Louth pair shine bright at European Youth Olympic Festival in baking Skopje heat
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Estella Volkoff and Rian McCrystal did themselves, the country and the Dundalk area proud with their performances in last week's European Youth Olympic Festival in Skopje, North Macedonia.
Carlingford-based Estella was in the Irish gymnastics team in the Girls' All Around competition, and following the four apparatus events she finished with a total score of 45.300. Her final position overall was yet to be confirmed, but she and fellow Irish gymnast Roisin Hickey combined for 10th place in the team competition.
The EYOF has served as a valuable springboard for many of Ireland's top gymnasts, including Olympic champion Rhys McClenaghanand 14-year-old Estella, who competes for DP Gymnastics Club, was pleased with her performance.
She scored 10.45 in the uneven bars, 12.1 on the beam, 11.2 in the floor routine and 11.55 in the vault, and afterwards she said: 'I feel like my vault and my bars were very clean. I'm very happy with my floor because I put in a double tap for the first time in an international competition. I'm also very pleased with my beam.'
'I was happiest with the beam. I really love the beam, even though this routine wasn't the best.'
Rian McCrystal, nephew of Paralympic champion Eve McCrystal, represented his country in cycling's 10km out-and-back time trial, held in temperatures that reached 40 degrees at one stage, and he performed very strongly to finish 35th in a time of 13:19.696.
Team Ireland enjoyed significant success at the Festival, winning six medals, with a number of national records and personal bests also broken.
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