Nagorny's triple medal salvo

The European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Basel continued with finals on individual apparatus. The first set of awards was played by men in floor exercises, where, according to the results of qualification, Russia had two contenders for victory at once. All-around gold winner Nikita Nagorny and Kirill Prokopyev, who replaced Artur Dalaloyan, scored the same 15.066 points in the selection, leaving far behind all other rivals.

Such a solid assessment of Nagorny was provided by the most difficult triple back bend somersault, which will now be named after him.

In the all-around, the Russian did not repeat this element, deciding not to risk it again, but on Saturday he began his performance with him.

Nagorny not only performed the jump well, but also slightly complicated the rest of the program, bringing the base score to 6.8 points.

As a result, he received 15,166 points, with which he could safely claim victory.

Your 2021 European Champion on floor ... Nikita Nagornyy!

# Basel2021pic.twitter.com / 7K0WCBfq3n

- European Gymnastics (@UEGymnastics) April 24, 2021

Prokopiev failed to impose a struggle on Nagorny.

He began his performance by touching the mat with his hand, which automatically deprived him of the chance for gold.

This mistake upset the gymnast greatly - he performed the rest of the program without any enthusiasm, giving his best only on his favorite elements from break dance, and even repeated one of the jumps, which is why he was left unappreciated for his second performance.

Prokopiev scored only 13.466 points.

The Swiss Benjamin Guishard and the Italian Nicola Bartolini, whose floor exercises were almost perfect, tried to bypass Nagorny.

But both were noticeably losing to the Russian in difficulty, and they could not take away the gold.

Nagorny has already become an eight-time European champion, while on the same day he still had to perform in the finals on horseback and rings.

Another Russian gymnast David Belyavsky was a favorite of exercises on the horse. Although he reached the final with only the sixth result, in the all-around he practically reached the mark of 15 points, which no one else did in the entire European Championship. Alas, Belyavsky's third attempt was unsuccessful - at the very beginning he could not take a stand, and after a very difficult combination he fell on a dismount. The judges rated such a performance by only 13,166 points.

Other participants in the final also made a lot of mistakes, and Nagorny took advantage of this, for whom the horse is not a profiling shell. He performed in his strength and scored 14.266 points, which was almost enough to win. The Armenian Artur Davtyan, who studied gymnastics at the same school with Nagorny, earned the same amount, but he turned out to be higher due to the best performance mark. Nagorny became a silver medalist and won his third medal in Basel.

The last test for the Russian athlete was exercises on the rings. He had to go to the platform for the 15th time in three days, which for gymnasts can already be considered a feat. But Nagorny not only returned to the hall after two award ceremonies, but also joined the fight for a medal again. He performed a rather difficult power part of the program and jumped off the projectile perfectly, earning a fantastic grade of 15.033 points for himself.

Nagorny lost to the recognized master of the rings, the Greek Eleftherios Petrunias, who earned 15,400 points, but other specialists did not get the Russian for this exercise.

He remained in second place and again became a silver medalist - so far, the 24-year-old Russian has not missed a single chance to be on the podium.

On Sunday, Nagorny will perform in two more events, including his favorite vault, where he is the world champion.

The long-awaited gold of Melnikova and the silver debut of Urazova

Simultaneously with the men, women started to draw medals in separate exercises. They started with a vault. Russia in this form was represented only by the vice-champion of Europe in the all-around Angelina Melnikova. In qualifying, she lost only to the British Jessica Gadirova and even won one thousandth point from the main favorite Julia Steingruber from Switzerland, who performed with a lightweight program.

In the final, Melnikova and Gadirova performed jumps of the same difficulty. For the first, they scored the same 14,600 points, and in the second, the judges gave preference to a British woman with Azerbaijani roots. Melnikova had enough extra movements on landing, and in the end she lost only 0.05 points. Steingruber, on the other hand, showed everything that she is really capable of, and confidently won the fourth gold of the European Championship in the vault. Melnikova won the bronze medal.

But in the next final on uneven bars, the Russians did not allow anyone to approach the first two places.

In addition to Melnikova, Vladislava Urazova, a debutante of the European Championships, who showed the second result in qualification after her compatriot, received the right to compete for a medal.

The 16-year-old gymnast performed in the final just as cleanly and earned 14.333 points - with such a result she could count on a medal.

Melnikova had to return to the uneven bars after an unfortunate mistake in the all-around, when she could not catch the pole on her most difficult element.

Fortunately, on the second try, she completed her entire program, earning 14,500 points for her.

After the mistake was made by the experienced gymnast Elisabeth Seitz from Germany, the Russians officially took first and second places, and Melnikova finally won her first gold in Basel.

Yolur 2021 European Champion on bars ... Angelina Melnikova (RUS)! # Basel2021pic.twitter.com/wVwty5wnak

- European Gymnastics (@UEGymnastics) April 24, 2021