Dutch gymnasts seventh at European Championships, supreme Italy takes gold

NOS Sports•today, 5:19 PM

Italy has won the team final for women at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rimini, Italy, with a total score of 164,162 points. Great Britain came second with 162,162 points and France third with 158,796 points.

The Dutch team finished seventh, with 149,563 points.

It was already clear in advance that the Italian gymnasts would most likely rule the roost in the team final. The team had the absolute queen of this edition of the European Gymnastics Championships with 17-year-old Manila Esposito.

Esposito won the individual title in the all-around on Thursday and also won gold on beam and floor on Saturday. And so she won four gold medals in the team final.

Alice D’Amato also won the title on bars. With 14.600 she scored considerably more points than her compatriot Elisa Iorio, who finished second (14.366).

Second place was also secured relatively quickly in this team final. The British, including a very stable Alice Kinsella and Ruby Evans, were the best of the rest.

In third place, on the other hand, the battle was fierce. After three aircraft, Romania, France and Germany were almost equal on points. Ultimately, France came out on top. Germany dropped to sixth place.

The Dutch team of national coach Jeroen Jacobs had to compete during the European Championship without the big names. Eythora Thorsdottir, Sanne Wevers, Naomi Visser and Sanna Veerman chose to skip this tournament because it does not fit in with their Olympic preparation.

The Dutch gymnasts therefore failed to qualify for one of the four apparatus finals. However, Elze Geurts, Vera van Pol, Tisha Volleman, Lieke Wevers and European Championship debutant Floor Slooff qualified sixth for the team final.

They were unable to hold on to sixth place and finished in seventh and penultimate place.