Australia Wins Bronze in Men's Artistic Gymnastics at Glasgow Games, Avoiding Repeat of 2022 Heartbreak

Australian gymnast Jesse Moore had a sinking feeling in his stomach: he had seen this movie before. Four years ago at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the nation's best male artistic gymnasts fell agonisingly short of bronze by 0.650 points after slipping at the death to Cyprus. Fast forward to Glasgow and Australia found themselves in a similar position when hosts Scotland mounted a late challenge en route to the final of six apparatuses. With just one point the difference in the men's final at Glasgow International Stadium, Australia's five-man squad withstood the raucous home crowd and proved their mettle on the pommel horse to avoid history repeating.

Bolstered by a strong start on rings and horizontal bar, Australia clinched bronze with a combined score of 235.650 points. A near-flawless Canada team won gold (241.400 points), pipping 2022 Birmingham champions England by 3.150 points. Australia's men won their first team medal since their maiden gold at the 2010 Delhi Games, doing so with four debutants in the five-man squad. Paris Olympian Moore was the only Australian man to have experience on the Games stage, leading Ritam Malik, James Hardy, Ben Foster and Tru Hagens.

Moore, 23, laughed when asked if his mind went back to the 2022 Games. "You always have that in the back of your mind," Moore said. "But we have got a job to do. The game's not over yet. "The way we finished on pommel is pretty extraordinary. It shows how well we've come over the past few years. "It's a bit weird being one of the oldest and most experienced on the team. I'm proud to be that in this team. "We're certainly on track, only upwards from here. "We can all feel it and people back home can feel it as well."

Moore notched Australia's second-best score (13.300) on the apparatus behind Malik (13.500), while 19-year-old Hagens was awarded 13.100 points despite falling. Pommel horse specialist Hagens had waited through the nearly four-hour final for his only apparatus. Hagens started his 40-second cameo just as Scotland began their last-ditch effort for the podium on the horizontal bar. Cameron Lynn (13.500) and Reuben Ward (13.150) matched it with the Australians, but crowd favourite Hamish Carter scored 12.900 points.

"I was pretty nervous," Hagens said. "Not the outcome I wanted, but it was good to get up there, finish it off for the team, to get up a score we needed to get the medal."

A horrific injury to English gymnast Gabriel Langton put a damper on the final. Langton had to be stretchered from the Glasgow International Arena after falling from the horizontal bar and landing on his head and neck, resulting in a 15-minute pause in competition. The 19-year-old lay motionless on the ground for several minutes, but gave a thumbs up as he left the arena.