s score contrasted sharply with the performance of Carroll, who, despite watching Australia’s Jesse Moore come off the horse in the opening routine, took on an extremely difficult routine of his own and executed it brilliantly to score 15.0 points – nine for execution and six for difficulty.
Carroll’s effort was followed by the medal-winning performances of Ward, who had already won gold in the all-around and came agonisingly close to winning again with a personal best score of 14.996, and Lynn, who managed 13.833 to finish in third, adding to the bronze he won in Birmingham four years ago.
Cyprus’ Marios Georgiou scored 13.100 and McClenaghan – a three-time World and European Championship winner – went all out to surpass them all, but ultimately could not pull off the high difficulty required in his third Commonwealth Games.
Australia’s Ritam Mallik, who went last, produced a solid routine that scored 13.33 and that pushed McClenaghan into sixth.
It later emerged that McClenaghan appealed his score, but to no avail.
This was his first major international appearance since undergoing shoulder surgery two years ago and, with the arena in full celebratory mode for the two Scots who made the podium, the experience is certain to fuel the Newtownards gymnast for the European Championships in Zagreb next month.
