Olympics 2024: Ukrainian gymnast Illia Kovtun wins silver medal
Photo: Illia Kovtun won the first Olympic medal of his career (Getty Images)
Ukrainian gymnast Illia Kovtun finished in second place in the Olympic parallel bars competition.
The 20-year-old sportsman scored 15.500 points. He was only beaten by the Chinese gymnast Zou Jingyuan, who was unreachable for everyone with a score of 16.200 points.
Kovtun earned 7.000 points for the difficulty and 8.500 points for execution. On the other hand, Jingyuan lagged in difficulty (6.900) but made up for the small deficit with outstanding execution (9.300). The podium was completed by Japanese gymnast Shinnosuke Oka (15.300 points).
Ukrainian athlete Oleg Verniaiev made an error during his routine and finished in 8th place. The experienced gymnast scored only 13.300 points. He won gold in this discipline at the 2016 Olympics.
Olympics 2024, Artistic Gymnastics, Parallel Bars, Men:
1. Zou Jingyuan (China) – 16.200
2. Illia Kovtun (Ukraine) – 15.500
3. Shinnosuke Oka (Japan) – 15.300
...8. Oleg Verniaiev (Ukraine) – 13.300
For Kovtun, the silver medal in Paris was the first Olympic medal of his career. At the 2024 Olympics, he previously finished fourth twice – in the individual all-around and the floor exercise.
