Participating at his first senior international event, Team GB gymnast Brinn Bevan secured a respectable 14th-placed finish in the men's artistic individual all-around final at the European Games in Baku on Thursday.
The 18-year-old enjoyed success on the floor, pommel horse, vault and parallel bars, but low scores on the rings and high bars saw him slip down the results table.
Sports Mole caught up with the teenager afterwards to find out what he thought of his performance against a tough field.
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What's your initial reaction following a largely positive display in the final?
"It was a great experience, being out there with the more experienced gymnasts and the bigger names. Today wasn't one of my best competitions but it was a big step in the right direction. Today my idols became my rivals so it was a great experience to be there but behind them."
Looking more closely at your performance, what were you pleased with?
"I tried a couple of new things, I bettered my floor [routine] from qualification, floor was a bit wobbly, rings were a bit better but I had an unlucky fall on my dismount, vault's still new to me and I landed that pretty well so I'm really happy with that. Parallel bars - I tried a new dismount and landed it and got a pretty high score and I just had a bit of an unlucky fall on the high bars."
You fell off the high bars twice at the end, but showed great mental toughness to get back on. What was going through your mind at that time?
"The crowd was really supportive and the other gymnasts were clapping for me to get back on the high bar. I was a bit dazed from the first fall because I hit the floor pretty hard, but to finish the competition off alongside those big gymnasts... they were so friendly, and with me being new to the scene, they made me feel welcome."
Jack Prescott
