Rhys McClenaghan was speechless after becoming the first Irish gymnast to be crowned a world champion.
The County Down man won gold on the pommel horse at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool after a brilliant performance in the final.
McClenaghan qualified in first place for the final, but the pressure was on the 23-year-old after a series of near-misses in major finals in recent years, including a 7th place finish at the Tokyo Olympics.
READ MORE: Ireland's Rhys McClenaghan through to Pommel horse final at World Championships
A silver medal secured at the Commonwealth Games in the summer was some compensation but that was followed by a shock exit from the European Championships.
But McClenaghan held his nerve in Liverpool to deliver a near-flawless routine and bag a score of 15.300 from the judges. He was awarded 8.200 for execution and 6.200 for difficulty.
After that it was an agonising wait for the Irish gymnast to see if any of the remaining field could match beat his target.
Stephen Nedoroscik and Nariman Kurbanov, both fancied for gold, slipped up in their routines, and in the end Jordan's Ahmad Abu Al Soud took the silver medal, while Armenia's Harutyun Merdinyan was last out and had a very clean routine to claim bronze.
After the enormity of his achievement hit him, McClenaghan broke down in tears and was unable to speak in a television interview.
But the gymnast later composed himself and told RTE of his emotion: "It was just because it was the first time someone called me a world champion and something just switched in my head where I just burst into tears.
"It just shows how much this means to me - it's a childhood dream come true. It's something I have worked towards for so many years, and I'm just so glad that I paid off today."
He added: "It's been a difficult year in not making the European final, messing up at the Commonwealth Games, there have been so many mistakes.
"But I've made sure that I've learnt from it. This sport was kicking me when I was down, but I made sure I got up every time, and I certainly got up today at the World Championships."
Asked if he felt the pressure heading into the final, he said: "I put so much pressure on myself every single day in training and in every competition I do.
"So when it comes to a world championships final, I'm almost maxed out on pressure, and it's a very familiar feeling to me to have that pressure on my shoulders.
"I use it to my advantage, I use it to perform even sharper than I do in training, and I believed I showed it today.
"Just saying I'm Ireland's first ever gymnastics world champion is just unbelievable to me."
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