European Gymnastics: Silver & bronze for Ellie Downie


Ellie Downie completed a clean sweep of European Championship medals as she added apparatus silver and bronze to her historic all-around title in Cluj on Saturday.

The Nottingham 17-year-old (pictured above left) finished behind Coline Devillard of France in the women's vault final before tying for third on the uneven bars alongside Elisabeth Seitz of Germany.

And to seal another hugely successful day, Courtney Tulloch earned Britain's first rings medal at a major championship as he took silver behind Olympic champion Eleftherios Petrounias of Greece.

Downie admitted her performances had continued to exceed expectations with the prospect of more medals in Sunday's beam and floor finals, the latter of which she will start as favourite.

She said: "I think my gold medal on Friday took the pressure off but to be standing here with three medals and two finals still to come is just ridiculous.

"I felt a bit jaded out there because I was on such a high on Friday night, and I felt I could have been better. But I went out with nothing to lose and in the end it paid off."

Downie's older sister Becky was the favourite and defending champion on the bars, but suffered a heavy fall and had to be helped from the floor by medics.

Becky Downie looks unlikely to be fit to contest the beam final on Sunday, in which case her place would go to fellow Briton Claudia Fragapane, who is first reserve.

Ellie Downie led the vault for much of the competition, averaging 14.350 before Devillard produced a superb first vault to set up a winning score of 14.466.

She seemed unlikely to threaten the medals on bars with her score of 14.133, but held her position until sister Becky's heavy fall sealed her bronze.

Tulloch rose to the occasion to win his first medal at a major senior championships with a score of 15.066 behind the winning total for Petrounias of 15.433.

And the 21-year-old believes he is capable of continuing to build his routine in order to mount a serious challenge to his all-conquering rival before the Tokyo Olympics.

Tulloch said: "I'm delighted to win a silver medal but my plan is definitely to get to the top of the podium and I feel like I am getting closer.

"I have got a lot of new elements to add to my routine that I feel will increase my score and that will definitely help.

"A lot of people out there assume Petrounias will always get gold, but I'm not scared of him. He's a great guy but in my head I know that I want to beat him."

As well as Downie's further participation on Sunday, James Hall and Dom Cunningham will compete in the men's bar and vault finals respectively.

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