European Championships 2025:
Italy Retains Continental Crown

European Championships 2025: After Paris, More for Italy's Record Books

Fresh off their historic breakthrough at Paris 2024, where Italy won its first-ever women’s team Olympic medal, the Italian women added more to the record books in Leipzig by defending their European crown. The squad reunited Paris team silver medalists Manila Esposito, Italy’s first Olympic balance beam bronze medalist, and Alice D’Amato, Italy’s first women’s artistic gymnastics Olympic champion with her beam gold. Anchored by Paris Olympians, Italy’s lineup included Sofia Tonelli, a member of the 2024 European championship team, along with first-year seniors Giulia Perotti and Emma Fioravanti. Together they carried Italy to 161.930, ahead of Germany (158.396) and France (156.728). The margin came from Italy’s superior execution on beam and floor, where the team gained more than 3.5 points over Germany.

Italy's Winning Formula

Italy’s 161.930 was built on event-best totals on beam (40.999) and floor (39.933), a tie with Germany on vault (40.599), and near-parity on bars (40.399 vs 40.465). Under the 3-up/3-count format, every hit mattered. D’Amato’s 14.000 led the vault rotation, while Tonelli (13.366) and Fioravanti (13.233) added clean sets. On bars, Esposito (13.666), Tonelli (13.400) and Perotti (13.333) combined for a total nearly equal to Germany. Beam proved decisive: Esposito’s 14.300, Tonelli’s 13.566 and D’Amato’s 13.133 pushed Italy 1.866 ahead of Germany. On floor, Esposito (13.800), Fioravanti (13.133) and Tonelli (13.000) widened the gap by another 1.734. Italy’s edge came not from higher difficulty totals, but from steadier execution across all counted routines.

Germany’s 158.396 silver energized the Leipzig crowd and marked their best European finish in years. Helen Kevric anchored the team with a 14.766 on bars (6.4 D / 8.366 E), supported by Janoah Mueller, Lea Marie Quaas, Karina Schoenmaier and Silja Stoehr. Their scoring kept pressure on Italy, particularly on vault and bars, before execution deductions on beam and floor widened the final margin.

Esposito’s Historic Win

Manila Esposito’s all-around title (54.965) made her the first woman to win consecutive European all-around championships since Svetlana Khorkina between 1998 and 2002. Esposito was consistent across all four events, highlighted by her 13.700 floor exercise and 14.300 beam, results that matched her Olympic reputation as Italy’s most reliable all-arounder.

Spain’s Alba Petisco secured silver with 53.265, the country’s first European all-around medal. Her scores included a 13.600 on floor that confirmed her rising international profile. Romania’s Ana Barbosu earned bronze with 52.299, extending her record of consistency on the continental stage.

Event Finals

The event finals further clarified continental strengths. Belgium’s Nina Derwael, the 2020 Olympic uneven bars champion who missed Paris due to injury, returned to win both uneven bars (14.466) with the highest D-score of the competition (6.3) and balance beam (14.033). Germany’s Karina Schoenmaier delivered vault gold (13.983) before the home crowd, while Manila Esposito added floor gold (13.700) to her medal haul and Petisco continued her breakthrough with bronze (13.200). These results highlighted a competitive balance across nations and underlined how execution margins now often decide podium positions.

Implications

The 2025 European Championships established clear benchmarks heading into the World Championships cycle. For Italy, a second straight team title confirms depth behind their Olympic medalists and validates the integration of first-year seniors Perotti and Fioravanti. Germany’s silver showed upward trajectory, while Spain’s first all-around medal confirmed new competitive depth. Belgium, Romania and others added to the medal spread, signaling that European women’s gymnastics remains tightly contested and that podiums will be decided as much by consistency and execution as by difficulty totals.