In the end, it came down to just a couple of points. Forget the gold, Team Great Britain couldn’t even secure a podium this time at the European Championship as the Women’s gymnastics team failed to meet expectations. And Becky Downie is not happy with letting the fans down.
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“So difficult to find the words for this past week,” wrote the 3-time Olympian while talking to her supporters. “Leading into Zagreb, I was prepared… feeling unable to do my job properly has been heartbreaking… Thank you to everyone who has sent such lovely messages of support.”
Great Britain finished 4th at the European Championships, missing the bronze medal by only 1.499 points. The result was painful because Britain had qualified 3rd with a strong 160.795 score. They ultimately finished behind World Gymnastics 2, Italy and France after scoring 157.764.
For Becky Downie, the disappointment turned into pain because she withdrew from the team final despite arriving with high hopes.
Downie had planned to compete in 3 events before the decision to withdraw changed the final lineup for Britain. She struggled during warm-up and eventually decided she could not perform her role to the fullest.
“I know how much impact a decision like that can have on a team,” Downie admitted. The 34-year-old stressed that her withdrawal was not due to any injury. Instead, it was several factors that she saw were going to hold back her team from a medal.
She explained that competing at 34 presents new challenges and the team is still continuing to cope with it. With the World Championships approaching, managing those challenges is now the most important thing. The decision was difficult, especially because Britain entered the final with a genuine chance of standing on the podium.
But now, Britain needed to perform without one of their most experienced gymnasts. Still, Britain had plenty of quality to back up Downie and lead the team to a podium.
Abi Martin had won bronze at the World Championship in 2025, and Ruby Evans had won a silver in 2025. Alia Leat had also produced 13.966 on beam during qualifying, finishing 2nd before the final. Yet the decisive competition brought costly mistakes that Britain could not overcome.
Evans fell on bars, while Leat struggled with her final floor landing during a difficult rotation.
Britain still produced some outstanding moments despite those setbacks in the team final. Leat scored 14.166 on beam, while Evans finished strongly with a 14.100 vault. However, those performances were not enough to recover the points they had lost from the mistakes, and it handed France an advantage. And that advantage proved to be the difference.
Downie later praised her teammates for stepping up, calling them fighters despite not getting on the podium. “I couldn’t be more proud of this team,” she said, even after Britain missed another European podium.