Date: Friday 14th July 2023 - Sunday 16th July 2023 at Telford International Centre
Entries close: 2023-09-01
Entry ages: 9 years +
Cangaroos travelled once more to the International Centre in Telford to compete in the 2023 English Championships Finals. Following 2 rounds of qualifying throughout 2023, we rolled up with 7 qualifiers, plus our 2 guest gymnasts, Sara and Chloe from Singapore who train with us when they return to the UK.
Following orientation on the Friday evening for our Gold gymnasts, we had an early start Saturday morning with Sara and Chloe taking part in the Junior Synchro as guest entries. A great 1st exercise saw them sitting in 4th place after the first round. An unfortunate error from Sara on the last move of their 2nd exercise meant that the score was penalised and they ended the competition with a total score of 73.435 and 7th place.
Next up with Lilia in the first flight of the 15-16 Female. A strong 1st exercise brought a score of 38.140. An improved 2nd exercise brought a score of 41.550 and a total round score of 82.690, which was her highest score of the season.
In the 3rd flight, Sara was competing in the 13-14 Female, Chloe in the 15-16 Female and Nicola in the Disability Category 2 15+ Female. This meant Tony was once again running across the panels to ensure he was resent for each competitors exercise.
Nicola was first to compete, however due to her ankle injury, we had reduced her difficulty considerably. A solid 1st exercise saw her score 26.000. this was followed up with a strong 2nd exercise scoring 26.300. The combined score of 52.300 ensure Nicola’s qualification to the final.
Meanwhile on Panel 2, Chloe competing in the 15-16 Female scored 37.840, despite a flirtation with the side of the trampoline, which she narrowly avoided. A more secure 2nd exercise brought a score of 45.150 giving a total round score of 82.990. This put Chloe into 12th place, and pushed Lilia into 13th.
On Panel 1, Sara was competing in the 13-15 Female category, a high-quality 1st exercise saw a score of 38.860. This was followed up by good 2nd exercise which if the travel had been better would have secured her place in the final. The exercise scored46.070 and gave a total round score of 84.930 and 10th place, missing the final be just 0.226.
We ended the morning with one of our gymnasts making it through to the morning’s finals. With the top 8 competing for the medals, it was always going to be a hard competition, especially as Nicola was extremely limited in her difficulty tariff options. However, an improved score from the 2nd routine of 26.5 saw her take a well-deserved 5th place.
Day two of the finals arrived and Sunday was the day for our Silver gymnasts to take to the competition floor and shine. With 5 gymnasts taking part we were hopeful for their performances.
First up was Freya, competing in the 9-10 Female group. This was a huge group with 29 gymnasts competing to become one of the 8 finalists and to then go on a win a medal. Freya has been improving all season and following two successful exercises giving a combined score of 74.330 she achieved an exception 18th place
Net to compete was Lucas, he had also successfully qualified for the Gold Masters competition, but decided to concentrate on the Silver Male 9-10 group. Two excellent routines saw Lucas qualify to the 8 man finals in 6th place with a total score of 74.730. An improved third exercise in the final gave him score of 40.350 and a jump up to 5th place, a fabulous result for this young man.
Yacine was next to compete in the Male 11-12 group, earlier in the season, he had qualified to these finals with an excellent 3rd place, so hopes were high for a good performance. Two solid exercises resulted in a combined score of 73.990, just missing out on the finals this time round in 9th place.
Lily was competing in another large group of 27 gymnasts in the 13-14 Female, unfortunately an error on her 1st move of her 1st exercise caused her to struggle. She did excellently to recover and complete the routine, but the scores reflected the error. She did well to recover in the 2nd exercise, scoring the 5th highest score of the group, but the initial error cost her points and she finished in 20th place with a total round score of 76.150
Last to compete that day was Iza, taking part in their first ever individual finals, they were competing in the Disability Category 2; 9-14 group. In a closely fought competition, we were delighted to see Iza record a total round score of 46.300, taking them through to the final in 3rd place. An improved exercise in the final scored them 24.300 and secured a hugely well deserved 3rd place and the Bronze medal.
That concluded Cangaroos competitive involvement in the competition. What an amazing weekend was had by everyone with some fantastic results, some lessons learned and a huge enthusiasm to return next year to show of improvements all-round.
Our thanks, as always goes to our Coaches, Nicky and Tony and our officials/volunteers, without their commitment and involvement the Club couldn’t support our gymnasts.
This wraps up the competitive season for 2023. Cangaroos will take a break, take the time to learn new skills and integrate them into their exercises for the very exciting 2024 competitive calendar.