20. June 2015  
Baku, Azerbaijan  
Artistic Gymnastics

I. EUROPEAN GAMES 2015 - Men's Artistic Gymnastics Competitions

European Champion Verniaiev cheered again two times!

In the moment Ukraine's European all-around champion Oleg VERNIAIEV was unbeatable: Once again he broke through the point's barrier of 90 as the only one athlete and won the all-around gold medal of the 1st European Games 2015 in Baku with a score of 90,332. But at the final day, he was qualified for five finals but he had power enough for the victory at one apparatus: He won gold at vault, but no more medal.
Second in all-around and winner of the silver medal was the former Ukrainian and now local Azerbaijanian hero, Oleg Stepko, scoring 89,065 points and at the final day he won a complete medal set: Gold on parallel bars, silver on pommel horse and bronze on vault - the local hero of the day!
Despite a crash at the last apparatus, the high bar, Russia's Nikita Ignatyev rescued the bronze medal (87,365) in front of the Byelorussian Dmitri Barkalu (86,966) and Germany's Fabian Hambuechen (85,631), who lost points after a crash at the vaulting table, but the German finished with aworld class performance at the high bar (15,500) - and at the last day it means gold for him at the high bar final.
At the six men's final apparatus the gold medals went to athletes from six different nations  ...:

♦ Men's All-around Final (Thursday, June 18)
1. VERNIAIEV, Oleg (UKR)  - 90,332
2. STEPKO, Oleg (AZE)  - 89,065
3. IGNATYEV, Nikita (RUS)  - 87,365
  4. BARKALAU, Dmitri (BLR)  - 86,966
  5. HAMBUECHEN, Fabian (GER)  - 85,631
  6. ABAD, Nestor    (ESP)  - 85,598
      > detailed Results

♦♦ Men's APPARATUS FINALS (Thursday, June 20)

♦  F L O O R   E X E R C I S E S
This first busy day of event finals got underway with men’s floor exercise. Spain’s Rayderley Zapata’s spectacular tumbling earned him the gold medal. His 6.7 difficulty score was matched only by all-around champion Oleg Verniaiev but the Ukrainian landed one of his tumbling passes outside of the floor area, taking him out of medal contention. Fabian Hambuechen (GER) performed a solid floor routine, with great execution to clinch the silver ahead of Russia’s David Belyavskiy.
1. ZAPATA SANTANA, Rayderley Miguel (ESP)  - 15.333
2. HAMBUECHEN, Fabian                      (GER)  - 15.100
3. BELYAVSKIY, David                            (RUS)  - 15.000
        > detailed results

♦  P O M M E L   H O R S E
Saso Bertoncelj has the highest execution score and the second highest D-score on his specialist event, pommel horse, bringing gold home to Slovenia.
The home crowd got very excited for Oleg Stepko’s silver-medal winning performance while Great Britain won its first medal in artistic gymnastics, a bronze for the talented Brinn Bevan. Verniaiev performed a routine with a huge 7.0 D-score but came off halfway.
1. BERTONCELJ, Saso (SLO)  - 14.966
2. STEPKO, Oleg           (AZE)  - 14.600
3. BEVAN, Brinn           (GBR)  - 14,200
        > detailed results

♦  S T I L L   R I N G S
European rings Champion Eleftherios Petrounias dominated on his showpiece event, finishing 3 tenths ahead of Russia’s Ignatyev. Turkey’s Colak well-executed routine highlighted by his double piked front dismount earned him the bronze. Former European rings Champion Igor Radivilov (UKR) fell on his double double dismount.
1. PETROUNIAS, Eleftherios (GRE)  - 15,633
2. IGNATYEV, Nikita                (RUS)  - 15.333
3. COLAK, Ibrahim                  (TUR)  - 15.133
        > detailed results
 

♦  V A U L T I N G   T A B L E
Verniaiev vaulted a high Dragulescu to secure the title on vault where his execution gave him the edge over Casimir Schmidt (NED).
Oleg Stepko also had great execution scores, trailing the top 2 in difficulty but beating Tuuha for the bronze medal.
1. VERNIAIEV, Oleg   (UKR)  - 15,266
2. SCHMIDT, Casimir (NED)  - 15,116
3. STEPKO, Oleg        (AZE)  - 14,966
        > detailed results

♦  P A R A L L E L   B A R S
Oleg Stepko put the pressure on European and World Parallel bars Champion Verniaiev after a scoring 15.733 for his routine. Verniaiev took an extra swing after his Honma right at the beginning of his routine. His stuck dismount couldn’t make up for the errors though. First gold for host nation Azerbaijan in gymnastics!
Russia’s David Belyavskiy’s just misses out, he takes silver ahead of Romania’s Marius Berbecar.
1. STEPKO, OLeg            (AZE)  - 15.733
2. BELYAVSKIY, David    (RUS)  - 15.700
3. BERBECAR, Marious (ROU)  - 15.600
        > detailed results

♦  H O R I Z O N T A L   B A R
Presenting a high bar routine with a 7.0 D-score, Germany’s Fabian Hambuechen also get the highest execution mark, clinching him the final gold medal in artistic gymnastics! Greek veteran Vlasios Maras wins silver while we also see Nikita Ignatyev (RUS) on the podium again, in third position:
* RESULTS
1. HAMBUECHEN, Fabian
                       (GER)  - 15.533
2. MARAS, Vlasios 
                        (GRE)  - 15,366
3. IGNATYEV, Nikita    
                         (RUS)  - 15.166
    > detailed results

 

♦ Men's Artistic Team Event
Russia enjoyed a golden day in Artistic Gymnastics at the Baku 2015 European Games, winning the men’s and women’s team events.
Nikita Ignatyev starred as Russia’s men won team gold with 178.963 points, ahead of Ukraine on 177.429 and Azerbaijan on 174.195, followed by Belarus and Germany.
Best in men's all-around qualification was European Champion Oleg Verniaiev (91,532), followed by Russia's Ignatyev and the local hero Oleg Stepko (AZE). The team competition provides berths in the individual all-around finals on Thursday and the apparatus finals on Saturday.

* Men's individual qualification:
Pre-meet favorite, and 2015 European all-around champion, Oleg Verniaiev scored a huge 91.532, even with a fall on pommel horse! He surely is the one to beat in Thursday’s final! Big surprise when 2015 European runner-up David Belyavskiy (RUS) pulled out of high bar, ending his chance to challenge for the all-around title. Instead it’s his teammate Nikita Ignatyev who qualified in second, although he finished almost 2.5 points behind Verniaiev. Azerbaijan’s Oleg Stepko is in third place.
♦ Men's qualification, All-around:
1. Verniaiev, Oleg (UKR)  - 91,532
2. Ignatiev, Nikita  (RUS)  - 89,065
3. Stepko, Oleg     (AZE)  - 88,231
4. Hambuechen, Fabian (GER) - 887,432;  5. Kuksenkov, Nikolai (RUS) - 87,397; 6. Barkalau, Dmitri (BLR) - 87,365;
   >> detailed results
* GYM v i d e o : Men's Team Final
 

♦♦ Teams, Final Results:
1. RUSSIA         - 178,963
2. UKRAINE        - 177,429
3. AZERBAIJAN  - 174,195
4. Belarus                   - 174,130
5. Germany                - 172,796
6. France                   - 172,297
7. Spain                     - 171,400
8. Great Britain          - 171,362
  > detailed Results

►► Women's artistic competitions