RHYS MCCLENAGHAN MISSES WORLD POMMEL HORSE FINAL

Rhys McClenaghan failed to reach the pommel horse final at the 2026 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Rotterdam. Qualifying results placed the Irish gymnast 10th with a score of 14.400, outside the eight places available in the final. He finished as the second reserve. “I thought I did enough at this Worlds, but clearly there’s still improvements to be made,” McClenaghan wrote on Instagram after qualifying.

McClenaghan won Ireland’s first Olympic gymnastics gold medal at the Paris Games in 2024. He previously won world titles in 2022 and 2023, three European gold medals and a Commonwealth gold medal in 2018. His qualifying score in Rotterdam was lower than the 15.533 he received at the Paris Olympics. It was also lower than the 15.300 he scored to win pommel horse gold at the 2024 European Gymnastics Championships.

The Rotterdam result follows McClenaghan’s return to competition after shoulder surgery. He missed all of 2025 while recovering and competed in his first major event since the injury at the Commonwealth Games in July, finishing sixth. He then placed seventh at the European championships in Zagreb in August. In his Instagram post, McClenaghan said he wanted to reach a point where there was “no question that I’m the best”.