Slevin earned her way into this final after a brilliant display in the heats on Tuesday. She joined a list of 24 of the world’s best gymnasts after she was ranked in 19th place in qualifying. The Championships was taking place in Kitakyushu in Japan.

To read more about how Emma Slevin qualified for this morning’s final, click here.

She made her way into the arena for the women’s All-Around final at 10:00 this morning.

Two of the highest-ranking women going into this were the USA’s Kayla de Cello and Russia’s Angelina Melnikova.

Making history

Emma Slevin has become the first Irish woman to ever reach the Women’s All Around Finals at the Gymnastics World Championships

Emma scored qualifies 21st
11.466 Balance Beam
12.466 on Floor
12.700 Uneven Bars
13.533 on Vault
AA score of 50.165 pic.twitter.com/p0j9hbUaAg

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) October 19, 2021

Women’s AA World Championships final

The Galway woman was the highest-ranked of the fourth group of athletes. This group began their set with a routine on the floor mat.

After Round One, De Cello was in first place with a score of 14.600 while Slevin found herself in 22nd place with 11.264.

Next up, the Irish woman would go sixth in her group on the vault. She scored a well-needed 13.600 with the crowd showing their excitement at her routine. At the halfway point, she jumped up in the ranking to 17th place.

Slevin’s third apparatus would be a challenging prospect on the uneven bars. After a moderately difficult routine, she moved into 18th place with an overall score of 37.399.

She was nearly five and a half marks behind the Russian leader going into the last round. Slevin finished her event with the balance beam. After a decent routine earning 13.733, she finished out the competition in 19th place with a final score of 50.132, very narrowly off her qualification score.

The gold medal in the women’s All-Around was awarded to Russia’s Melnikova. America’s Wong and Di Cello won silver and bronze respectively.

The end of Slevin’s campaign also spells the end of Ireland’s involvement in the World Championships in Kitakyushu.

This has been a very impressive and successful year for Slevin after performing strongly in the European Championships and finishing in 19th place at only 17 years of age.

Now 18 years old, the Galway woman still has plenty of years to improve on her performances internationally.

To read more in-depth and up-to-date Irish gymnastics and other sports news, click here.

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It was a difficult day for the Irishman and for many today in the Gymnastic Arena in Kitakyushu. Rhys McClenaghan had to wait a long period before he got his chance to take to the pommel horse.

One of the other competitors at the event had tested positive for Covid-19 that morning and subsequently all equipment in the Arena.

This was the 22-year-old’s chance to make up for an unfortunate mistake that led to him missing out on a medal in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

When McClenaghan finally took to the pommel horse, he started well. He got through his tough routine swiftly using his good physical strength to control himself.

Unfortunately, the Irishman slipped towards the end of his routine and that would prove very costly this morning. He scored 13.766 which would not be enough to reach the final stage.

McClenaghan took to Twitter to share his disappointment and frustration:

“I’m sad I trained until this point just to have the chalk wiped off the equipment and been told to wait 1 hour 30 mins before I competed due to a competitor in the subdivision before testing positive for Covid.

“Time to go home and just hope there’s not another Worlds like this one.”

This ends a very disappointing year for the Antrim man. Still only 22, he will have plenty of time to grow his trophy cabinet at the World Championships and Olympic Games.

In his last World’s two years ago in Stuttgart, he claimed a bronze medal.

That’s it guys, make it nice and slippery https://t.co/9vEV0BTVIN

— Rhys Mcclenaghan (@McClenaghanRhys) October 20, 2021

There is still a chance for Ireland in the World Championships

This is not the end for Irish hopes in Japan as Galway teenager Emma Slevin has reached the women’s All-Around final. That event will be shown live on RTE Player at 10:00 on Thursday 21st October in what could be a momentous day for Irish gymnastics.

Making history

Emma Slevin has become the first Irish woman to ever reach the Women’s All Around Finals at the Gymnastics World Championships

Emma scored qualifies 21st
11.466 Balance Beam
12.466 on Floor
12.700 Uneven Bars
13.533 on Vault
AA score of 50.165 pic.twitter.com/p0j9hbUaAg

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) October 19, 2021

To read more in-depth and up-to-date Irish gymnastics and other sports news, click here.

The post Rhys McClenaghan left frustrated in World Championships appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

The post Slevin becomes Ireland’s first WGC All-Around finalist appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Gymnastics returns to Japan as the World Championships takes place in Kitakyushu. The competition will go from today, 18th until Sunday, 24th October.

Emma Slevin, who made history this year by becoming the first Irish gymnast to qualify for All-Around Finals in a European Gymnastics Championships, is up first.

Slevin is due to compete on Day 2 of the Women’s qualifiers on Tuesday 19th October at 11:15 Local time, 03:15 Irish time where she will compete on all four women’s apparatus.

The 18-year-old from Galway will want to push on from her recent strong form. She represented Ireland at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games as well as being the first Irish female gymnast to qualify for a senior all-around final at the European Championships this year.

Galway's Emma Slevin on being the first Irish female gymnast to reach an All-Around final at the @UEGymnastics #rtesport pic.twitter.com/NKWLmsKHYJ

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) April 23, 2021

Rhys McClenaghan who also made history for Ireland this year by becoming the first Irish gymnast to compete at an Olympic final will compete at the qualifiers on Pommel Horse on Wednesday 20th October at 15:10 local time, 07:10 Irish time.

This will be a chance for the 22-year-old Antrim man will be looking for silverware after his heartbreak this summer. The gymnast was set for at least a silver in Tokyo until he made a fall from the pommel horse.

A good podium Training out here at my 4th World Championships. I compete on Wednesday 20th, and feel very ready pic.twitter.com/yLOa42QdbW

— Rhys Mcclenaghan (@McClenaghanRhys) October 17, 2021

The finals are taking place on:

Thursday 21st Oct: Women’s All-Around final – from 18:00 local time (10:30 Irish time)

Saturday 23rd Oct: Pommel Horse Final at 18:00 local time (10:00 Irish time)

To see live scores and to follow how the two Irish gymnasts progress, click this link.

To read more in-depth and up-to-date Irish and international sports news, click here.

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It was a tense and thrilling final day in the Men’s Individual Stroke Play at Kasumigaseki Country Club today, the County Down golfer finished in a tie for 4^th after a thrilling seven-way playoff for the bronze medal.

Having carded a final round 67, 4-under par, McIlroy joined the 7-way playoff for bronze. Open champion Collin Morikawa (USA), CT Pan (Chinese Taipei), Mito Pereira (Chile), Sebastián Munoz (Columbia), Paul Casey (GB) and Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) all finished on 15-under par with McIlroy.

McIlroy made a 10-foot putt on the first play-off hole to progress while Matsuyama and Casey bowed out. On the next, all 5 remaining players made par. Morikawa and CT Pan birdied the third play-off hole to knock McIlroy, Pereira and Munoz out.

McIlroy determined to make Paris Olympics

Despite his disappointment at not winning a medal, McIlroy said of his first Olympic experience:

“It makes me even more determined going to Paris and trying to pick one up. It’s disappointing going away without any hardware. I’ve been saying all day I’ve never tried so hard in my life to finish third!

“It’s been a great experience. Today was a great day to be up there in contention for a medal. Certainly it had a different feeling to it than I expected but as I said, I’m already looking forward to 3 years’ time and hopefully go at least one better, if not three better.”

Offaly’s Shane Lowry had to settle for a tie for 22^nd as his final day saw him stall, shooting a level par 71. A bogey on the par 3 4^th hole, followed by a double-bogey on the 8^th put an end to his medal chances. Lowry birdied 3 of his final 4 holes to secure the top 25 spot.

Xander Schauffele held his overnight lead to secure the Gold Medal for USA, while Rory Sabbatini (Slovakia) fired a superb final round 61 to take Silver.

Gymnastics history maker Rhys McClenaghan

Rhys McClenaghan became the first Irish gymnast to reach an Olympic final. McClenaghan finished in 7^th place in the Men’s Pommel Horse final with a score of 13.100.

McClenaghan was second last to take to the pommel following a host of other impressive performances across the board. An unfortunate error early on though, saw him catch his finger under the handle of the pommel which resulted in a fall from the horse.

He regained his composure quickly though and completed his routine in magnificent style, with a clean dismount, but knew that it was not enough for a podium finish. His final score of 13.100 was a combination of a 6.400 difficulty score and an execution score of 6.700.

“I was disappointed with my performance today,” he commented. “It could have gone a lot better of course, just that one finger got caught under the handle. That one finger got caught, and that’s the finest of margins in gymnastics, where that one finger placement wrong can throw you off course. It’s the beauty of the sport as well the fact that it makes it so exciting. I’m excited to get back out there and just be better than ever.”

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The 22-year-old gymnast from Newtownards in Down has won the hearts of many of the fans with some of his social media antics.

He has given people at home a glimmer of what life is like for an athlete in Tokyo in his own light-hearted way.

More importantly for him now, the young Irishman is focusing on his gymnastic performances in Tokyo.

A few competitors that went before McClenaghan seemed nervy with a few bad mistakes amongst them. A score of above 14 would see the athlete likely proceed to the finals.

Athletes staying at Tokyo’s Olympic Village have been posting images of their ‘cardboard’ beds online. Some speculated that the beds are meant to deter athletes from having sex amid COVID-19, but Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan posted a video jumping on his bed to prove otherwise. pic.twitter.com/qHaLdCndv0

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) July 19, 2021

At 11:30 in Tokyo, he prepared to begin his routine after watching two other gymnasts fall off the pommel horse.

Rhys McClenaghan showed no such nerves as he began with some clean double leg swings. He eased through his circuit, travelling smoothly across the pommel with flair.

He finished with a small hand error in his dismount before pirouetting onto the floor. He left the floor very happy with his performance and he was right to be as the judges gave him a score of 15.266.

That score sees him into the final of this event where he will face off with favourite Britain’s Max Whitlock.

He hopes to show more of his talent after making it to the European finals in April only to fall from the pommel.

The final will take place on Sunday 1^st August.

‘It was a good day at the office. I am an Olympian now and that is a dream come true. We are as prepared as we can be. I am relying on the preparation that we have done so far to replicate my routine today and do it better.’ said McClenaghan.

Commenting on the achievement, Gymnastics Ireland CEO Ciaran Gallagher said:

‘The pressure was on and Rhys rose to the occasion delivering a superb routine when it was needed. There is long wait now until the conclusion of sub division 3 to close out the qualifications and confirm finalists however I think it’s safe to say Rhys, our National Coach Luke Carson and Performance & Technical Manger Sally Johnson have much to be proud of!’ 

Great performance @McClenaghanRhys – 15.266 a great score & should see him into the final .

Mentally very tough following 2 gymnasts who fell – brilliant performance – doing @GymnasticsIre @TeamIreland proud pic.twitter.com/0QHMV5ytNL

— Sean Ui Conchubhair OLY (@seanui) July 24, 2021

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