Nikita Nagornyy continued this domination on the third day of competition at the European Championships. Nagornyy made all event finals except for high bar (where he is the first reserve) and won three medals in the three finals on the first day. On floor, not only he did the triple pike as his first pass but also upgraded the routine by 0.2 and won gold with 15.166. On pommel horse and rings, he was able to win his first medals at senior international competitions – two silvers. He told MatchTV his floor routine made him especially happy.
Q: Today, we finally saw the triple pike in the final. Before that, you had only done it in the qualification. How did you come up with this element?
A: I first tried to do it on a trampoline during the lockdown. And since then, I had this thought in my head that it’s possible to do on floor at a competition. It’s not as interesting a story as one might think but my dream has come true, I have an element named after me.
Q: After two days of finals, you have two golds and two silvers. Do these medals differ in terms of their significance for you?
A: I think that the most important medal is the gold on vault because I did the 6.8 difficulty today. At the moment, this is the highest difficulty in the world, as far as I understand. I didn’t do it perfectly but still, I’ve accomplished my goal and did everything “on the floor” without going out of bounds. So, generally, I am happy, this medal brings the most joy. But, on the other hand, I had a gold medal on floor before but never had medals on pommel horse or rings. Rings are an especially happy moment because I decided to upgrade during the routine, managed to do it and here’s the medal.
Q: Yesterday, you said that you wouldn’t go to sleep until 1 am because of the recovery treatments. Is your today’s condition as you expected or worse?
A: The condition becomes worse with every day of the competition and I expected that. When I came to the arena today, I knew from how I felt that the day would be very hard. And, of course, this whole situation was expected. Yesterday, I couldn’t fall asleep. I don’t know how to explain it. There are moments when you really want to sleep and if you miss those moments, you’ll have a hard time falling asleep later. I really wanted to sleep but still went to get treatments, got a massage, and did physical therapy, and so I missed that moment [for falling asleep]. And then it felt like the new day started. But it’s ok, we have to compete in any kind of conditions and it’s also an experience.
Q: You have two more finals tomorrow. Do you have any energy left?
A: I didn’t have any energy left today either. But it’s one thing what we feel and it’s another thing what ends up in the result lists. I understand that my physical condition is poor but I won’t go and say: “I don’t have any energy, I won’t be doing anything.” If I need to do it, I’ll do it.
Photo: Elena Mikhaylova, Russian Artistic Gymnastics Federation
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