Great Britain won the junior men's team title at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Zagreb, finishing just 0.199 points ahead of World Gymnastics 2 after qualification concluded on Thursday evening. The official result book, issued at 20:24 local competition time on August 20, recorded Britain on 237.559 points, with World Gymnastics 2 taking silver on 237.360 and Italy earning bronze on 234.592.
The British team comprised George Atkins, Uzair Chowdhury, Zakaine Fawzi-Mccaffrey, Evan McPhillips and Ellis Niles. Their six apparatus totals were 40.299 on floor, 40.565 on pommel horse, 36.765 on rings, 41.399 on vault, 39.732 on parallel bars and 38.799 on high bar. The narrow victory came on the second day of the men's championships at Arena Zagreb, where the junior qualification also served as the team final.
Fawzi-Mccaffrey supplied Britain's leading apparatus result by topping pommel-horse qualification with 14.066. Chowdhury advanced to three apparatus finals, placing sixth on floor with 13.566, sixth on rings with 12.666 and sixth on parallel bars with 13.433. Atkins joined him in the parallel-bars final after scoring 13.366 for seventh place, according to European Gymnastics.
The competition also sent Chowdhury and Atkins into the 24-man all-around final. Chowdhury qualified sixth with 77.898 across all six apparatus, while Atkins ranked ninth with 77.331. World Gymnastics 2 gymnasts Daniil Smirnov and Radmir Musaev led that table with 79.997 and 78.997 respectively, underlining how little separated the two leading teams despite Britain's aggregate win.
Italy completed the podium 2.768 points behind Britain, while Switzerland placed fourth on 230.229 and Germany fifth on 230.029. The result gives Britain the first men's junior title awarded during the Zagreb programme and leaves several medal opportunities still open. The junior all-around final is scheduled for Saturday, while the junior apparatus finals are due on Sunday as the championships continue through August 23.
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