Great Britain's men win silver at European Gymnastics Championships in Bern
Saturday 28 May 2016 21:40, UK
Great Britain's men had to settle for silver at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Switzerland on Saturday.
The GB team, made up of Nile Wilson, Dan Purvis, Kristian Thomas, Courtney Tulloch and Louis Smith, recorded a score of 268.427 in Bern.
However, that proved not enough as title holders Russia defended their crown with a score of 271.378, while hosts Switzerland delighted the locals with third.
Despite finishing second, Smith believed the British team can use their second place as motivation heading towards the Olympics in Brazil.
Former Sky Academy Sports Scholar Smith said: "It's incredible and means a lot to me personally to have won the silver medal with these guys.
"For us to have completed 18 clean routines in qualifying and the final shows we are on track. This is very much a build-up event to Rio and we all still have more to give which is a huge positive."
"We did 18 clean routines and we're not at full capacity yet. We're eight weeks from Rio so I think we're doing fantastically well."
All five of the British men's team will compete for individual medals on Sunday, with world pommel champion Max Whitlock absent due to illness.
