Day three of the 2026 European Championships in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics and it was time to decide the senior apparatus finals medallists in Zagreb.
Angelina Melnikova of WG2 won the vault title on Saturday (15 August) while 18-year-old Helen Kevric claimed gold on uneven bars for Germany.
France’s superstar Elena Colas, 16, was beam champion, while Manila Esposito rounded out the competition with top spot on floor.
Melnikova of WG2 won gold in the first final of the afternoon adding the vault title to the all-around gold from Thursday. Scoring 14.166, was enough to beat the defending champion, Karina Schönmaier of Germany on 14.066 after competing a clean Yurchenko double full first vault and then a beautifully styled Lopez, comprising a round-off on to the horse, a 1/2-turn on and front layout 1/2 off.
Lisa Vaelen just pipped Great Britain’s Abigail Martin to the bronze medal with the final vault of the round. The Belgian scored an average of 13.983 to best Martin by just 0.084 points.
Helen Kevric continued where she left off from Friday’s qualification competition, at the top of the standings on uneven bars. The German teenager, who suffered an injury in the all-around at last year’s continental championships and is making inroads back into international competition, was thrilled with her performance, which garnered her a mark of 14.500. That was highest score of the day on any apparatus.
“I don’t have the right words but I’m just happy to win the gold medal,” Kevric told Olympics,com at the buzzing arena.
“When I walked in here, I didn’t think a lot about the medals because I just wanted to perform, and now I’m really happy that I can say that I’m a European champion on bars, and it’s just an amazing feeling.”
The Italian pair of Elisa Iorio and Giulia Perotti rounded out the podium with silver and bronze, respectively. That makes Iorio a two-time continental silver medallist on the event and 16-year-old Perotti a second time European medallist after winning gold in 2025 in the team event, a title Italy will defend on Sunday (16 August).
“I’m feeling grateful and so proud of myself and my work,” said Iorio, one of the team members who won Olympic team silver at Paris 2024. “I worked a lot in this year, so I’m very happy to do my bars today and do it pretty well.”
Perotti, a junior world medallist on the apparatus in 2023, was also happy with her performance.
“I’m still very emotional,” said the teenager. “To be honest, I wasn’t expecting this, and all the hard work over the past few months has paid off because I’ve put in so much effort and even changed several routines, and I couldn’t wait to bring all of this to these European Championships.”