Her  dynamic floor routine and superb handspring layout rudi vault were among the highlights as she scored 57.873 points, beating top qualifier, Russia's Maria Kharenkova, by 0.7.

Despite scoring a huge 15.000 on the beam, the best score in the event by far, Kharenkova struggled slightly on the bars, taking extra swings and narrowly failing to reach handstand position.

The battle for bronze was very tight but it was Great Britain’s Ellie Downie who took the medal with strong vaulting and an assured bars routine that earned her a total of 56.623 points.

The 15-year-old also made history by becoming the first British woman to win a major championships all-around medal.  

“It’s ridiculous - I can’t believe what’s just happened,” said Downie.

“Coming in to the Championships I was maybe hoping for top 10 as it’s my first senior event and to win a medal is incredible.

“I’ve never felt so nervous going to vault - the final piece - even though it’s my strongest apparatus.

“I knew I was right up there in with a chance of a medal so to then land that safely was a huge relief, I just burst into tears.”

Meanwhile in the men’s competition, top qualifier Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine led from start to finish to secure his first all-around European gold medal.

A near-perfect score on the parallel bars, in which he is European and world champion, saw Verniaiev score a meet-high 16.166 points on his way to a total of 89.582.

Defending champion, Russia's David Belyavskiy, encountered problems on the pommel horse but performed excellently in the vault, parallel bars and high bar to take the silver medal with 88.131 points. 

British champion Dan Purvis claimed bronze with 87.423 points despite a weak high bar routine, while Armenia’s Artur Davtyan just missed out on the podium.

"This means so much to me," said Purvis.

"To be selected to do all-around for Great Britain is a big challenge and to have this medal round me neck is amazing.

"There's some really strong young talent coming through so I've had to work really hard to stay up.

"My maths isn't the best but I knew I needed to end well on pommel and it worked out, I'm really happy"

The Championships are due to continue tomorrow with the first of the apparatus finals. 


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