The Junior European Championships at the Rimini Fair consecrate Tommaso Brugnami as the true golden boy of Italian Artistic Gymnastics. The seventeen-year-old from Ascoli Piceno, playing for Ginastica Ancona, ends his journey in the continental youth event with an amazing double gold in rings and floor exercise, to which are also added three silvers: one with the blue team, one in vault and the last in the “all around” test to frame a sensational route. The talent from the Marche region, after the complete lap on the six apparatus, climbed to the second step with a fantastic total of 80.832, surrendering only to the Frenchman Anthony Mansard, who triumphed with a majestic performance of 81.499 points. The new European champion managed to impose himself in the last rotation, the one on the bar, which allowed him to inherit the title of the Hungarian Botond Molnar of Monaco 2022.
Second place in the all around comes at the end of a European championship in which Tommaso had already enchanted the audience. The central platform of Rimini, in the first scheduled competition, immediately saw Italy as the protagonist with the splendid performance of “Piumino” (as he is nicknamed in relation to his lightness in performing the exercises), who with a staff of 13,866 made the European junior floor exercise title his own, succeeding the German Daniel Mousichidis, who won in Munich in 2022, when Tommy finished in third place.
In the second rotation, the Mameli Hymn came back to play again, again in honor of Brugnami. The talent coached by Fabrizio Marcotullio managed to win his second individual gold, this time in the rings, preceding, with 13.266, the British Gabriel Langton (13.233) and the Austrian Vincent Lindpointner (13.200). In a final where the first five are within just over two tenths of a point and the first three within 66 thousandths, the gymnast from the Ancona Youth team, despite coming up last, put everyone in line, succeeding the Swede Luis il-Sung. And while Brugnami took the top step from his rival from Birmingham, the other Englishman, Sol Scott, in turn took away the joy of the hat-trick on vault.
In fact, the seventeen-year-old from Godmanchester, starting from the run-up of 25 meters per eighth, reached the end with the highest average, 14.466, the result of two jumps of equal value. Tommaso, the provisional leader, witnessed his rival’s performance on vault, a moment before climbing the ring castle, learning from the big screen that his 14.200 (14.500 – 14.900) was good for silver. The second after the one achieved against Italbaby on Thursday. Sol thus takes up the legacy of the Finnish Reiman Joona, while Tommy, who had finished fourth in Germany two years ago, makes a double leap towards the top of Europe that counts.
