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
All GymCastic 2026 U.S. National Championships Coverage — Find all of our podcasts, meet reports, Behind The Scenes episodes and coverage from Phoenix in one place.
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