Pavel in GB Team for 2018 European Championships
Scottish junior all-around champion Pavel Karnejenko has been selected to represent Great Britain at Glasgow 2018 European Men’s Artistic Championships.
The 18 year-old is one of the ten strong junior and senior men’s team for the 33rd championships at the SSE Hydro between August 9 and 12.
The women’s artistic team was also announced today for the first four days of gymnastics at Glasgow 2018, an exciting new multi-sport event which will see six leading sports’ European championships contested around the city, with athletics in Berlin.
For Pavel, the championships will be a return home, having been a member of City of Glasgow Gymnastics Club where he was coached by Marius Gherman. He earned his first national title at under 12 level and has won the junior men’s all-around championship for the last two years.
He has also been supported during his development through Scottish Gymnastics performance programmes and represented Scotland and Great Britain at different levels. The talented gymnast moved to Nottinghamshire Gymnastics Academy last summer to train full time with British programme coaches ahead of the European Championships.
Speaking to Scottish Gymnastics after his selection, Pavel said:
“I’m delighted to be selected for the Europeans in Glasgow and really honoured to be in the team. It feels amazing and I’m looking forward to coming back to the city where I started my gymnastics career.”
Scottish Gymnastics head of performance, Sam Hendrikson, said: “I would like to offer my congratulations to Pavel his selection for Glasgow 2018 European Championships.
“Having been a gymnast in the Scottish system for many years under the artistic direction of Marius Gherman, he excelled through the age groups and our performance programmes and earned his place in the GB Top Junior Squad in 2017, his first year competing at under 18 level.
“Pavel has matured into a stylish gymnast and will have full Scottish support performing on home soil and act as inspiration for a whole new generation of men’s artistic gymnasts.”
Pavel will be joined in the junior men’s team by Adam Tobin, Jake Jarman, Jamie Lewis, and Donell Osbourne.
In the senior men’s team, double Olympic champion Max Whitlock MBE returns to the SSE Hydro where he won his first world title, alongside fellow Commonwealth gold medallists James Hall, Dom Cunningham and Courtney Tulloch and 2017 British champion Joe Fraser back from injury.
Max is looking forward to competing in Glasgow again. He said: “I am absolutely delighted to have been selected as part of the British Gymnastics team for the Glasgow 2018 European Championships, particularly as I am an ambassador for the event. We have a really strong men’s team and we are all working really hard to be in top shape for the European Championships and I can’t wait to be back in Glasgow in just four weeks-time.
“I have such great memories of competing in Glasgow both at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and again at the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships, which were really successful for me and I would love to be on the podium again at the European Championships this year. The SSE Hydro is a fabulous venue and the support we get from the Scottish fans is always amazing.”
In the senior women’s team, two-time European bars champion Becky Downie is joined by Commonwealth champions Alice Kinsella and Georgia-Mae Fenton, British champion Kelly Simm and Commonwealth silver medallist Lucy Stanhope. The junior women’s team features Ondine Achampong, Halle Hilton, Pheobe Jakubczyk, Amelie Morgan and Annie Young.
The senior gymnasts will compete for team and individual apparatus titles whilst the juniors contest the team, all-around and apparatus events. The draw was made for the starting order in Glasgow yesterday.
> Draw for European men’s and women’s artistic championships
Tickets are available for the men’s and women’s championships from the Glasgow 2018 website.
Secure your seat now to cheer on Pavel and Great Britain gymnasts.
Congratulations Pavel on your selection! We look forward to watching you in action.