Rhys McClenaghan looks forward and says Commonwealth Games are a ‘training day’

McClenaghan scored 13.0 points to finish in sixth place

Rhys McClenaghan: “Even if I had won gold here it still would have been treated as a stepping-stone." Pic: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire.

Olympic gymnastics champion Rhys McClenaghan dismissed the Commonwealth Games as a “training day” after failing to win a medal in the men’s pommel final at the Glasgow International Centre.

The 27-year-old scored 13.0 points to finish in sixth place, well below gold medallist Jordan Carroll of Canada, with two Scots – all-around champion Reuben Ward and his team-mate Cameron Lynn – taking silver and bronze respectively.

McClenaghan shrugged off the loss, which he blamed on a minor error on a new mount at the start of his routine, and said he would immediately shift focus to the upcoming European and world championships.

“This is a training day for me, so we go back to the gym as soon as I can, and we tackle it just like we tackle any training day,” said McClenaghan, a double world champion who claimed gold for Ireland at the Paris 2024 Olympics after falling in the final in Tokyo.

“Even if I had won gold here it still would have been treated as a stepping-stone. We go back to the gym as soon as we can, and we tackle it just like we tackle any training day. We’ve got our eye on the prize for the Europeans.” 

Ward, who had qualified for the final in first place, held his nerve to take silver but seemed more delighted to be able to share the podium experience with Lynn, who had not been expected to trouble the top three.

“Scotland is a force to be reckoned with in gymnastics and we are starting to prove that,” said Ward, who claimed Scotland’s first all-around title on Friday. “I began it the other day and we are snowballing now.” 

Luke Whitehouse made up for the disappointing performance in the men’s all-around competition by taking gold in the men’s floor final.

Whitehouse, a silver medallist and three-time European champion on the apparatus, fell during his routine on Sunday but rebounded to score 14.566 and take gold ahead of Canada’s Rene Cournoyer and James Hardy of Australia.

The Halifax 24-year-old admitted he had been distracted since team-mate Gabriel Langton crashed off the high bar midway through the team final on Friday, requiring an overnight stay in hospital.

Whitehouse said: “There’s been a lot going on. You’ve just got to try and ignore the noise and focus on your routines. Gabriel’s my room-mate here and to know that he’s fine and doing well, I couldn’t be happier.” 

Twin sisters Abigail and Emily Roper took a pair of bronze medals in the women’s vault and uneven bars finals respectively. England’s Abigail Martin won silver in the vault behind winner Lia-Monica Fontaine of Canada.