Ukrainian Ilja Kovtoen is aiming for double gold at the European Gymnastics Championships

On the last day of the apparatus finals at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rimini, Ilja Kovtoen took revenge for his poorer performance in the all-round competition. Kovtoen was the best in Europe on both the high bar and the parallel bars.

Ilja Kovtoen won silver in the all-round competition at the European Championships in Antwerp in October. He wanted to add a European all-round title six months later, but a dramatic floor exercise killed the still only 20-year-old Ukrainian.

Kovtoen recovered gloriously in the apparatus finals. On the parallel bars he was in a class of his own. He was the only one to (well) exceed 15,000 points and thus extended his title. His lead over the Cypriot Marios Georgiou, the winner of the all-round competition, was enormous.

Kovtoen’s victory on the high bar was a little more surprising, but he delivered an almost flawless exercise that was rated slightly better than that of Lithuanian Robert Tvorogal.

Jake Jarman lived up to his role as favorite on the jump. The British world champion received a lot of resistance from the Armenian Davtyan. Jarman already had gold and silver on his European list of honors on the jump.