2014 English Gymnastics Championships

In what turned out to be a massive test of concentration and courage Claudia Fragapane proved she has buckets of both when at the end of a long competition on her last apparatus she hit both of her top tariffed vaults to become the English Vault Champion 2014. Claudia scored a personal best on this apparatus with a double twisting Yurchenko and a round off 1/2 on straight front 1/2 off giving her an average of 14.625 to take gold by a clear margin.
Claudia also achieved a fantastic third place in the all around despite stepping out of bounds on her floor routine and having an uncharacteristic fall on her standing full twist on beam. It was pleasing to see her bar work continuing to improve. Well done Claudia. Go to British Gymnastic Facebook page to show your support for Claudia at the upcoming British Championships.
In the Espoir English Championships [12/13yrs] Rowena Needham won three bronze apparatus medals on Vault, Bars and Floor. She faltered on beam with two falls but still managed to place 6th in the all around. She too held her nerve after a mistake on her signature element on bars threatened to halt her routine. She refused to give up and battled on to the end her reward being a well deserved bronze medal. Her floor routine was a particular highlight scoring a personal best 12.9 for a beautiful performance.