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This year’s event took place at the fantastic Orbita Arena in Wroclaw, Poland during a blistering heatwave. The Championships were split into two weeks with the event starting with the Age Group Championships featuring the 11-16’s and Junior’s. The following week was the turn of the Senior’s in their World Championships.

Heathrow Gymnastics Club supplied a significant number of gymnasts in the Age Group Championship and the majority of the team in the Senior’s so expectations were high for a good medal haul.

Many of the Heathrow GB team members are also members of Britain’s Got Talent winners Spelbound and had just finished a 4-week tour of the UK and Ireland on the Show’s Live Tour. They trained for the World’s during the Tour and had just one day to get tuned in to the demands of International competition. A tall order for all of them after the roller coaster of the previous weeks but they didn’t disappoint.

Experienced pair, Abigail Ralph and Amy Mackenzie represented Heathrow in this section. Abi & Amy are in Spelbound with Amy being the youngest member. On the first day balance they delivered a very solid performance scoring 28.1. Day two saw a brand new tempo routine, which gained the highest score in this phase with 28.25. They qualified for the final in 2nd place just behind Belorussia and ahead of favourites, Russia. The final saw them perform their balance again and, when Belorussia fell, everyone thought it was their title to take after our girls scored 27.9. However the judges decided the Russian pair had just shaded it beating Abi & Amy by just 0.05. So a World Silver Medal to add to their BGT success and a great way to crown an eventful period.

This was a first appearance at a major International Event for our boys Daniel Tognelli, Nick Cowler, Harry Sewell and George Wood. As expected it was a two horse race between Great Britain and Russia for the title. The boys produced a fantastic first balance routine scoring 28.0 just behind the strong Russians. Day two was tempo and again our boys got in a decent routine scoring 28.1. However the score the Russians scored of 28.55 seemed to be at odds with the performance. So final day came and once again our boys did balance. Their score of 27.85 put them comfortably into Silver Medal position with just the Russians to come. They went very clean and won with 28.15 so another World Silver Medal for Heathrow and Great Britain and a very good International debut.

Of the other sections, Great Britain won Gold medals at Mixed Pairs with a pair who, since these Championships have moved to Heathrow, a Gold Medal in the Men’s Pairs and a Silver Medal in the Women’s Groups to deliver great Britain’s best ever team performance at the 11-16 World Championships.

This featured Heathrow’s Alanna Baker and Sophie Bigmore who were selected as a 2nd GB pair behind a more experienced pair from Deerness. In a tough competition dominated by Eastern Europe, Alanna & Sophie did tempo first and unfortunately suffered a time fault which gave them a score of 26.4. It would now be hard for them, as they had to out qualify their GB teammates to go through to the final. Day 2 saw balance and a much better performance, which brought a score of 27.3. However, they finished qualification in 9th place but 4 places behind the Deerness girls so didn’t make it to the final.

Defending Mixed Pairs World Champion, Kim Hunter who was competing this time with new base, Chris Cranfield, represented Heathrow. It was to be Chris’ last event before retiring so they wanted to go out in style. They started with balance and got in a strong score of 28.05 to lie 2nd behind the experienced Ukrainians’. Day 2 was the more difficult tempo but again they did well and scored 27.9 to qualify for the final in 2nd place overall. The final was very tense with Kim and Chris scoring 28.05 with just the Ukrainians’ to go. The final score of 28.35 was good enough to give Ukraine the title and Kim and Chris the World Silver. Still a fantastic result and a great way for Chris to bow out of acro.

Spelbound girls Leighanne Cowler, Lauren Kemp and Hollianne Wood represented Heathrow and Great Britain in perhaps the most competitive section of the whole Age Group Event with strong groups from all over Europe. Their section was scheduled at the end of both qualifying days so a long wait to perform but the girls delivered a very solid balance with a score of 28.1 to put them in contention. Day 2 saw tempo and again they scored a solid 28.1 to qualify for the final in a very good 3rd position just 0.1 behind the Belgians. However the final didn’t pan out as expected and the girls can feel a bit hard done by when the scores started to go up for their competitors. From pushing for a Silver they found themselves pushed back into 4th place after a ‘surprising’ score of 28.35 for Belorussia who came from 4th to 1st. Our girls once again delivered a consistent performance in the combined to score 28 and the GB supporters were left shocked that these girls didn’t get what they deserved.

This featured Spelbound’s human flyer, Edward Upcott and his Spelbound base, Doug Fordyce. This was to be the guys last competition together before Doug’s retirement so one last chance to gain that elusive World Senior title. The guys were very consistent all the way through the qualifying phase sitting in 2nd place throughout. They scored 28.603 in balance, 28.402 in tempo and 28.362 in combined but it was all about the final and that one last routine together. Emotions were running high as the guys went one last time to attempt to beat their Russian foes. And they did! Cue the tears with the cheers as the guys scored 28.662 to beat the Russians who scored 28.506. Two of the most faithful servants to British Acrobatics finally got what they deserved and it couldn’t have happened to 2 nicer guys. Awesome chaps!

This was another group who were competing for the last time and was made up of Jennie Miller, Emma Walters and Katie Smith. GB had entered 2 groups in this section so the girls had the added pressure of having to out qualify their teammates to make the final. Balance went well with the girls scoring 28.11 to pull out a big lead on the other GB trio. This was followed by a solid tempo earning 27.853 and finally combined where they earned their place in the final with a score of 28.17. So could they grab a medal for GB and Heathrow? Oh yes! A fantastic performance in their very last routine and a score of 28.32 just shaded the Silver medal from Ukraine who finished 3rd. What a way to go our girls.

Probably the most competitive section of the Senior Event with the Eastern Europeans wanting this title badly. Heathrow and Spelbound’s, Adam McAssey, Adam Buckingham, Alex Uttley and Jonathan Stranks were also competing for the last time together and really wanted this title having gone close at the Europeans when a single mistake cost them the title. It was a different story this time with the guys just on a different planet as everything went according to plan. Great scores of 28.49 and 28.536 in balance and tempo put the guys right at the top of the tree going into combined which they also won with 28.854 to qualify for the final as the firm favourites.
And what a final it was with both China and Russia pushing really hard. It was close. Very close with China taking Silver with 28.801 but our men did one last routine to win the World title with 28.854.

Both our Men’s Group and Men’s Pair were involved in the team competition with their results counting towards the overall team result. Due to the outstanding results the guys achieved, Great Britain won the team silver medal just behind Russia.