Israel's Artem Dolgopyat takes silver at European Gymnastics Championships

World number two manages to snatch second place despite penalty for stepping off the mat during his floor exercise in Glasgow

Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat overcame a mistake in his floor routine to take the silver medal at the European Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow on Sunday.

Dolgopyat scored 14.466 for his routine, which included a penalty as he stepped off the mat in one of his landings. He was beaten to the gold by Britain’s Dominick Cunningham.

The 21-year-old Ukrainian-born Dolgopyat won silver at last year’s World Championships in Montreal for his floor exercise. He was seen being comforted by his coach and clearly disappointed with himself for picking up the penalty in his performance in Scotland.

“I didn’t do my best, and I thought it would not be enough for a medal, because I made a mistake and wasn’t sure if I would earn a medal or not,” Dolgopyat told Hadashot news immediately after the results were announced.

“When I saw it was enough for second place I was very happy, but on the other hand also a bit upset because I felt I couldn’t have won gold,” he said. “On the other hand silver is also a good achievement for me.”

מדליית כסף לארטיום דולגופיאט בגמר אליפות אירופה בהתעמלות מכשירים. ארטיום דולגופיאט הוא סגן אלוף אירופה בתרגיל הקרקע אחרי שזכה בציון 14.466. אלכס שטילוב סיים חמישי עם 14.233
Posted by ‎איגוד ההתעמלות בישראל Israel Gymnastics‎ on Sunday, 12 August 2018

The result won Dolgopyat a grant of NIS 28,000 ($7,500) awarded jointly by the Israel Olympic Committee, the Culture and Sports Ministry and the Sports Betting Council.

Dolgopyat was twice Ukrainian national champion in his age group before immigrating to Israel with his family in 2009, aged 12.