Gymnast Ilja Kovtun wins European all-around gold for Croatia amid reports of unsportsmanlike conduct from Russian competitors

Ilja Kovtun, a 23-year-old gymnast born in Ukraine, has become the European champion in the all-around competition at the European Championships held in Zagreb. This victory marks his first major title under the Croatian flag, a country he now represents.

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This is my first all-around gold and of course I am very happy. I could have done without mistakes, but the medal is here and three more finals. I haven't even realized I won gold yet, everything went too fast.

Kovtun delivered a strong performance across multiple apparatuses, earning the highest score of the day on the rings with 14.500. He also placed second on vault with 14.200 and fifth on floor exercise with 14.100. While he had a satisfactory score on the vault (13.900), a fall on the pommel horse resulted in a lower score of 12.800. His final routine on the still rings secured him a score of 13.333, narrowly clinching the gold medal by a mere thousandth of a point over silver medalist Arseniy Duhno.

Despite the triumph, Kovtun revealed that he competed with a bleeding hand, which posed a risk of slipping. "The most worrying thing was that my hand kept bleeding, so there was a danger of slipping," he stated after his win. He expressed happiness with the medal and his qualification for three other finals, acknowledging the mistake on the pommel horse but deeming the overall performance sufficient for gold.

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There was a mistake on the pommel horse, but for today, this was enough for gold. In the future, I will try to be even better. The most important thing is that the coach is happy, because this is a medal after a long time of not competing.

Adding a somber note to the celebration, the article reports that after the Croatian anthem was played, Russian competitors Duhno and Marinov, who won silver and bronze respectively, refused to pose for a joint photograph with their medals. They also reportedly did not shake Kovtun's hand, gesturing to the event organizers.

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The most worrying thing was that my hand kept bleeding, so there was a danger of slipping.