Britain's women have made history in the world team final in Liverpool, winning a sensational silver, the best ever result by a British women’s team at a World Championships.
By finishing on the podium, the team of Alice Kinsella, Georgia-Mae Fenton, Jennifer Gadirova, Jessica Gadirova, Ondine Achampong and Poppy Grace Stickler have also secured a full team quota place for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
It was an outstanding evening in Liverpool, with Britain’s gymnasts producing moments of brilliance in front of a sell-out M&S Bank Arena to total 163.363 for silver. United States (166.564) took gold, with Canada (160.563) completing the podium in bronze medal position.
The team complete a brilliant treble as they add world silver to the European silver and Commonwealth (England) gold they won earlier this year.
Speaking afterwards, Jessica Gadirova said: “It was such a special moment. I wish I could go back out there and do it again. I’m just so proud I could do it for all of these girls.”
Kinsella added: “It’s such a surreal feeling competing with these girls. With my fall on beam, they all brought me back up because I was feeling quite down. Without these guys we wouldn’t be world silver medallists!”
Jennifer Gadirova said: “It sounds amazing to be world silver medallists. It has a nice ring to it!”
Fenton: “The crowd was absolute amazing. We’ve managed to compete in front of a home crowd twice this year and both times it’s been the best thing we could ever ask for. They helped us get throughout performances out there.”
Achampong: “It’s just amazing, especially to do it with this team. It’s so special. I just love them all.”
Poppy Grace Stickler as the team reserve loved the experience: “I’ve definitely learned a lot from these girls, especially how they cope with the pressure and different environments. I’m just so grateful to be able to have this opportunity.”
How history was made
GBR started their competition on vault and got off to the perfect start. In the team final, three gymnasts competed on each apparatus with all three scores counting, and there were three exceptional vaults to start proceedings.
Kinsella opened with a well-executed vault for 14.133 before Jessica Gadirova kept calm under pressure to score 14.200. Achampong was the last to go and got great height off the vault top and took the smallest step on landing for 14.366.
The team then moved to the uneven bars where they continued to score consistently. Jessica Gadirova opened up with a score of 12.800, before Kinsella competed her best bars routine of the week for 14.100. Fenton then looked strong through her routine to add 13.633.
At the halfway stage, that put Britain in second place, ahead of third place Canada by more than two marks.
Next up it was beam, and Achampong was near faultless. An excellent acrobatic series mid-routine and hardly a flicker on any of her leaps, saw her post 13.700. Fenton followed, and it was another outstanding performance. She was assured throughout to score 13.333. Kinsella had to count a fall, coming off the beam on her difficult acrobatic series, but regained her composure, finishing well for 12.266.
Knowing that they needed to go through clean on floor, their final apparatus, the team did more than that. With the pressure on, Jennifer Gadirova (13.433), Alice Kinsella (13.133), and then Jessica Gadirova (14.266), with one of the highest scores of the evening, had the crowd on their feet to make sure of silver.
Congratulations to all of the gymnasts, their coaches and clubs on a remarkable achievement.
Full results can be found on the FIG website.
Tomorrow night, it’s the turn of the British men to compete in their team final, starting at 17:40 with coverage live on BBC Two, iPlayer and BBC Sport website.
Notes to Editor:
British Gymnastics is the UK Governing Body for the sport of gymnastics. It exists to support, lead and inspire all those involved or interested in gymnastics; from creating new programmes and activities at grass roots to helping the development of top-level talent and delivering world-class events across the UK. www.british-gymnastics.org.
British Gymnastics includes Women's Artistic Gymnastics, Men’s Artistic Gymnastics, Trampoline Gymnastics, Acrobatic Gymnastics, Pre-school Gymnastics, FreeG Freestyle Gymnastics, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Tumbling, TeamGym, Aerobic Gymnastics and Double Mini Trampoline. Those interested in finding their local club should visit www.DiscoverGymnastics.uk.
