RHYS McCLENAGHAN SECURED his place in the Pommel Horse final with a score of 14.933, placing third in the qualifiers at the Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp .

McClenaghan, the current Pommel World Champion said: “I’m very happy with my performance, it was enough to make the Pommel Horse final, my third World Championships final and my sixth World Championships as well.

“So I’m happy with how the performance went and I’m looking forward to improving on that performance in the final.”

McClenaghan will defend his World Championship title on Saturday 7 October.

Teammates Eamon Montgomery, Dominick Cunningham and Adam Steele were also competing in Antwerp, with their top scores of 12.500 on Floor for Montgomery, 14.366 on Vault for Steele and 13.700 on Floor for Cunningham. 

Cunningham said: “This is my fifth World Championships and I’m very happy with my progression here. Unfortunately I didn’t qualify to compete on all six apparatus after a bad Europeans. But I qualified for floor and vault through the World Cup series.

“I came here to go for my upgraded routines, something I haven’t done for a long time. I felt competitive and I know I can do that bit more and be back competing with the big guns. Floor was great competing new tumbles and I felt good and had good feedback from the judges.”