By Carl Field
There was success for Welsh gymnasts at the 2022 TeamGym British Championships with Cardiff-based Evolve Gymnastics Academy bagging two silver medals to cap a brilliant weekend in Sheffield.
In what were two action-packed days of competition at the English Institute of Sport, Saturday saw British champions crowned across the age groups before the micro team challenge events took centre stage on Sunday.
In the junior mixed competition, Evolve’s score of 42.950 was just 0.4 short of Berkshire based TGA Gymnastics (43.350) – who eventually took the gold following an enthralling contest.
Evolve scored 15.400 on floor, 13.350 on trampet and 14.200 on the tumble track.
https://twitter.com/WelshGymnastics/status/1511436232194240516
The junior mixed team, the first ever from Wales to qualify for this event, included: Ffion Brooks, Evie Bowles, Phoebe Williams, Sienna Wilkinson, Samara Haines, Harry Mannay, Noah Higgs, Sam Kirby and Toby Stewart.
And then, to cap a memorable weekend in the steel city, Evolve Blue scooped silver in the junior mixed micro competition, scoring 25.600 and were only narrowly edged out by Scottish club Forth Valley – who took gold with 25.850.
Abbey Gymnastics from Belfast ran them close, scoring 24.600 for bronze.
The Evolve Blue team included: Phoebe Williams, Sienna Wilkinson, Samara Haines, Sam Kirby and Toby Stewart.
https://twitter.com/whs_cardiff/status/1511774537309818887
Meanwhile Evolve Green (22.950) only narrowly missed out as they finished fourth. The Evolve Green team included: Rosie Shephard, Evie Bowles, Ffion Brooks, Harry Mannay and Noah Higgs.
The coaching team was headed up by Alyson Marks and Chloe Lewis from Evolve and, while the teams competed under Evolve, they have been developed with male gymnasts from All Stars Gymnastics Club and Islwyn Gymnastics Club.
This working and developing together has shown the ability for high level male artistic and tumbling gymnasts to thrive in the discipline of TeamGym.
TeamGym is a competition for clubs and consists of three sections: women’s, men’s and mixed teams. Each team comprises of a minimum of six and a maximum of 12 gymnasts, where gymnasts can show their skills in three different disciplines: floor, trampet and tumbling. All three require effective teamwork, excellent technique and spectacular acrobatic elements.