Amy Tinkler, Nile Wilson and Giarnni Regini-Moran were all celebrating victories as the British Artistic Gymnastics Championships got underway at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.
Tinkler and Wilson, who represented Britain at last year’s European Youth Olympic Festival in Utrecht, along with Regini-Moran took the age-group all-around titles.
Tinkler won the junior’s women’s competition and Wilson and Regini-Moran the under-18 and under-16 crowns respectively on the opening day in Liverpool.
And Tinkler insisted her victory extended to far beyond just herself.
“It’s amazing to win, I can’t believe it really I’m just so happy. I just came in and wanted to do my job and have a good competition,” she said. “It was great competing on podium and the whole experience was amazing.
“South Durham had a British champion back in 2005 so it’s great to be back on the podium not only for myself but for my coaches and my club.”
Meanwhile Wilson admitted a bout of illness wasn’t quite as untimely as expected.
“My preparations coming into this were quite tough as I’ve been ill all week but strangely I think that helped me,” he said.
“In the morning I was relaxed, not really expecting too much and when I went out there to compete I found that I suddenly had lots of energy, the buzz of the crowd and the big competition obviously helped.
“I’m really happy with my high bar and rings in particular but my whole competition to be honest went really well.
“It’s a very proud moment to win the British title and I’m hoping this is the start of a big year ahead. My aim is to make it into England’s Commonwealth Games team and results like this show I’m going in the right direction.”
© Sportsbeat 2014