How ”Russia” reclaimed their title to become the European Champions. We break down Angelina Melnikova’s return, the Russian visa drama, Sabrina Voinea’s D-score inquiry saga, a controversial beam final robbery, and what this meet means for the upcoming World Championships.
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HEADLINES
- Team ‘World Gymnastics 2’ aka Russia tops the medal rankings. Angelina Melnikova leads the Russian team to three golds (Team, AA, VT).
- Italy finishes second in the medal count coming away with 1 gold (FX), 3 silver (Team, UB, BB), 1 bronze (UB)
- France finishes third in the medal rankings with 1 gold (BB), 1 silver (FX), and 2 bronzes (Team, AA)
- Reigning World Champion, Angelina Melnikova, is the top individual from these Championships coming away with 3 golds (Team, AA, VT), 2 bronzes (BB, FX)
- Full results can be found here: 2026 European Championships Results
2026 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Russia’s triumphant return to the European Championships and how these results could foreshadow things to expect at Worlds this fall.
- What surprises or unexpected things came out of these Championships? Can we use these results to predict what to expect at Worlds this year?
- First year senior Elena Colas finished second behind Melnikova in the medal count. Plus Jessica’s memory trick to help us pronounce her name correctly.
- Name a historic battle: Sabrina Voinea vs Inquiries. Sabrina Voinea missed the beam final after an inquiry dropped her score by three-tenths.
- The apparatus finals were BEFORE the team final? Thoughts?
- Call the police because there was a beam robbery! Pauline Schaefer-Betz was robbed of a medal in the beam final and why everything is totally wrong with this result.
- Great Britain finishes outside of the medals after Becky Downie was swapped out for Ruby Evans in the team final bars lineup.
- Where does Melnikova’s all-around result place her in relation to the rest of the world?
- Who qualified for the 2026 World Championships? Any surprises?
- UNIQUE SKILL COMMENDATIONS
- Bow down to Estella Volkoff (Ireland) for bringing her Onodi mount out to town, leading her to a historic fourth place finish in the junior beam final.
- Morgane Osyssek (France) hit her layout-full on beam in qualifications!
- Schaefer-Betz’s handspring front-half on vault is what dreams are made of.
Takeaways From Event Finals
- Remember to upgrade to that Cheng! Melnikova wins vault with her Cheng and DTY over Karina Schoenmaier.
- Helen Kevric is back from her injury and won the bars title here while also teaching us all the benefits of amplitude.
- First year senior Elena Colas (France) won the beam title ahead of Melnikova and Esposito.
- Queen of Italy, Manila Esposito, retains her crown as the champion of Europe on floor.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:36 Sabrina Voinea’s inquiry saga
04:03 U.S. national team and vault clarifications
06:33 Russia tops the European medal table
14:55 GymCastic updates and Club Gym Nerd
18:25 Angelina Melnikova and Elena Colas
22:35 The Pauline Schäfer-Betz beam robbery
31:00 Unique skills and magnificent mounts
33:30 Helen Kevric and the benefits of amplitude
35:55 Apparatus finals before the team final?
46:20 Russia, Italy and France in the team final
52:45 Melnikova’s all-around score and Worlds
54:45 Vault final: Upgrade to the Cheng
59:35 Bars final: Kevric, Iorio and Perotti
61:35 Beam and floor finals
66:05 Who qualified to the World Championships?
2026 U.S. GYMNASTICS CHAMPIONSHIPS COVERAGE
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Paulina Schaffer-Betz is the only one who truly dances on beam. She does so well. Just love her beam and vault. Overtime is a problem, of course, but her vault should have been given a higher score.
What I noticed about the team final, is there was less adrenalin in the team event. It meant fewer step outs on the floor routines, and it was clear they had more control over the equipment for the team event. However, it didn’t make them preform better really. I like the idea and feel it’s worth a try for a few years.
Rainbow side kick = fan kick or grande ron de jambe.
Surprised that there was no talk about Alia Leat’s beam performance in the team final. So good!