´óÏó´«Ã½

Rhys McClenaghan warmed up for the European Championships next week by claiming a bronze medal in the pommel horse final at the Apparatus World Cup in Doha.

The double world champion has been working on a new routine with the Paris Olympics in mind so a score of 15.233 is a step in the right direction.

In his only other World Cup appearance of the season in Baku in March, the Ards gymnast failed to make the final.

However the high standard of the podium finishers is a reminder that McClenaghan will have to be at his very best to add an Olympic title to his World, European and Commonwealth titles this summer.

The gold went to Ahmad Abu Al Soud from Jordan with a score of 15.500 just ahead of Tokyo Olympic silver medallist Chih Kai Lee of Taipei who managed an impressive 15.400.

Al Soud won silver behind McClenaghan at the 2022 World Championships in Liverpool and bronze behind the Irish competitor at the following year's Worlds in Antwerp.

McClenaghan heads to Rimini where he will look to defend the European championship and if he succeeds it would be his third continental title.

One gymnast he will not face will be double Olympic pommel horse champion Max Whitlock who has been forced to pull out because of a wrist injury.

With no other competitions scheduled it now looks like McClenaghan and Whitlock will not face each other until Paris but as the World Cup circuit has proved there are others who fancy their chances of Olympic glory.