Armenia’s 18-year-old Hamlet Manukyan has been crowned Europe’s Male “Gymnast of the Year” (2025) after five intense days of voting, receiving a total of 1,030,759 votes (51%) in a public vote held on the International Gymnastics Federation website.
The pommel horse sensation finished ahead of Azerbaijan’s Tofiq Aliyev, who received 988,538 votes (49%), while Britain’s Luke Whitehouse earned 7,250 votes, Switzerland’s Noe Seifert received 5,507 votes, and Portugal’s Gabriel Albuquerque collected 4,233 votes.
In 2025, Manukyan delivered a historic season. At the World Challenge Cup in Paris, France, held September 11–16, he performed a brand-new pommel horse element that was officially recognized and entered into the Code of Points under the name “Manukyan,” according to Armenia’s Gymnastics Federation. With that achievement, he became the eighth Armenian gymnast to have an element named after him.
Competing as Armenia’s sole representative at the Paris tournament, Manukyan advanced from qualification to the pommel horse final with a score of 14.133 and competed in the final on September 14, marking a major breakthrough at the senior level.
His accomplishments in 2025 extended beyond Paris. Manukyan won gold in the pommel horse at three World Cup events in Osijek, Doha, and Cairo. He also captured the European Championship title on pommel horse and took first place at the World University Games. He is also the 2023 Junior World Champion on pommel horse and rings.
With the addition of the “Manukyan” element, he joined an elite lineage of Armenian gymnasts whose skills are immortalized in the Code of Points:
• Hrant Shahinyan – Shahinyan pommel horse element, first performed at the 1952 Olympics
• Albert Azaryan – Azaryan Cross on rings, debuted in 1953
• Artur Hakobyan – Tsukahara double twist vault, performed in 1981
• Vahagn Stepanyan – Pommel horse element bearing his name
• Vahagn Davtyan – Davtyan Cross on rings (2014)
• Houry Gebeshian – Gebeshian mount on uneven bars, introduced at the 2016 Rio Olympics
• Artur Davtyan – Pommel horse element debuted at the 2021 Cairo World Cup
Born in Vagharshapat in 2007, Manukyan has rapidly risen through international competition. His recognition as Europe’s Male “Gymnast of the Year” further affirms Armenia’s longstanding strength in men’s artistic gymnastics.
