Nils Dunkel

Nils Dunkel (born 20 February 1997) is a German artistic gymnast. He is the 2025 European parallel bars champion. He won a bronze medal on the pommel horse at the 2022 European Championships. He represented Germany at the 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games.

Career Dunkel began gymnastics at age four because his father, Stephan Dunkel, is a coach at the MTV Erfurt club.

2014–2017 He competed at the 2014 Junior European Championships and finished 21st in the all-around final. He finished fourth in the pommel horse event final. He represented Germany at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics and finished 12th in the all-around final. There, he also qualified for the parallel bars final and finished eighth. Additionally, he was a reserve for the pommel horse, still rings, and horizontal bar finals.

Dunkel finished eighth on the still rings at the 2016 Cottbus World Cup. He competed at his first World Championships in 2017. He only competed on the floor exercise and did not advance to the final.

2018–2021 Dunkel competed at the 2018 European Championships and helped the German team finish fourth. Individually, he finished fourth in the parallel bars event final. He finished 41st in the all-around during the qualification round of the 2019 European Championships. He was not able to compete at the 2019 World Championships due to a foot injury.

Dunkel could not compete at the 2021 European Championships because he tore ligaments in his ankle right before the event. Eight weeks later, he returned to competition at the German Championships and won the pommel horse title. He was selected to represent Germany at the 2020 Summer Olympics, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside Lukas Dauser, Philipp Herder, and Andreas Toba. The team qualified for the team final and finished in eighth place.

2022–2023 Dunkel finished fifth on the pommel horse at the 2022 Cottbus World Cup. Then at the European Championships, he helped the German team place seventh. Individually, he won the bronze medal on the pommel horse behind Harutyun Merdinyan and Loran de Munck. This was his first medal at an international competition. He then competed alongside Lukas Dauser, Pascal Brendel, , and Andreas Toba at the 2022 World Championships, and they placed ninth in the qualification round, making them the first reserves for the team final.

Dunkel finished sixth on the parallel bars at the 2023 Cottbus World Cup. Then at the 2023 European Championships, he helped the German team finish fifth. He then competed at the 2023 World Championships and helped Germany qualify for the team final where they finished sixth. Individually, Dunkel qualified for the pommel horse final and finished seventh.

2024–2025 At the 2024 DTB Pokal Stuttgart, Dunkel won a bronze medal on the pommel horse. He was then selected to represent Germany at the 2024 Summer Olympics alongside Lukas Dauser, Pascal Brendel, Timo Eder, and Andreas Toba. The team finished 11th in the qualification round and did not advance to the final. Dunkel did advance to the individual all-around final, where he finished 18th. He was also the second reserve for the pommel horse final.

Competitive history