Best of British (6th July, 2006)

The standard of British Gymnastics has soared and this weekend’s British Women’s Championships in Guildford is expected to be a memorable event.

SENIORS (16 and above):
Beth Tweddle will surely be the star of the show as she competes for her sixth all-around British title in a row. Beth will be challenged by last years top ranking gymnasts, number 2 - Sam Bayley (Welsh Institute of Sport), 3 - Imogen Cairns (The Academy). Imogen Cairns has exclusively revealed to Backflip that she has been reworking her bars set and this will be competed this weekend. ‘I spent a lot of time on bars and have an exciting routine being put together. I can do the elements as individual elements but they aren't quite ready for a full routine. This really increases my start score - I am doing a little of the new stuff at the British Championships.’

4 - Melanie Roberts (City of Liverpool), 5 - Rhian Pugh (Bristol Hawks) and 6 - Rosalie Hutton (Pipers Vale). Further challenges are expected to come in the shape of up and coming stars, Amy Nunes (Heathrow) the 2005 Junior Champion on Vault and Beam and Aisling Williams (Liverpool) who has recovered from injury and is back at the top. Shavahn Church (Heathrow), the British-American newcomer who made such a huge contribution to the British teams international success at the last World Championships, Commonwealth Games and European Championships, is still recovering injury.

JUNIORS (14-16 yrs old):
In the Junior section it will be a difficult task to beat Beckie Downie (Notts) - the youngest participant and medallist (Bronze on Beam) at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games and also European finalist on the Floor (6th) and in the all-around (9th) in Volos. Becky’s biggest threats include her own team-mate Laura Jones the 2005 Espoir runner up, Abi Kirby, Hannah Clowes and Hannah Whelan (Liverpool), Rebecca Wing (Heathrow), Hannah Freeman (Sapphire) and Zoe Allen (Wigan).

ESPOIR (12-14 yrs old):
The youngest gymnasts will compete in the Espoir age group it is these budding gymnasts who will hopefully lead us to success in London 2012. The pick of the bunch are expected to include Danusia Francis and Nicole Hibbert (Heathrow), Niamh Rippin, Jordan Lipton and Chelsey Orme (Notts), Jennifer Pinches (Sandbach) and Tori Simpson (Huntingdon).