With Jesolo, Doha and the British Championships, all in a matter of days, we are experiencing a gymnastics-packed week. Despite all that, you sure do not want to miss the British Champs, and here are a few reasons why.
Last year we saw British Gymnastics bring out the whole shebang to make the competition as entertaining as possible for the Liverpool crowd: using lights, music, smoke and of course a fantastic venue to play host to the British Championships, Liverpool’s Echo Arena.
The ultimate front runner of the junior competition is gymternet favorite, Catherine Lyons. The 14-year-old is expected to pick up numerous titles this week, including the junior all-around. Her prime events are beam and floor, but she is very strong on all four pieces of apparatus so watch this space!
Another contender is Georgia-Mae Fenton, who is the 2013 British Espoir all-around champion. Georgia recently moved to East London Gymnastics Club from Europa (where she was a team mate to Catherine Lyons). Georgia seems to be lacking the power needed for floor and vault difficulty, however she has great skills on bars and beam and is a medal contender on both pieces of apparatus.
Other gymnasts you should look out for are Maisie Methuen, the up and coming star from Wales who won the British Espoir Championships back in December and turned junior this year. Also Scottish prodigy Louise McColgan, who has a great all-around ability, is certainly one you should keep your eye on.
Other names in the junior division you should remember includes Phoebe Turner, Alice Kinsella, Megan Parker Lucy Stanhope and Amelia Montague.
On the senior side the field is absolutely packed with talent: We start with the new star of British Gymnastics Claudia Fragapane, who rose to stardom in Great Britain after winning four gold medals at the Commonwealth Games – which in Great Britain is a huge deal!
We’ve seen Claudia have some hick-ups earlier on in the year where she debuted new skills and routines, and with the Europeans Championships just weeks away she will be looking to apply any correction this weekend.
Becky Downie tweeted a couple of days ago that she hit a bar routine in training with at 7.0 difficulty score. While I wouldn’t necessarily expect to see that bars routine this weekend, she still has some spectacular skills which she will to put into practice (understatement of the day). After all, she must be aiming at defending her European title on this event later in April.
First year seniors Amy Tinkler, Ellie Downie and Tyesha Mattis are also ones to watch.
Tinkler, who beat Fragapane at the English Championships a couple of weeks ago, is looking to challenge for the senior title to go with the junior title she won last year. She recently debuted new skills including a full twisting double straight on floor and a triple twist dismount on beam.
Ellie Downie looked slightly injured at the English Championships as she did not show full difficulty and scratched vault, but a fully healthy and prepared Ellie Downie can certainly challenge for the top spot. Ellie won four medals at last year’s Youth Olympic Games
Tyesha Mattis was the British star of 2013, however in 2014 she has been riddled with injuries. She has great skills on all four pieces of apparatus: she typically competes a DTY on vault, does a straddled Jaeger connected to a Geinger on bars, a full back tuck on beam and a double twisting double tuck on floor. Be sure to keep an eye on her.
And last but not least, we look at seniors we already know from past years, including Commonwealth Gold Medalists Ruby Harrold and Kelly Simm, who are both valuable players to the British team. Ruby is known for her work on bars and is a strong all-around gymnast.
Kelly has blossomed in the last year – she is a power gymnast and excels on vault and floor. She recently debuted a cracking combination on bars at the English Championships, a Ray connected to a straddled Tkatchev.
As a conclusion, this will be a very exciting competition to follow!
.
More information about how you can follow the event can be found via the British Gymnastics website here .
.
Article: Craig Tilley (editor: Bea Gheorghisor)