Hamlet Manukyan to Compete at European Championships as a Serviceman

18-year-old Armenian gymnast Hamlet Manukyan, the reigning European champion on pommel horse, has travelled to the final training camp ahead of the 2026 European Championships already in the status of a serviceman. On August 1, the athlete took the military oath before joining the Armenian national team and travelling with the squad to Croatia. The Armenian gymnasts are now completing their preparations in Osijek and will compete at the European Championships in Zagreb from August 19 to 23.

From the military oath to a training camp in Croatia

Manukyan has been completing his compulsory military service in a sports company since July 22. According to Hakob Serobyan, head coach of the Armenian artistic gymnastics team, military service has not prevented the reigning European champion from preparing fully for one of the most important competitions of the season.

According to Serobyan, Manukyan has missed only two days of training since beginning his military service. The athlete received the necessary permissions, travelled from his military unit to the gym, completed full training sessions and then returned to the unit. Serobyan also separately thanked sports company commander Arman Davtyan for assisting with the gymnast’s preparations.

Hamlet Manukyan took the military oath on August 1, and that same evening he joined the national team ahead of the trip to Croatia. Issues with his documents were also resolved: according to the head coach, Armenia’s Ministry of Defence assisted with obtaining the passport and visa required for the athlete to travel to the training camp and the European Championships.

The Armenian national team is holding the final two-week stage of its preparations in Osijek, Croatia, at a gym that hosts World Cup events. The team will travel from Osijek to Zagreb on August 16. Serobyan described the gymnasts’ condition as good and said the team is approaching the European Championships in a “fighting mood.”

Why Armenia decided against competing in the team event

Despite having a strong squad, the Armenian national team does not plan to compete in the team standings and will instead focus on individual apparatus.

One of the main reasons was the result of the draw. Armenia begins qualification on still rings, followed by vault, horizontal bar, parallel bars and floor exercise, with pommel horse coming only as the final apparatus. It is precisely on pommel horse that Armenia has several strong specialists at once: Hamlet Manukyan, Mamikon Khachatryan and Gagik Khachikyan.

The coaching staff decided not to make the athletes take on additional workload or wait for a long time before competing on their specialist apparatus. Another consideration was the risk of injury. According to Serobyan, the coaches are particularly careful with the workload of 34-year-old Artur Davtyan: competing on all six apparatus ahead of the most important events of the season would represent an additional risk. At present, none of the Armenian gymnasts have injuries that would prevent them from competing.

In addition, opting out of the team competition does not affect Armenia’s plans for the World Championships. As the head coach noted, Armenian gymnasts have already secured four berths through World Cup events: Artur Avetisyan on still rings, Hamlet Manukyan and Mamikon Khachatryan on pommel horse, and Artur Davtyan on vault and still rings.

Armenia’s squad for the 2026 European Championships

The current European Gymnastics entry list confirms six Armenian senior gymnasts and one junior.

• Artur Davtyan — vault;
• Vahagn Davtyan — still rings;
• Artur Avetisyan — still rings;
• Hamlet Manukyan — pommel horse;
• Mamikon Khachatryan — pommel horse;
• Gagik Khachikyan — pommel horse;
• Arman Ghukasyan — junior competition.

Armenia will therefore be particularly strongly represented on pommel horse, an apparatus on which Armenian gymnasts have regularly challenged for medals at major international competitions in recent years.

When Armenia will compete in Zagreb

The Men’s European Artistic Gymnastics Championships will take place at Arena Zagreb from August 19 to 23, 2026. It will be the first time the Croatian capital has hosted the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

Armenia’s senior team has been drawn in the second qualification subdivision on August 19, which, according to the official schedule, will run from 14:00 to 17:30 local time. Junior Arman Ghukasyan will take to the competition floor on August 20 in the first qualification subdivision. The senior apparatus finals are scheduled for August 21 and 22.

Manukyan heads to Zagreb to defend his European title

For Hamlet Manukyan, the tournament in Croatia will be a title defence. At the 2025 European Championships in Leipzig, the young Armenian gymnast won the pommel horse final with a score of 14.766. His national team teammate Mamikon Khachatryan finished second with 14.733.

Armenia ended last year’s European Championships with four individual medals. In addition to Manukyan’s gold and Khachatryan’s silver on pommel horse, Artur Davtyan became European champion on vault, while Artur Avetisyan won bronze on still rings. Armenia’s final medal tally was two golds, one silver and one bronze.

Competition on pommel horse in Zagreb is expected to be particularly intense. European Gymnastics has highlighted the return of Olympic champion Rhys McClenaghan, who is set to face reigning European champion Manukyan and 2025 European silver medallist Khachatryan.

Armenia’s squad also includes two reigning European champions — Hamlet Manukyan and Artur Davtyan. Head coach Hakob Serobyan is avoiding bold predictions, noting that in artistic gymnastics the fate of a medal can be decided by a single mistake or even one tenth of a point. The main objective, he says, is for the athletes to reproduce in competition what they demonstrate in training.

The Code of Points already includes an element named “Manukyan”

Despite his young age, Hamlet Manukyan has already managed to leave his name not only on the list of European champions. At the beginning of 2026, World Gymnastics officially confirmed the addition of a new pommel horse element to the Code of Points under the name The Manukyan.

The combination was first successfully performed by the Armenian gymnast at the World Challenge Cup event in Paris in September 2025. The element was assigned F difficulty and a value of 0.6 points.

Manukyan will now step onto the European stage in an unusual status: simultaneously the reigning European champion, the originator of an eponymous element and a serviceman in the Armenian army.

The next European Championships will be held in Yerevan

The tournament in Zagreb will be Armenia’s final senior European Championships before its home edition. The next senior European Championships for men and women will be held in Yerevan from April 27 to May 2, 2027.

This means that in less than a year, Europe’s best gymnasts will gather in the Armenian capital.

For Manukyan, Davtyan and the other leaders of the national team, competing in Zagreb will be not only a battle for medals at the 2026 European Championships but also an important step on the road to the home European Championships.