Whitlock and Jupp take senior British gymnastics title

Mar 23, 2013 by Anne Phillips

23/3/13: First year senior, 15 year old Gabby Jupp from the Sapphire School of Gymnastics has been crowned the women’s senior British Champion after a confident performance at Echo Arena in Liverpool. In the men’s competition, newly crowned English Champion and double Olympic Medallist, Max Whitlock from South Essex comfortably took the title with some outstanding routines under pressure.

Men

Max Whitlock poses with his gold medal. Photo courtesy of British Gymnastics.

Max Whitlock looked calm and collected throughout to comfortably take the title. His well-executed floor routine was just one of his impressive performances which helped him to an overall score of 90.650.

Max “I’m well happy! To start the year by winning the English title, which has always been one of my main ambitions, and then to win the British is just crazy. I’m happy with all my routines, particularly vault which I've worked hard to improve and it’s paid off. It’s been important to me to prove to people I’m an all-around gymnast, the pommel will always be my strongest piece but I wanted to go out and show I can do all-around and hopefully that will give me a chance of perhaps doing it again at the Europeans or Worlds this year.”

2012 Champion, Southport’s Daniel Purvis had a strong start on the floor but had multiple problems on the p bars which today left him in second place (87.250).

Dan “Personally I was really happy with how things were going until I had a disaster on p.bars which cost me two marks and put me out of contention. It’s been hard coming back after the Olympics and adjusting to the new code of points and of course I’m disappointed to lose my title but not too unhappy and fair play to Max, he was brilliant and fully deserves it.”

A surprise placing was that of Leeds gymnast, Mathew Firth who picked up the bronze. He was consistent on all pieces of apparatus and took his chance when his competition fell. His strong performances earned him a podium place and a score of 83.700.

Matthew “I’m really really happy, I went clean on all pieces and that was the big aim. I hoped if things went well I could get the top six spot so to make the podium is fantastic. The aim of the competition was to prove to people that I’m strong all-around and that’s what I’ve done so it should set me up for more success in the future.”

2012 Olympic bronze medallist, Sam Oldham had to carry a few falls which left him in 4th but his experience and difficulty helped him finish strongly. Max’s South Essex team mate, Reiss Beckford continued to shine after his silver medal performance at the recent English Championships. However, he had to count a fall on the floor which pushed him out of the medals in 5th. Huntingdon’s Cameron Mackenzie finished in 6th.

Some of the gymnasts didn’t compete on all pieces of apparatus but still put in some world class performances. 2009 world silver medallist, Dan Keatings from Huntingdon only competed on the high bar, pommel and p bars but was outstanding on all three and took gold on each, proving he really is back on form. Powerhouse Theo Seager from Bury took the remaining titles on the rings and vault.

Women

Gabby started her competition with a beautiful floor routine, she had a few unsteady landings and an out of bounds but put in a clean performance to begin her challenge for the title. She continued with a well-executed full twisting Yurchenko on the vault and a confident performance on bars with her impressive full twisting double straight dismount. Finishing up on beam, her strongest piece of apparatus, Gabby did not disappoint. Although showing a few nerves early on she fought hard and went through with no falls to claim the title with an impressive total of 56.150.

Watch Gabby's beam routine via BGtv:

Gabby “I’m so so happy I didn’t ever think I’d be senior British champion. Floor and vault were really good, bars I was a bit disappointed but to end on beam, even though it wasn’t perfect, suited me as it’s my strongest piece. As a first year senior to take the title is like a dream and as for the rest of the year hopefully I can now make the European team which would be a big step in my career.”

In the end it was City of Liverpool’s Charlie Fellows (54.900) who took the silver. Quietly confident she went about her businesses and put in clean routines on all four pieces off apparatus. She excelled particularly on the floor where she finished in the top qualifying spot with a score of 14.200.

Charlie “I’m really happy I went clean on all pieces, I was looking at some of the scores as the competition progressed but didn’t really know where I was standing and was just like wow when the results came up. The support was really good for me here having recently moved to the City of Liverpool gym club, it was a brilliant day for me.”

Notts Niamh Rippin completed the podium with 53.650. A well-established gymnast, Niamh is known for excelling on both the floor and vault but this time she produced an almost flawless all-around performance to take the bronze and make the all-around senior podium for the first time.

Niamh “This is my first senior all-around medal and it feels amazing. I was really focused today but knew on the final piece I had to perform to keep a podium spot which I did. As one of the more senior gymnasts out there today it feels really good to go out and prove myself and I couldn’t be more pleased.”

The Academy’s Ruby Harrold took 4th place. She shone on the bars with an outstanding routine that included some extremely creative skills. A fall on floor kept her out of the medals but her experience and expertise kept her inside the top six. First year senior, Georgina Hockenhull form Park Wrekin took 5th place, continually proving she is a consistent and reliable gymnast. Cardiff’s Raer Theaker finished in 6th.

Another notable performance came from Notts Becky Downie on the bars who only competed on this piece of apparatus. Her highly complex routine put her in the top qualifying spot with a 14.650.

2011 Champion Hannah Whelan had strong start on the vault with a solid one and a half twisting Yurchenko but moving on to the bars unfortunately had to carry two falls and another on the floor which left her in 8th place.

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