Watch: Rhys McClenaghan wins World bronze medal with stunning pommel horse performance in Stuttgart
Rhys McClenaghan has won a bronze medal at the World Championships after an impressive performance in Stuttgart.
The Newtownards man won the Commonwealth and European golds last year and has been targeting a podium finish at the top level, which he achieved on Saturday afternoon.
British gymnast Max Whitlock won his third gold medal with a score of 15.500, with Chih-Kai Lee of Chinese Taipei in second on 14.433 and McClenaghan close behind on 15.400.
McCleanghan scored 9.000 on execution, the highest of any of the nine finalists, temporarily moved him into second although Lee's routine, with 0.1 higher difficulty points than McClenaghan's proved the difference in securing silver.
The 20-year-old had already won a spot in the Olympic Games in Tokyo next season when he became the first Irish gymnast to ever qualify for the world final and can now look ahead to mixing it with Whitlock and the rest of the world's best once again next summer.
Watch Rhys' stunning World Championship final performance:
Rhys McClenaghan 🤸🏻‍♂️ has won Bronze at the World Gymnastics Championships Pommell Horse Final. Huge feat to win Ireland’s first ever World medal in the sport 🏅big day too for @GymnasticsIre Would love an expert to show me where he lost a full point on execution 🤷🏼‍♀️🤸🏻‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/b5syWdyUMD
— Evanne Nà Chuilinn (@EvanneNiC) October 12, 2019
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