The year following the Olympic Games is always exciting, as it brings a wave of fresh talent to the forefront — and the 2025 European Championship in Leipzig, Germany was no exception. As the first major international event of the new Olympic cycle, it gave us an early glimpse of what Europe has to offer as we shift our focus to LA 2028.
Here are 10 moments that stood out to us from the 2025 European Championships!
Historic Finish for Team Germany at Home
In Monday’s team final, Germany delivered a historic performance, earning the silver medal — its highest team finish ever at the European Championships. The young German squad was led by rising star and 2023 junior worlds silver medalist, Helen Kevric, who posted the highest score of the day on uneven bars with a 14.766. Unfortunately, just two days later, Kevric suffered a knee injury on vault during the all-around final and was forced to withdraw from the uneven bars final. Nonetheless, we were proud of this young and inexperienced German team for handling the pressure in front of a home crowd and getting the job done in a meet where they weren’t necessarily favored to win a medal. Prior to this competition, Germany’s best team result at the European Championships was a bronze in 2022. Meanwhile, Italy, the reigning champions, successfully defended its title, and France bounced back from a disappointing showing at the 2024 Paris Olympics to secure the bronze!
The return of Denisa Golgota
Denisa Golgota of Romania made a powerful statement in her return to major international competition, helping lead her team to a 4th place finish, in addition to placing 7th in the all-around final and 8th in the beam final. Golgota retired back in 2020 after Romania missed qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. Now, more than five years later and at the age of 23, she’s back — and looking better than ever. Her tumbling on floor was both powerful and precise, her beam work stood out as some of the cleanest in the field, and she competed with a lightness and confidence that made it hard to believe she’s only been in the gym for six months. But perhaps what stood out most was the joy that radiated from Golgota — both on the sidelines as she cheered on her teammates and when she took the floor to compete. We’re happy to see Golgota back out there enjoying the sport once again and already having success early on! Sidenote: this Romanian leo from the Team Final is serving Nadia 1976 and we’re obsessed.
The Addition of Mixed Pairs
There were definitely mixed opinions about the Mixed Pairs competition, which made its debut here in Leipzig! If you’re not familiar with the format, here’s how it worked:
Using the results from qualifications, the top-ranked gymnasts on vault, beam, and floor for the women — and on parallel bars, high bar, and floor for the men — came together to form a mixed team (16 teams total). In Round 1 of the Mixed Pairs Final, each team member competed one routine of their choice. From there, the top eight advanced to Round 2 to perform a second routine of their choosing (other than the event they competed in Round 1) to determine who would advance to the medal rounds and what color medal they would be fighting for. After Round 2, the third and fourth place teams competed on the remaining event for the bronze medal in Round 3, while the top two teams fought for gold in Round 4.
Since teams could choose which routines to perform and in what order, strategy played a big role. Do you lead with your strongest event to secure a spot in the next round, or save it for the final push? In the end, strategy did impact the medals as we saw a team like Italy, who finished third, but could have contended for the gold had Manila Esposito done her “weakest” event (vault) in the first round and saved her strongest events (beam and floor) to secure a spot in the gold medal match and ultimately win the gold medal. In the end, Esposito’s floor score (13.766) from Round 1, combined with her vault in Round 2 (13.466), was not enough to push Italy through to the gold medal match, despite having some of the strongest performances of the day.
Honestly, this competition was a lot of fun! The format gave athletes who might not usually make a final another chance to compete — and even go for a medal. The final round kept everyone on the edge of their seats because scores from the previous rounds did not carry over — it truly felt like anyone’s game, which added an element of excitement that we don’t always see in competition. Our only gripe? The limited event selection leaves out gymnasts who shine on apparatuses like uneven bars. We’d love to see future editions open up all events and give federations the flexibility to nominate one WAG and one MAG athlete based on the three events they feel are their strengths.
Germany (Karina Schönmaier and Timo Eder) won the gold in the inaugural event. Great Britain (Ruby Evans and Jake Jarman) took silver. Italy (Manila Esposito and Lorenzo Minh Casali) brought home the bronze.
Manila Esposito Defends Her All Around Title
On Thursday, reigning European all-around champion Manila Esposito defended her crown and made history in the process – becoming the first woman to win back-to-back all-around crowns in more than two decades. She did so in dominating fashion, posting the highest score of the entire competition with a 14.333 on beam, as well as the highest score on bars (13.566) and floor (13.666) respectively. In the end she was undeniable, finishing .466 ahead of Spain’s Alba Petisco while Romania’s Ana Barbosu took home the bronze.
Alba Petisco Makes History
Coming into the European Championships, few (if any) expected to see Spain’s Alba Petisco vying for the all-around podium but she had the meet of her life – literally! Petisco posted a 53.265 which was the highest all-around score she’s ever received in international competition. Not only was this Petisco’s first medal at a European Championship, it was also the first all-around medal for Spain in its history. She went on to win a bronze in the floor final, highlighted by a beautiful upgraded Chuso first pass.
NCAA Era
We saw six current or future NCAA athletes competing in Germany last week – Ana Barbosu (Stanford ‘25), Lilia Cosman (Michigan State ‘25), Kaia Tanskanen (Mizzou), Jennifer Williams (Stanford ‘25), Derin Tanriyasukur (Bama ‘25), and Rebecca Mitchell (Alaska ‘25). It’s exciting to see the interest in NCAA gymnastics continuing to grow on the international stage and we can’t help but wonder who could be next?
Jennifer Williams is Brilliant on Beam!
Although the beam final didn’t go her way, Jennifer Williams still has one of the best beam routines in the world! She qualified into the beam final in first place with arguably the best routine she’s ever done. The routine featured five tenths in difficulty over her competitors (6.4D) and was executed with the precision and fluidity that every athlete strives for, but so few achieve. Consistency hasn’t been one of Williams trademark qualities, but this is a routine that if she hits, will be in contention for the podium at the World Championships later this year.
Schönmaier The Rising Star
Karina Schönmaier was the star of the German team at these championships – taking home, silver with the team and gold in the Mixed Team Final as well as on vault. Schönmaier has often been in the shadows of her teammates, but in Leipzig she made a name for herself. (She didn’t even have a Wikipedia page before this competition!) But Schönmaier is definitely a name you’ll want to remember in the coming years. She vaults a DTY and a Lopez that look very upgradeable, and she shows a ton of promise on the other events as well.
Ana Barbosu Brilliancy
Ana Barbosu had quite the showing at this European Championships. She arrived without a single continental medal to her name — and left with four. Barbosu took home bronze in the all-around, silver on beam, and gold on floor. But perhaps the biggest surprise was her bronze on uneven bars — an event she was originally a reserve for. With that qualification, Barbosu became the first Romanian gymnast since Larisa Iordache to make all four apparatus finals at the European Championships. Her bronze on bars also marked the first European medal for a Romanian on that event since Steliana Nistor won silver in 2008. Barbosu has faced her fair share of challenges, particularly in the aftermath of the bronze medal controversy involving her and U.S. star Jordan Chiles in the floor final at the 2024 Paris Olympics. It’s genuinely beautiful to see her now competing with renewed confidence and joy — and to watch that energy translate into her results.
Nina Derwael is Golden
Nina Derwael couldn’t have asked for a better European Championship! The favorite to win the uneven bar title after top qualifier Helen Kevric (GER) withdrew, Derwael was unstoppable on her best event. But perhaps the bigger surprise was her title on the balance beam, an event that featured Olympic bronze medalist on the beam Manila Esposito and the top qualifier Jennifer Williams. Unfortunate mistakes from both Esposito and Williams made the gold anyone’s to grab and Derwael took full advantage of the moment! Her artistry, precision, and attention to detail really shined through in her performance as she earned the fourth European title of her career and her first on beam.