TeamGym | Medal Success at European Championships 2021
Scottish gymnasts selected to represent Great Britain at the European TeamGym Championships in Portugal last week achieved success, including an historic senior silver medal in the mixed team category.
Over the four days of exciting competition in Guimaraes, there was a number of medal winning moments for the GB gymnasts, with all teams performing exceptionally well given the disruption over the last year.
As well as being represented in all categories, this European Championships was an opportunity for a team of junior men made up of gymnasts from Irvine Bay, Largs, Forth Valley and Saltire Team Gymnastics to compete on the European stage for the first time. This gave the young gymnasts the experience of competing internationally in the hope of inspiring them to aim for selection for British Gymnastics programmes in future.
As well as the junior team, Saltire’s Dylan Campbell made his return to the competition for the third time following the postponement of the competition last year. He competed alongside the senior mixed team, with coach Sam Hendrikson – qualifying for the final and going on to win Great Britain’s first ever senior TeamGym medals at a major championship.
On day one of the competition, Scotland’s junior men’s team opened the competition, performing the first routine of the day on tumble. Competing against the teams from Sweden and Estonia, as well as GB’s first team – they didn’t let the nerves get to them, with a first rotation score of 13.950.
During the rest of the qualification round, the more experienced junior teams performed strong routines, edging the Scottish team out of a place in Friday’s final. As only one team per country could progress to the final, they were up against tough competition. They ended the round with a total score of 35.150. We are proud of the team’s achievement and look forward to following the gymnasts’ progress over the coming years.
Well done to Logan Campbell, Arran Martin, Harvey Mullan, Kieran Walker, Ewan Dewar, Aidan Hepburn, Hayden Turnbull, Josh Cantell and Rory Marshall.
Sam Hendrikson, head of performance at Scottish Gymnastics said:
Huge congratulations to the Scottish boys and their personal coaches on getting them ready for the biggest competition on the international stage for TeamGym. What a great experience and learning opportunity for them.
On day two, Dylan Campbell and teammates in the senior mixed team were vying for a place in Saturday’s final, with teams from Sweden, Finland, Italy and host nation Portugal also competing.
The GB team had a solid performance across the three apparatus, with their tumble routine taking the highest score of the session with 18.300. They qualified in second place, just 3.025 points behind the qualifying leaders, Sweden.
When it came to the final – there was a tussle for the top spot between the British and Swedish teams, with scores across the floor and tumble rotations being fractions of a point apart. However, the Swedish team beat the GB team’s score on the trampet with an overall score of 56.975, meaning that the British team claimed silver with their score of 54.325 and matched their positions from the qualification round. Italy’s senior mixed team came in third with a score of 49.225.
You can read the full results from the competition, and catch highlights from the event by visiting the links below.
> European TeamGym Championships 2021 Results
> TeamGym Performance Programmes