Illia Kovtun

In the first Top 12 match for the men this season, Illia Kovtun kicked off his year on a high note, putting up the top score on every apparatus in his match to lead Franconville to a massive victory.

Kovtun is currently in limbo internationally as he stopped representing Ukraine in 2024 with the hopes to begin competing for Croatia going forward. But while he wasn’t able to compete at meets like the world or continental championships last year, he was a regular on the league circuit throughout Europe, appearing at various Top 12, Bundesliga, and Italian Serie A meets in addition to sweeping Croatia’s national championships. It seems until he is officially able to go through with a change-of-nation request, the league meets will be how he continues to get experience and stay in competition shape.

On Saturday, he was one of a handful of athletes who competed on all six apparatuses, and while most of the higher-level athletes started their seasons with lower-than-usual difficulty, Kovtun seemed to be pretty close to top shape across the board. His scores of 14.200 on floor, 13.900 on pommel horse, 13.133 on rings, 14.066 on vault, 14.366 on parallel bars, and 13.233 on high bar were the best in the match between Franconville and Elbeuf. Though this isn’t a competition that acknowledges all-around achievements, he ended up totaling an 82.898, making for a pretty solid start to his season.

Franconville ended up earning a total of 64 points after winning a majority of the duels, though Elbeuf – newly elevated to the top league this season – did get a few wins, including Justin Labro on rings and vault, and Italian guest competitor Lorenzo Galli on high bar, earning a total of 36 points.

The competition between Monaco and Sotteville-Les-Rouen was pretty tight on most apparatuses, though Monaco was able to get the edge thanks to floor, parallel bars, and high bar, losing just one duel per apparatus in these rounds to score 55 points to Sotteville’s 44.

Karim Mangala-Bima of Monaco led floor with a 12.966, the Armenian Hamlet Manukyan had a miss on pommels but still put up the highest score here with a 12.933 for Sotteville, British guest Courtney Tulloch led rings with a 13.633, vault with a 14.500, and parallel bars with a 12.933 for Monaco, and Spanish guest Joel Plata, also representing Monaco, had the top high bar score of 12.066. World champion Artur Davtyan of Armenia also represented Sotteville, but he came in with pretty low difficulty across his four apparatuses, with a 13.666 on vault his best outing.

Noisy-Le-Grand and Ouliins were also pretty close for about half of the meet, but Noisy’s work on floor, rings, and vault gave them the push to a 57 point win ahead of Oullins with 42 points.

Maxence Albarracin of Oullins had the top floor score of this match with a 12.466, Timothé Geoffroy of Noisy was best on pommels with a 12.166, Sébastien Lambert of Noisy led rings with a 12.600, Benjamin Thiriot of Noisy led vault with a 13.833, and Dutch guest Jermain Grünberg was strongest on parallel bars with a 13.500 and on high bar with a 12.866 for Oullins.

Finally, Bourges earned 56 points to defeat Kingersheim, which earned 43 points. Kingersheim had a strong outing on rings, but otherwise they were unable to match the strength of Bourges, which had especially strong rotations on vault and high bar.

Valentin Le Pivert led floor with a 13.466 for Bourges, Elias Breche and Mamikon Khachatryan of Armenia both earned scores of 14.100 on pommel horse to pick up points for Kingersheim, Armenian guest Artur Avetisyan was best on rings with a 14.033 for Kingersheim, Ukraine’s Nazar Chepurnyi had the top score of the match on vault with a 14.800 for Bourges, Dutch guest Casimir Schmidt put up a 13.233 on parallel bars to lead there for Bourges, and Italian guest Nicolò Mozzato had the top high bar score of the match with a 13.400 for Bourges.

The next Top 12 meet will take place on February 14, where Monaco will face reigning champions Vallauris, Elbeuf will face La Madeleine, Oullins will face Antibes, and Kingersheim will face Orléans.

Article by Lauren Hopkins