Jamie Lewis overcame disappointment on the pommel to secure his second gold medal of the European Youth Olympics with victory on the rings adding to a silver medal already won in the team event.
In front of a full gymnasium, the individual apparatus finals took place and Team GB once again had medal hopes in the form of Lewis but it didn’t start to plan as an error disrupted the Woking gymnast mid-routine.
Despite the mistake Lewis narrowly missed out on bronze, scoring 12.100 to finish fourth, just behind Belgium’s Claeys Ward (12.466) who came in third.
However the disappointment of missing out did not show in his next final on the rings, an event that came directly after the pommel. Following two impressive routines from Russians Iurii Busse (13.466) and Sergei Naidin (13.200) Lewis was under pressure to perform and perform he most certainly did, nailing his routine and securing gold with a score of 13.733.
“I’m chuffed with how it went, especially after the pommel,” said Lewis. “The pommel and the rings are two of my strongest pieces. I let the nerves get the best of me on pommel, I don’t know why, I guess these things happen but I was happy to get back and finish my routine and finish with a nice second half. I knew when it came to the rings I just had to concentrate on that and do my best. I really wanted to get gold on the rings.”
With the European Youth Olympic Festival providing a platform for athletes to compete against the best across the continent, Lewis had no doubt the quality of the opposition spurred him on.
“To compete with them both [the Russian silver and bronze] is great as it adds the quality and the pressure and just makes me want to compete better. They are quality gymnasts. In the all-around against them it was really hard and I was very nervous.
He will face Naidin once again when he competes in the parallel bars, an event he thinks he could do well in. “I’ve got P-Bars to go tomorrow and hopefully I can put another medal in the bag. P-Bars isn’t my strongest piece but I’m going to do my best.”
All six canoeists made it through today’s qualifiers and heats with five boats set to line up in tomorrow’s semi-finals.
There were heat wins for Enya Dale in the K1 200m and the K4 as Dale was joined by Zoe Clark, Alex Greaves and Ed Nightingale for the final race of the day.
Both K2 pairs made it safely through having finished second in their respective heats while the C2 double act of Thomas Lambert and Alix Aitchison will also race for a spot in the finals in the morning.
After a week of racing, Nightingale was in reflective mood ahead of the final push for a medal. “At times it’s difficult trying to cope with the distractions of the other events,” said the 15-year-old.
“But at the same time I’ve enjoyed being able to be out here and getting to know the people we’re racing against as well as our British teammates. There’s a great atmosphere around the camp, people are helpful and respectful when it comes to our preparation and race days.
“Ideally we’d like to make an A final tomorrow and maybe even medal in the K4 event.”
The final judoka in action at Gyor 2017 was Team GB’s Tomi Imrie who competed in the -70kg women’s event. Imrie’s tough draw saw her come up against Viktoryia Novikava of Belarus in the first round.
Novikava eventually went on to win the gold medal but Imrie pushed her all the way in the first contest, only losing out on golden score before going down in the repechage to Croatia’s Mia Mihovilovic.
“It was a great experience to be out there with the atmosphere and hearing the support of my teammates,” said the 16-year-old from Livingston.
“The level of competition here is very high and there are a lot of strong girls. I’ve learnt a lot this week and I know my judo isn’t too far away and with another year I can build on my strength and my tactics.
“It can be difficult competing at the back end of the week but this week I think it has helped me see what the event is like here as it’s different to a lot of judo events due to the noise of the crowd.
“It’s been great to watch my teammates winning medals and supporting them – we pride ourselves in being good teammates.”
At the edge of the Olympic Park, competitions continued to flow thick and fast at the Aqua Sports Center with no fewer than 10 competitions taking place on the final day of action.
Charlie Hutchison and Pia Murray both qualified for finals, the men’s 200m backstroke and women’s 100m butterfly. A nailbiting finish in Hutchison’s final saw him miss out on bronze by nine hundredths of a second (2:03.19), whilst Murray finished fifth in her final with a time of 1:51.56.
Elsewhere, an impressive swim (4:17.22) saw the women’s 4x100m mixed medley qualify for the final in seventh, eventually finishing eighth (4:16.48 in the final). The boys would miss out by eight hundredths to Turkey finishing in 3:54.30. Sam Osborne and Will Bell impressed in the men’s 1500m freestyle, finishing 8th (15:53.17)and 9th (15:53.58).
Day Five Results:
Canoe Sprint
Men’s K1 200m Qualification: Ed Nightingale 1st (40.21)
Women’s K1 200m Qualification: Enya Dale 2nd (45.26)
Men’s C1 200m Qualification: Thomas Lambert 3rd (49.61)
Women’s C1 200m Qualification: Alix Aitchison 4th (59.95)
Men’s K2 200m Qualification: Alex Greaves & Ed Nightingale 1st (36.46)
Women’s K2 200m Qualification: Enya Dale & Zoe Clark 2nd (42.30)
Men’s K1 200m Heat: Ed Nightingale 3rd (39.90)
Women’s K1 200m Heat: Enya Dale 1st (45.50)
Men’s K2 200m Heat: Alex Greaves & Ed Nightingale 2nd (36.16)
Women’s K2 200m Heat: Enya Dale & Zoe Clark 2nd (42.05)
Mixed C2 200m Heat: Alix Aitchison & Thomas Lambert 3rd (49.10)
K4 200m Heat: Enya Dale, Zoe Clark, Alex Greaves & Ed Nightingale 1st (35.74)
Gymnastics:
Men’s Pommel Horse Final: Jamie Lewis 4th (12.100)
Men’s Rings Final: Jamie Lewis 1st (13.733)
Judo
Women’s -70kg: Tomi Imrie First Round
Swimming
Men’s 200m Backstroke Preliminaries: Charlie Hutchison 4th (2:05.23)
Women’s 200m Breaststroke Preliminaries: Rebecca Clynes 30th (2:41.38)
Men’s 200m Butterfly Preliminaries: Archie Goodburn 10th (2:04.24), Sam Dailley 16th (2:05.80)
Women’s 200m Freestyle Preliminaries: Rachel Anderson 15th (2:06.63), Alicia Dingle 37th (2:10.66)
Men’s 4x100m Medley Preliminaries: Great Britain 9th (3:54.30)
Women’s 4x100m Medley Preliminaries: Great Britain 7th (4:17.22)
Men’s 1500m Freestyle: Sam Osborne 8th (15:53.17) William Bell 9th (15:53.58)
Men’s 200m Backstroke Final: Charlie Hutchison 4th (2:03.19)
Women’s 100m Butterfly Final: Pia Murray 5th (1:01.56)
Women’s 4x100m Medley Final: Great Britain 8th (4:16.48)
Day Six Schedule:
Gymnastics
Men’s Parallel Bars 13:00-16:00 (Jamie Lewis)
Canoe Sprint
Men’s, Women’s and Mixed 200m Semi-Finals 09:00-12:30, Men’s, Women’s and Mixed 200m Finals 15:00-18:00 (Alix Aitchison, Zoe Clark, Enya Dale, Alex Greaves, Thomas Lambert, Ed Nightingale)
Report courtesy of Team GB
