Rhythmic gymnasts Laura Halford, 21 and 19-year-old Gemma Frizelle both made good starts at their first selection event to represent Wales at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
Appearing at the Welsh Rhythmic Championships on 8 and 9 July, Laura retained her individual all-around title and came first in all the apparatus events, with Gemma placed second in each.
The pair are among four Rhythmic gymnasts competing for a maximum of three places for Wales, with Carys Davies aged 17 and Abigail Hanford, 15 also in contention to travel to Gold Coast 2018.
Results summary
Individual all-around competition – Saturday
1st: Laura Halford
2nd: Gemma Frizelle
3rd: Carys Davies
Apparatus Final – Sunday
Hoop 1st Laura, 2nd Gemma, 3rd Abigail
Ball 1st Laura, 2nd Gemma, 3rd Abigail
Clubs 1st Laura, 2nd Gemma, 3rd Abigail
Ribbon 1st Laura, 2nd Gemma, 3rd Carys
Jo Coombs, Welsh Gymnastics Head of Performance and Excellence is upbeat about the Rhythmic gymnasts’ Commonwealth Games prospects.
“We are confident that we have great medal potential following on from our unprecedented eight Rhythmic Gymnastics medals at the last Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014,” Jo added.
The weekend’s event was also a chance for the gymnasts to try out their routines for the first time in public before the Rhythmic Gymnastics British Championships which start on 27 July at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.