Italy won for the first time in history the championship of Europe men’s artistic gymnastics team. The event is currently taking place in Antalya, Turkey.
The blues (Mario Macchiati, making his debut in the continental competition, Matteo Levantesi, Lorenzo Casali, from Ancona born in Hanoi, Yumin Abbiadini, Marco Lodadio, our lord of the rings) finished with a total score of 249,526; silver to Türkiye with 248.262, bronze to Great Britain with 246.961. The Azzurri start on the pommel horse, continue on to the rings (led by Marco Lodadio, world vice-champion) and at that point they are third, go to the vault and take the lead in the provisional classification, hold their position on the parallel bars and on the bar (with the individualist Carlo Macchini who goes to the individual final with the best score) and become champions by completing the floor exercise.
And if indeed weighs the absence of Russia (who had won gold at the Tokyo Olympics), the Azzurri nonetheless confirmed their growth: second at last year’s European Championships, fourth at the Liverpool 2022 World Cup, in Turkey they became the protagonists of a regular match with peaks of absolute quality .
Individually, Abbadini (81,098) and Casali (80,998) qualified for the all-around final on Thursday 13 April (live on RaiPlay). Four specialty finals also conquered: Abbadini sixth on pommel horse (14.266), Lodadio seventh on rings (14.633), Levantesi third on parallel bars (14.733), Macchini (absent in the team competition) on the barre (14.233).
«We dedicate this historic success to our comrades who stayed at home – they declared in chorus from the mixed zone – especially to Nicola Bartolini (gold at the 2021 World Championships in floor exercise) who was unable to leave due to a last second injury. And now we’re rooting for the girls.” «We couldn’t say it but we knew we were strong and could win gold – admits the technical director Giuseppe Cocciaro -. We had come close before. The boys were amazing today. We are aiming for the World Cup in Antwerp to snatch the team ticket to the Olympics which has been missing since 2012».
Tomorrow it’s the turn of the Italdonne girls, led by Enrico Casella, who present themselves as the team to beat.