Israeli Gymnast Dolgopyat Wins Third European Floor Title, Eyes World Championships

The Israeli men's artistic gymnastics team returned to Israel early Tuesday morning after competing at the European Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. Leading the team was Artur Dolgopyat, who secured his third career European title in the floor exercise. Fellow gymnast Ron Fiatov narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth in the parallel bars final. The team placed tenth overall, achieving the group qualification standard for the upcoming World Championships in the Netherlands in about six weeks.

After landing, Dolgopyat expressed surprise and excitement over his victory, saying, "When I realized I won, it felt like the first time. I was very surprised, maybe because of the preliminaries. It’s very emotional to return with a title. We have the World Championships soon, so there’s no time to rest. I forget I have all these medals; I come with new hunger and a new goal to perform well, and that’s the most exciting thing."

National coach Sergei Weisburg summarized the team's performance positively, noting that all objectives were met both individually and as a team. He emphasized that the World Championships are not the ultimate goal but an opportunity to test younger gymnasts and build the team for next year. He expressed confidence in Dolgopyat’s global standing and stressed the importance of maintaining health going forward.