Joe Fraser is a man on a mission after the 16-year-old added gymnastics all-around gold to Tuesday’s team triumph as Team GB’s medal haul ticked into double figures on day four at the European Youth Olympic Festival.
With two days remaining, Team GB sit on 11 medals after Fred Wright’s cycling road race bronze was matched by Katie Robertson in the 200m breaststroke.
Fraser’s second gold of the Games came in just his second event and, with four individual apparatus finals to come, the Birmingham gymnast is already targeting more trips to the podium in Georgia.
The 2014 European Junior Team Champion completed all six apparatus in a score of 84.750, 1.5 clear of second place, and was delighted to have doubled his gold tally with a little help from sweet treat more commonly seen in kitchens across Britain.
“I’m really happy. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet and doesn’t feel real. Everything came together today and all of my apparatus work was on form
“I’ve been doing this for 11 years. We train six days a week and often twice a day so there has been a lot of effort gone into this.
“It makes me very happy to be a part of this team. We all give it our all so when it comes off like today it’s brilliant and hopefully we can bring some more medals back tomorrow and Saturday.
“Golden syrup is something we use on the parallel bars to help with grip. Sometimes chalk isn’t enough so we use the syrup – it’s quite sticky and holds you on so it does the trick.”
In the same event, triple Youth Olympic Games gold medallist Giarnni Regini-Moran finished just outside the medals in fourth, while Maisie Methuen was the best placed of the girls in 12th in their all-round final.
Elsewhere Fred Wright battled with the Georgian heat to clinch an impressive third in boys’ road race while Katie Robertson looked accomplished beyond her years as the 13-year-old took bronze in the girls’ 100m breaststroke.
Robertson, swimming against some athletes three years her senior, went quicker in each round and already has her sights set on the tomorrow 200m final.
“It feels amazing to have won bronze. I feel like I’ve done my country proud and I’m really happy,” said Robertson.
“I’m pleased with the performances and the time in the final was 0.2 seconds off the personal best I swam in the nationals in London. It’s the third fastest I’ve ever swam.
“I feel a lot more confident for the 200m tomorrow after that and hopefully I can put in a good performance.”
Lauren Dolan was the best placed finisher in the girls’ cycling road race in 23rd after leading the charge to break away from the pack in the final few kilometres, while both Aimee Grant and Lucy Day exited their judo events after early defeats.
The tennis competition for Team GB ended today after Emile Hudd and Jacob Fearnley lost their doubles quarter final to the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1.
Tomorrow sees the swimmers conclude their Tbilisi 2015 campaigns, while the individual apparatus finals begin in the gymnastics and the judo weights step-up a notch with Harry Lovell-Hewitt, Acelya Toprak and Shelley Ludford in action.
Day Five Schedule: Friday 31st July
Artistic Gymnastics
Boys’ Individual Apparatus Finals 13:00-16:00 local time / 10:00-14:00 BST: Hamish Carter, Joe Fraser, Giarnni Regini-Moran Girls’ Individual Apparatus Finals 13:00-16:00 local time / 10:00-14:00 BST: Georgia Mae-Fenton, Maisie Methuen, Lucy Stanhope
Judo
Eliminations and Repechage: 11:00-14:30 local time / 08:00-11:30 BST: Girls’ -63kg (Aceyla Toprak), -70kg (Shelley Ludford); Boys’ -81kg (Harry Lovell-Hewitt) Finals: 16:00-18:00 local time / 13:00-15:00 BST
Swimming
Heats: 09:30-12:00 local time / 06:30-09:00 BST Boys’ 200m Butterfly Heats: Kieran Bird, Jacob Greenow Boys’ 4x100m Medley Heats: TBC Boys’ 1500m Freestyle Slow Heat: Nathan Hughes Girls’ 200m Breaststroke Heats: Katie Robertson, Annalea Davison Girls’ 200m Freestyle Heats: Rebecca Sutton, Emily Large Girls’ 4x100m Medley Heats: TBC Boys’ 200m Backstroke Heats: Elliot Clogg, Brodie Williams
Semi-Finals/Finals: 17:00-20:00 local time / 14:00-17:00 BST Boys’ 100m Freestyle Final Girls’ 200m Breaststroke Final Boys’ 200m Butterfly Final Girls’ 50m Freestyle Final Boys’ 200m Backstroke Final Girls’ 100m Butterfly Final Boys’ 1500m Freestyle Fast Heat: Jamie O’Connor Girls’ 200m Freestyle Final Boys’ 4x100m Medley Final Girls’ 4x100m Medley Final