Two years after hoovering up all the gold, Rhys McClenaghan confronts more modest targets

These are unexpectedly testing times in the career of Rhys McClenaghan. It’s just over two years since he became the first gymnast in history to simultaneously hold the Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth titles on a single apparatus. In recent months, however, his fall from the pommel horse podium has been irrefutably swift.When McClenaghan won his Olympic gold at the 2024 Games in Paris – his last podium appearance – his score of 15.333 not only placed him well above all of his rivals, it also suggested his dominance might well continue all the way through to Los Angeles in 2028.Now, by his own frank admission, there’s no guarantee McClenaghan will even qualify for LA. He’ll turn 29 during the first week of those Games, certainly not ancient by elite gymnastics standards, but at last week’s World Championships in Rotterdam he missed out on the eight-man final (placing 10th overall), then watched his increasingly younger rivals score significantly higher than his best.At the European Championships in August, he placed seventh, having also surrendered his Commonwealth Games title in July, finishing sixth. Having missed all of last year due to shoulder surgery, his event has unquestionably moved into a higher realm of speed, agility and brute strength.READ MORE“The pommel horse standard is probably at an all-time high, if I’m honest,” he says. “The rule changes, the scoring system, these are all contributing factors to the standard being really high. And also just the gymnasts are good, there’s the simple fact of that. “I’m the current Olympic champion, I should remember. I understand how fragile the results in this sport can be. One small mistake is the difference, but that one small mistake shouldn’t really define you. “It would be naive of me to say I’m entirely not concerned about these results. I was coming into 2026 wanting to get major titles, major medals, and that didn’t happen. At the same time, it can’t define how I look at 2026. So, catastrophising these results would not benefit me in any way. I’m only seeing the positives, only seeing the pathway to becoming the best in the world again.”Rhys McClenaghan representing Ireland in the pommel horse at the 2026 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Photograph: Filippo Tomasi/Sportsfile Indeed, if McClenaghan is worried about his fall in the pommel horse rankings, it’s not evident in his demeanour. Sitting in the library of a Dublin hotel on Tuesday morning (the interview pre-arranged by his sponsors Red Bull in advance of last week’s World Championships), the Down gymnast is also clear about what he must do to get back onto the podium.In the pommel horse final last Saturday, two Armenians, Hamlet Manukyan and Mamikon Khachatryan, both 19, won gold and bronze, scoring 15.300 and 15.233, with 20-year-old Italian Gabriele Targhetta winning silver on a score of 15.000. McClenaghan’s qualifying score was 14.400.At the start of every Olympic cycle, World Gymnastics introduces a new code of points (which means McClenaghan’s Paris score is redundant for comparison purposes). The number of skills tested has dropped from 10 to eight, with electronic scoring also being used in finals for the first time.“The rule changes mean people don’t need those two high-valued skills anymore, which I would be very good at, so it brings the competition very close together. The judging system, in the finals, they’re not putting pen to paper, they’re using almost like a remote controller to tap when the deductions are. It’s probably a good thing. It makes the judging more accurate, less subjective, I guess.“I also think the rule changes really lent themselves to the younger generation, easily transitioning from junior to senior. But I’m never one to complain about the rules being changed. I think it makes the sport more exciting, it’s just the younger guys taking advantage of those new rules.”In the aftermath of McClenaghan’s performance in Rotterdam, one of the comments under his own Instagram post was made by veteran pommel horse specialist Filip Ude from Croatia, who won Olympic silver in 2008. Ude, who still competes at age 40, suggested McClenaghan was past his best and needed to “let it go” as the younger generation take over. Ude later apologised, saying his comment “came out wrong”.“He’s almost a representative of the negative outlook on my career at the minute,” says McClenaghan, not entirely willing to forgive. “But the amount of positive support and encouraging words have been outweighing those negative comments. Those scores I’m getting, even if I’m not happy, they’re still information for me to steer my gymnastics in the right way.”For as long as McClenaghan can remember, he’s been chasing perfection. If Paris was as close as it gets, he’s had tough times before, particularly when his hopes of making the Olympic podium in Tokyo ended after 10 seconds, when he fell chest-first onto the horse, ending up seventh.“Every difficult part of my career is unique in a sense, whether that’s injury, mental challenges. Throughout the year, I’ve changed my routine three times, so it’s figuring out this jigsaw puzzle of a routine. Hopefully I’m just putting the pieces in the right places, having the finished product for the LA Olympics.”Rhys McClenaghan, who is sponsored by Red Bull, training at Origin Gymnastics, Newtownards, Co Down. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho His LA qualification may well be decided at the 2027 World Championships, set for Chengdu in China next September. “It might be the case, like in 2023, [when] I had to be a world champion to qualify for the Olympic Games. Which is crazy. “It’s that constant balance, constantly figuring out, almost constantly doubting yourself, but in a productive way. Can I perform the routine better or do I need to change it again? That’s the question I’m always asking myself and hopefully I’ll have it figured out when it matters.”