IMOGEN WINS ALL AROUND TITLE AT ENGLISH CHAMPIONSHIPS

CITY OF LIVERPOOL DOUBLE SUCCESS AS HANNAH AND JODIE CLAIM GOLD AND SILVER IN JUNIORS!

A fantastic English Women’s Artistic Championships, brilliantly hosted by Wiltshire School of Gymnastics took place on Sunday saw Imogen Cairns win the English Championships Senior Title by a margin of 1.7 points with an excellent performance. The Championships were also the second trials for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourn next year and despite a number of senior and junior gymnasts having to withdraw due to injury, the girls were determined to seize their opportunity to secure a place on the English Commonwealth Team and a place on the podium. 

City of Liverpool Juniors Hannah Clowes and Jodie Standish had a terrific battle for the Junior Title as they were neck and neck throughout the day with Hannah claiming the Junior English Title in an a gripping competition. Imogen and Hannah had  led their Age Groups in last month’s Alpha Factor Cup, and both girls have boosted their chances of selection with Imogen in particular almost guaranteeing her place in front of Adrian Stan.

Many of the gymnasts had competed in the British Championships, and included many top Seniors and Juniors including Beth Tweddle, Imogen, Leigh Rogers, Nina Dearman and Emma Jagger in Seniors. The Junior Event included British Championships All Around Silver medallist Laura Jones and bronze medallist Abi Kirby with her Liverpool team mates Hannah Freeman and Jodie Standish, plus Heathrow’s trio of Amy Nunes, Becky Wing and Jessica Hawkins. Other top Juniors were Hannah Freeman from Sapphire, Zoe Allen from Wigan, Amy Fossheim from South Durham, Lily Black from Pipers Vale and Francesca Humphries from South Essex.

Becky Downie was due to compete with Notts team mate Jordan Lipton and new All Around North European Champion Lynette Lisle also invited to guest, but sadly the girls had to withdraw, and home fans were disappointed that Jessica Coombs and Shannon Morse from Wiltshire SOG were both injured just days before the Championships, but the audience cheered when it was announced that three time British Champion Beth Tweddle would be competing on her trademark A Bars after she was not included in the original program.

The morning’s Juniors and Seniors put in some good performances but as in the British Championships, beam again proved to be the weakest event with a number of wobbles and falls, with some notable exceptions. In contrast, there were some great performances on Vault and Floor with excellent choreography and good choice of music by gymnasts and coaches. We sat with a lovely group of young fans from OLGA complete with pommels who formed their own fan club to support Natalie Wilson, Leah Jacobs and Becky House And as the morning progressed a buzz suddenly went around the crowd when first Heathrow, then Notts School of Gymnastics and finally City of Liverpool led by Beth Tweddle entered the arena.

As the competitors moved to Bars, the crowd were on the edge of their seats as Abi Kirby hit her full twisting giant, Tkatchev with back in full to finish and an  8.250, followed by Hannah Clowes and Jodie Standish who scored 8.600 and 8.550 to win Individual medals and set up a terrific competition. Hannah and Jodie were in a terrific battle as they moved to Vault with both girls scoring 8.90 with straight Yurchenko’s and the highest scores in the Competition to share the Individual Vault Title with Amy Nunes performing her half twisting Yurchenko to land bronze just one tenth of a point behind. On Floor Amy Fossheim began with a one and a half followed by two and a half twists with a high double pike to finish an excellent routine and 8.80 to win the English Floor Title, closely followed by Sapphire’s Hannah Freeman who displayed powerful tumbling and terrific technique to win Silver with 8.500. Laura Jones included double pike and triple twist while Abi Kirby was unfortunate to step out on her two and a half twists after a promising start, and Zoe Allen also stepped out twice with her powerful tumbling runs. Hannah Clowes stepped up as anticipation grew amongst the audience, and Hannah responded with a Full In, double pike to finish with 2 and a half twists for a score of 8.200 to Jodie’s 8.200, and cheers from their team mates. Hannah Freeman was just behind both girls and she performed superbly on beam holding her nerves with great lines to win the Beam Title with her 8.650, closely followed by Heathrow’s Amy Nunes who was just five hundredths of a point behind on 8.600 and Natalie Wilson from OLGA bronze to the delight of her supporters. Laura Jones began well on beam but was unlucky to come off the end on her front somi.

The bravest performance of the Championships came from Grace Imerson from City of Newcastle who just missed her release and catch on Bars to fall flat on her back. As the crowd held their breath, Grace bravely got to her feet and continued her routine despite being obviously still in discomfort for the rest of the Championships, and she fully deserved the cheers and applause for her gutsy determination. Sadly Becky Wing had to withdraw after her excellent bars routine and had to ice her foot, and she must have been so disappointed after missing British due to injury. Get well soon Becky!

In Seniors three gymnasts really stood out from the pack. Defending English Champion Nina Dearman was determined to make it 2 year’s in a row in Commonwealth Trials but Imogen was simply stunning on floor where her floor included began with full in back out, followed by double Arabian tucked, two and a half to straight front with a huge triple twist to finish had the crowd cheering her fantastic performance ahead of next week’s Glasgow World Cup. And her score of 8.700 seemed set to win the Floor Title. But Nina Dearman was not going to give up her Title without a fight, and her great performance gave her an 8.800 and the English Championships Floor Title. As the gymnasts moved to Vault, Imogen responded with a one and a half twisting Yurchenko and full twist on to pike off with clean landings as her fellow competitors applauded a great score of 8.950 with Heathrow’s Leigh Rogers and Emma Beales from Dynamo tying for the Silver medals with both girls scoring 8.85. The beam routines again included some falls but Imogen won this comfortably with a 8.200, with Katrina Cella from Lynx winning Silver with 7.800, and Leigh, Nina & Emma all tieing for bronze. On to Bars and Beth Tweddle stepped up to hit a great routine which everyone in the arena just stopped to admire but Beth seemed slightly disappointed with her score of 9.15 ahead of next month’s World Championships, and Imogen claiming Silver with 8.450. It was great to see so many fans surround Beth and 17 year old Sam Bayley who is currently on crutches after she fractured her tibia during the build up to the World Championships Trials after landing with straight legs on her double Arabian at Lilleshall. Sam told me that she hopes to be back in a month and both girls spent  lots of time chatting to fans and signing autographs. I passed on our best wishes to Sam from all of her gym fans.

As the medal ceremony drew near, the commentator from Wiltshire built the atmosphere nicely, as he announced Juniors in 6th position Zoe Allen with a score of 32.600, in 5th place from City of Liverpool Abi Kirby with 32.650, 4th place goes to Heathrow’s Amy Nunes with 32.850. In bronze position from Sapphire Hannah Freeman on 32.950 and the commentator paused at just the right moment as City of Liverpool celebrated double medal success, the Silver medal goes to Jodie Standish and the new English Junior Champion 2005 is Hannah Clowes!

As we moved to Seniors, would Imogen win her second successive Commonwealth Trials and add the English Senior Title to her two British Junior Titles or could Nina defend the Title? There could only be one winner and Imogen stormed to the Title by 1.7 points on 34.300 with Leigh Rogers taking the Silver medal on 32.600 and Nina Dearman bronze with 32.150.

An excellent competition, with great organisation by the volunteers from Wiltshire. Congratulations to all of the medal winners and to our new English Champions!

 Full Results appear below and more great photos will be here soon!

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