Three acrobatic gymnasts from Deerness Gymnastics Academy will compete for Great Britain at the 26th World Acrobatic Championships taking place in Belgium later this week.
From 13 to 15 April, the world’s best acrobatic gymnasts will compete for the world titles in the Antwerp Lotto Arena. Trio’s of female gymnasts from Poland, Netherlands, Israel, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Australia, Germany, Portugal, China, Austria, Belgium, France, Ukraine, Spain, USA, Belarus and Russia will all compete for the title of World Champions.
The Durham trio of acrobatic gymnasts, Caitlin Owston, 19, from Belmont, Amelia Pamler, 18, from Great Lumley & Bethany MacDougall, 14, from Newton Aycliffe, took the silver medal at the British Championships earlier this year in their first competition as senior gymnasts, after making the transition from junior level where they had previously won gold at national level and bronze at European level. That was enough to get them selected for Team GB at senior level and now they will represent Great Britain in the World Championships.
In addition to the three gymnasts from the Durham based charitable organisation, head of acrobatics, Stuart Thompson, a former winner of British Gymnastics Coach of the Year Award, has been named as a coach for the senior Great Britain team and Katie Lawton, another high performance coach at the club will be a judge on behalf of GB.
Acrobatic gymnastics is a modern and artistic gymnastic discipline, which requires an extraordinary amount of courage and trust amongst gymnasts. Great Britain is one of the most respected nations in the world in acrobatic gymnastics and has achieved success at World and European level with medals in all categories. Many of whom have come from Deerness Gymnastics Academy.
“This is an amazing opportunity for these gymnasts. I’ve worked closely with them for a few years now and they have always been hard working and committed, making the most of their natural talent,” said Stuart Thompson, head of acrobatics, Deerness Gymnastics Academy and the trio’s coach. “Just being selected at senior level is such an achievement in itself, and the whole club will be supporting them in their first major international competition as senior competitors.”
Deerness Gymnastics Academy in Ushaw Moor is a high-performance centre for British Gymnastics. The club which also has its former gymnast Matt Baker as its patron and has become one of Britain’s top gymnastics clubs over the past thirty years, with over 100 international gymnasts with more than eighty World and European medallists, including fifteen World and European Champions in its roll of honour. It is not only one of the most successful clubs in Great Britain but it is also recognised on the International scene as one of the top clubs in the world.