World Tumbling Championships – Birmingham, UK
Spelthorne’s most experienced female tum-bler, Megan Kealy, won an amazing individu-al silver medal and team gold medal at the recent World Championships held in Bir-mingham, adding to the 17 world and Europe-an medals she has already achieved in her career.
In the team event, Megan and her three GB compatriots performed solidly to snatch the gold medal in front of France and the USA. In the individual championship, from 51 tumblers in the start list, only the top 16 could qualify for the semi-final and, after an unusual error Megan qualified in 15th place – phew! From the 16 in the semi-final only the top 8 progress to the final – she sailed through. The final is divided into two stag-es. In the first stage the 8 competitors per-form their first run knowing that only the top 4 will progress to the second stage final to determine the medals (and one loser). The pressure was on! Experience, and the pres-ence of her Spelthorne coaches Kath & Rob Small, enabled her to perform consistently to take a silver medal just 0.2 behind France.
European Acrobatic Gymnastics Championships – Varna, Bulgaria
Spelthorne’s gymnasts took an impressive 8 gold and 2 silver medals competing for Great Britain at the recent European Acrobatic Championships held in Varna, Bulgaria. Un-der the guidance of senior coaches Adam McAssey and Ellie Cooper the gymnasts had been preparing for over a year for this compe-tition.
Acrobatic Gymnastics requires the gymnasts to compete in partnerships – women’s pairs, men’s pairs, mixed pairs, women’s trio, and men’s four. There are also four age catego-ries 11-16, 12-18, 13-19 and 16+. All the gymnasts in a partnership fall within one of these age categories to compete. Varna’s Palace of Culture and Sports welcomed over 400 gymnasts from 22 countries during two weeks of exciting competitions.
The 11-16 Women’s Group competition had over 30 trios competing including Spelthorne’s Gemma Biddle, Lexie Biddle, and Sophie Noyce who, after performing two awe-inspiring, perfect routines that outper-formed tough competition from France and Belgium, took gold making them European Champions.
In the same 11-16 category, Amelie Noyce and Evie Jaggers, Spelthorne’s women’s pair, were as stylish and beautiful to watch as ever.
They narrowly missed the gold medal, coming second to a very talented Bulgarian pair. High-lighting the tough competition, Amelie and Evie secured the highest score for the British team in all the age group categories.
In the 12-18 category, Spelthorne’s mixed pair of Harry Norman and Emily Eales, and women’s trio Olivia Norfolk, Isabel Norfolk, and Dollie Holt, delighted the crowd with their routines, and some very difficult elements including a two and a quarter piked somersault to catch! Both partnerships took gold securing two more European championship titles for Spelthorne and Great Britain.
During the second week of the competition, it was the turn of the 13-19 category partnerships and with 3 medals (Overall title, Balance title and Dynamic title) all up for grabs in each disci-pline there was a lot to play for. Spelthorne’s trio, Ruby Bray, Abi Read and Emma Faraj, did-n’t disappoint with their high-energy routines and complicated elements. They took gold, silver and gold, being bettered only in one routine by Azerbaijan.
Also competing in the 13-19 category were Spelthorne’s men’s pair, Owen Nickless and Sid Baker. They showed their class and dominated the competition right from the start. The boys executed five flawless routines full of difficulty. Sid amazed the audience (and judges) by per-forming a one arm straddle up to handstand on Owens head! They took gold, gold and gold securing all three Junior European titles with an unprecedented 9-point advantage over the sil-ver medallists.
Nearly all these gymnasts have been at the club since pre-school age and have been progressed through the Club’s programme by its talented coaching team. We are all very proud of them and the coaches.
If you have a budding gymnast at home, sign up for a free trial via our website www.spelthornegymnastics.com