Britain best acrobatic gymnasts return from Riesa, Germany with multiple medals won at the 2015 junior and senior Acrobatic Gymnastics European Championships
In the senior championships mixed pair Ryan Bartlett and Hannah Baughn took European silver in both the all-around and balance finals with Lewis Walker and Isabella Montagna taking dynamic silver and our women's pair Chelsea Fischer and Abbi Greaves taking all-around bronze.
In the junior event men's group Lewis Watts, Conor Sawenko, Charlie Tate and Adam Upcott dominated, sweeping the board with gold in all-around, dynamic and balance.
Casey Ely, Ilisha Boardman and Niamh Meaney took group all-around gold and dynamic silver with Abigail Hipkiss and Tiana Mcclurg taking women's pair balance bronze.
Toshko Pavlov – GB National coach reflected afterwards:
“That was probably the most exciting European Championship competition ever. In my pre-competition statement I pointed out the countries that were to challenge us and Russia of course for medals – Ukraine, Belarus, Belgium, Portugal, Azerbaijan and Israel, and they did do that even more than expected. Even Russia were not clear favourites as usual, except in the mixed pair seniors. Another few countries can now be added to the list of challengers – Germany, Bulgaria with medals, and Poland and Netherlands with very decent performance. It was great to see such a levelled field in a competition of this rank – great for the sport.
Our team was the youngest ever in terms of experience with 25-30% of partnerships being in the Team for the first time and 75-80% of the partnerships being at this high grade for the first time, some completely new and unexperienced. We had a very realistic assessment and mental approach to the competition and our gymnasts performed to the limit of their state of preparation. I am really pleased with everybody’s participation both as a performance and positions in the ranking – they couldn’t have done any better. They were amazing and managed to maintain on the competition floor and out of it the reputation and dignity of Great Britain’s team, I am truly proud of them!
There were some illness and injury issues before and during the competition itself and those gymnasts that couldn’t compete for these reasons could have definitely added to the medal tally of the GB Team – 17 all together in all age groups, 6 of which were gold. I think we made a positive step forward in the approach to the World Championships early next year in China.
At the end – my big THANK YOU to all gymnasts for their effort and performance, to their coaches for the hard work and devotion and to the gymnasts parents for their unbelievable support and commitment, and of course to the team management who made the run of the competition smooth and comfortable for our gymnasts! Great team work – well done everybody!"
Senior results
Women’s pair all-around
3. Chelsea Fischer & Abbi Greaves (GBR) 81,650
Mixed pair balance
2. Ryan Bartlett & Hannah Baughn (GBR) 28,600
Mixed pair dynamic
2. Lewis Walker & Isabella Montagna (GBR) 28,680
Mixed pair all-around
2. Ryan Bartlett & Hannah Baughn (GBR) 85,750
Junior results
Women's pair balance
3. Abigail Hipkiss & Tiana Mcclurg (GBR) 27,450
Women’s group dynamic
2. Casey Ely, Ilisha Boardman & Niamh Meaney (GBR) 28,050
Women’s group all-around
1. Casey Ely, Ilisha Boardman & Niamh Meaney (GBR) 84,300
