'There's more to improve' - McClenaghan eyes Paris Olympics

Rhys McClenaghan has now added a third European title to his blossoming résumé following his success in the pommel horse final in Rimini.

Add to that his two World Championships and Commonwealth Games gold medal and that leaves just one more major title for the 24 year-old to achieve and complete the gymnastics 'grand slam.'

In just three months he will get that opportunity at the Olympic Games in Paris.

If he could, McClenaghan would be back in his gym in Newtownards today to get on with those preparations.

He will have to wait a few days at least.

"It's a nice thing to say that I feel at the top of my game and still feel like there's more room to improve.

"I'm always looking to improve whether that be in life or in gymnastics and I'm standing here happy but knowing that I can do better," said McClenaghan after his latest success.

It was an emphatic victory in Italy.

McClenaghan's winning score of 15.300 was well ahead of Loran De Munck's second place mark of 14.933.

In gymnastics terms that's the equivalent of a five-shot win for Rory McIlroy.

Yet in McClenaghan's mind it wasn't perfect, far from it. As he looks ahead to Paris he knows that the constant striving for perfection is what he needs to do so he can challenge for gold.

"I wasn't really looking at other people's scores. I kind of had an execution score that I wanted and we were just below that today and it felt like it in the routine.

"To me what that means is there's more room to improve and you know what a time to do it. I can't wait to go back into the gym right now even and just sharpen up some things."

So what improvements does he want to make?

"Just making my circle shape just beautiful to watch I want to look like a feather floating around that pommel horse flying through the air smoothly making people see no deductions whatsoever and most importantly making the judges see no deductions."

Paris pommel horse final is a mouthwatering prospect

McClenaghan's winning score in Rimini of 15.300 matched his efforts at the 2018 Europeans in Glasgow and the 2022 World Championships in Liverpool, both of which he won.

However it would have only been good enough for the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago behind Max Whitlock's effort of 15.583.

The Great Britain star missed the Euros because of a wrist injury and he will be very aware of what McClenaghan can achieve.

In the past three years since the last Olympic final in which Whitlock won and McClenaghan fell, the Northern Irishman has won two World and now two European titles and is a more rounded and mature gymnast.

Whitlock took a break from the sport and returned last year at the World Championships, only to come off the horse in the final.

But the Olympics is far from a two-horse race. The World Cup season saw the emergence of Jordan's Ahmad Abu Al-Soud as a legitimate medal contender alongside the Tokyo silver medalist Lee Chih-kai from Chinese Taipei.

Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev, Olympic all-around silver medalist from Rio in 2016, has returned to competition and was the highest ranked qualifier for the European final ahead of McClenaghan.

He came off the horse near the end of what was going to be a strong routine in the final.

The best of the Chinese and Japanese gymnasts have yet to be seen in competition this season with the Asian Championships coming up next month while the Americans can boast 2021 world champion Stephen Nedoroscik.

There are a plethora of gymnasts capable of scoring 15.000 or higher, the benchmark of a truly world class routine on the most unpredictable of apparatus.

It's why the Olympic Final in Paris is so eagerly anticipated.

Saturday 3 August....mark it in your diary.