By Daniel Noble
RHYS McClenaghan believes he still has the ability to be the best in the world as he prepares to reclaim his Commonwealth Games crown.
The Newtownards gymnast will begin his third Commonwealth campaign this weekend, after clinching the gold medal in 2018 and finishing as a silver medallist in 2022.
He will represent Team NI in the pommel horse, a discipline which has also seen him crowned Olympic, three-time world and three-time European champion, becoming the first gymnast to achieve a career grand slam.
McClenaghan saw off competition from multiple Olympic gold medallist Max Whitlock and Canada’s Zachary Clay to take top spot on the podium as a then 18 year-old at the 2018 games in Gold Coast, Australia.
He would have hoped to make it back-to-back success when Brimingham 2022 took shape, but he had to settle for the runner-up spot, missing out to England’s Joe Fraser.
Now, having recovered from the shoulder injury which kept him sidelined in 2025, the 27 year-old has set out his aims for both the present and the future.
Targeting further success at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, McClenaghan has explained how he is using Glasgow 2026 as an opportunity to perfect his ‘best in the world’ craft once more.
Speaking to BBC Sport NI, he stated: “The Commonwealth Games is a good chance to show your work in progress. At the Olympic Games, you want to see your finished product.
“It’s going to be a work in progress, but hopefully one that is the best in the world too. I’m in a really good position with it.
“Part of me is striving to be like a younger Rhys, but the reality is I’m doing a completely new routine and the rule changes have pushed me into that direction.”
McClenaghan added: “If you can win titles throughout multiple Olympic cycles, you have mastered that event, and I feel I’m doing that nicely now.
“I’ve achieved every major title there is in the sport, I love looking at my potential and I feel if I stopped after winning the Olympic Games, my potential would have been wasted.
“I’m still healthy and able to be the best in the world at what I do.”
A gold medal will always be the goal for an athlete of McClenaghan’s calibre, but as he enters his third Commonwealth Games, he admits he is just grateful to still be living his dream.
“I am heading into my third Commonwealth Games and it just feels like a normal day. It’s kind of made me feel guilty because I’m going to the Commonwealth Games and, for me, that’s a childhood dream,” he said.
“I think it is worth stepping back every once in a while and just realising that I’m living my dream.
“That’s a pretty cool thing to do and although it’s not as exciting as maybe the first or second time, it does fill me with gratitude every time I go to these major competitions and get these opportunities.
“I guess my message is ‘be grateful for the opportunities you get, always try to recognise them and be happy if you’re living your dream’ because I certainly am.”
McClenaghan’s will have to dethrone reigning champion Fraser if he is to reclaim his place as the pommel horse king, but his grand-slam pedigree has seen him tipped as the front runner for the gold medal.
