Artistic | New Apparatus National Champions Named
Following a thrilling two days of all-around competition to crown new national champions, 30 apparatus gold medals were awarded at the final day of the 2023 Scottish National Artistic Championships in Perth.
The first individual apparatus medals were awarded earlier in the competition for the youngest age category with the scores from day one’s men’s under 12 all-around competition deciding the first six champions across floor, pommel, rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar.
The gymnasts in the men’s under 14 category had the opportunity to compete again for medals on day three, with Mitchell Cargill from City of Glasgow upgrading his performance from the all-around where he won silver and picking up a trio of gold medals on floor, rings and horizontal bar.
The new all-around champion, Christopher Halliday (City of Aberdeen) gave a phenomenal performance on parallel bars – beating his opponents by a clear 1.55 points to take the top spot with Lucas Duguid (Hamilton) winning the pommel title, and West Lothian’s Josh Pettigrew claiming the vault gold.
During the morning session, it was the turn of the senior women to compete on vault first, with West Lothian’s Tilly Bee gaining 0.375 on her two-vault average and climbing to the top of the rankings to take gold. Hannah Wayman from Corby won two gold medals with a score of 11.400 on uneven bars, and shared the top podium place with City of Glasgow’s Natalie Scott on beam. There was another joint win for senior all-around champion, Lottie Smith (Notts) and Birmingham 2022 gymnast, Eilidh Gorrell (City of Glasgow) who both scored 11.800 on floor.
It was a double gold for the new women’s espoir all-around champion, with Cassie Taylor from Corby winning both the balance beam and floor finals. In the afternoon, Etta Bell from Largs won gold in the vault, with Aberdeen's Sophie Campbell finishing in first on uneven bars.
The women’s junior competition and both the men’s under 16 and under 18 age groups were tightly fought to the very last routine, showcasing the depth of talent at this crucial gymnastics development age group for gymnasts as they look to move onto the performance pathways.
Emily Spratt from City of Glasgow won the junior women’s vault competition, and Gracie -Jane Prosser (East London) won gold on uneven bars. Fresh from picking up a silver all-around medal, Holly Girvan from Meadowbank took the gold in the floor final, and after winning a medal representing Scotland at last year’s Northern European Championships, City of Glasgow’s Ava MacFarlane won the final junior medal on beam thanks to her score of 12.900.
In the men’s under 16 competition, there were two medals for West Lothian’s Logan Kerr, thanks to a great show of strength on rings and parallel bars. His teammate Kyle Millar delivered consistent vaults to clinch gold in the final, and Aberdeen’s Moray Gault picked up his first championship medal on horizontal bar. There were a further two medals for gymnasts from Hamilton with Aaron Gregory just edging out the competition on pommel and Caiden-Jay Malone securing a convincing lead to win on the floor.
Two-time consecutive men’s under 18 all-around champion Reuben Ward from Manchester Academy added to his medal tally, with an additional two apparatus golds on horizontal bar and floor. All-around podium gymnasts and Hamilton teammates Daniel Sabba and Andrew Dickie won one gold each, with Daniel winning on pommel and Andrew taking gold on rings. It was a first championship medal for Inverness gymnast Jack Finnigan on vault, and Connor Sullivan rounded out the medals in this age group with his gold on parallel bars.
For the senior men, it was a reduced field of competitors on day three, but still close competition across the apparatus. All-around silver medallist, Cameron Lynn (West Lothian) won five out of six pieces during the day, with clubmate Euan McLellan beating City of Glasgow’s David Weir to the vault gold with an incredible triple tucked somersault to put him 0.100 ahead in the final.
Congratulations to the gymnasts competing over the weekend and to the gymnasts and coaches who won medals in the apparatus finals. For a full list of the results, please visit gymdata.co.uk