The second year in a row, Artem Dolgopyat won silver in the floor final at the European Championships. Last year, he came to the competition soon after an injury and was not sure if he would compete at all. This year, he is finally healthy and finished as the top qualifier on the event, but dealing with pressure prevented him from winning gold in the final:
“I feel good, I tried to do my routine better, but it’s silver for now. We’ll keep working. I’m not sure what more I need for the gold. Perhaps, I lack experience. It’s really hard mentally to go out as the leader [of qualification] and do the same thing again, I need to work on that.”
Sergei Vaisburg, the head coach of the Israeli team, said that he is happy with Dolgopyat’s silver but expects greater things from him:
“I’m really happy that Doglopyat and Shatilov made the final, it’s an honor considering the level of competition. On the other hand, Artem is ready for much higher results, for the first place. We didn’t do the highest routine he can do, our focus was the quality. But it was not quite enough. Perhaps, the problem was the anxiety, perhaps, the feeling that he was the leader and this somehow rattled him. In any case, it is a great result, a second place at the European Championships, to stand on the medal podium with two Russian gymnasts. It’s a great feeling.”
“Now, Artem qualified to the European Games, then our main competition of the season will be the World Championships where he will try to qualify to the Olympic Games. We will also go to the World Cup in Osijek and then, perhaps, we’ll go to a camp in Germany or Russia. At the camps abroad, they keep training with the best gymnasts in the world, this gives additional motivation and experience. The difference in the training conditions [between our gym and those gyms] is not crucial, but when you train at home, there are many distractions – family, home, commuting. And when you’re at camp, you don’t need to commute, you go to train, to eat, and to sleep, and the results are much more productive.”
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