British Espoire Championships 2003
Guildford Spectrum, 4th July 2003

The Espoires competition is always exciting and unpredictable. It offers a glimpse into the talent coming through from the age groups system and because of the youth of the competitors, aged 12 or 13 in the year of competition, it is difficult to predict who will win as any one of over a dozen gymnasts could challenge with a clean competition. This year was no exception. Whilst there was a large group who could win if they went clean, the two favourites were Aisling Williams of City of Liverpool and Amy Fossheim of South Durham. These two gymnasts had an advantage in terms of start values and quality of work over the rest of the field. There was also a large group of gymnasts with the quality and difficulty to take the title with a good performance including Amy's teammate Hayley Robson, Laura Burridge of Fromeside, Hannah Wickins of Wiltshire and Emma Smith of Liverpool. Also, the likes of Sam Gavrovski of Lynx, Zoe Allen of Wigan, Gabrielle Santus of the Academy and Hannah Clowes of Liverpool could all cause upsets. With 46 competitiors, the competition was split into 2 rounds with the two South Durham girls in the first round with Laura and Hannah and the two Liverpool gymnasts in the second round.

Round 1

Rotation 1:

With two of the contenders starting on beam, the outcome of the competition could well have been decided on the first piece. Hayley Robson started with a fall on her opening series of CL leap - side somie, much to the disappointment of the audience. She showed great determination working through the rest of her routine cleanly with a 1-arm flic - layout, CL side leap and a double twist dismount. Any more errors and Hayley would definitely be out of the medals. Amy Fossheim followed with 2 falls, guaranteeing the best Espoire beam worker would not be in the apparatus final. She came off on her flic - layout and her front somie. Laura Burridge started off her competition well with a piked luconi, a high tariffed but deduction prone vault, and used a piked yurchenko to earn a berth in the vault final. Hannah Wickins, who had clacked her heels very heavily in training on bars earlier in the week and was not at her best as a result of the bruises, made it through her bar routine of jaeger, pak and double front, but form breaks aplenty kept her score down. Stevie Monk of Liverpool started with a solid piked tsuk on vault and was followed by a successful handspring front from Nicole Wooder of Hillingdon. Unfortunately, Nicole balked on her 2nd vault, an Ivantcheva (RO ½ on - tuck front), running out on both attempts. Kirtsy Purnell of South Essex started with a nice floor routine including a triple twist, 2 ½ twist and a whip to double twist. Neenagh Campbell of Vernon Park performed a well-presented routine to a piece of Spanish guitar music, with a nailed double tuck opener, 2 ½ twist and a front to double twist with a step out of bounds. Sam Gavrovski became the third contender to drop off beam, with a fall on her CL side leap. Emily Fiander of Heathrow just sneaked her triple twist mount round on floor, and went clean through the rest of her tumbles. Hala Alali showed great improvements on her weakest event, bars, with a giant 1/1, undershoot to HS and double pike dismount.

Rotation 2:

Stevie Monk caught her tkatchev (new since the English) only to come off on her undershoot to HS, which came over the wrong way. She performed a simple straight back to dismount. Hayley and Amy came back strong on floor after their disappointing start. Both tumbled well with a stuck double pike, whip to full twist and triple twist from Hayley and a full-in, 1 ½ to 2 ½ twist (slight stagger on the landing) and a double twist from Amy. They sold their routines very well, really getting into their choreography and receiving great audience reactions. On bars, Laura Burridge went through her routine of geinger, pak and double straight cleanly. Lisa-Marie Winterage of Horsham, proving to be one of the surprise packages of the competition, went through beam very cleanly, with a flic - layout, front, CL side leap and 1 ½ twist dismount. Hannah Wickins was wobbly on beam, with a fall on her front somie and an ankle crunching landing on her double tuck. Over on vault Emily Fiander vaulted a high piked yurchenko and Neenagh Campbell stuck her piked tsuk. Gabrielle Wright of Huntingdon had been going well on beam with a flic - whip, but touched down on her double tuck dismount. Beam also claimed Hala Alali, who fell 3 times. On floor, Sam Gavrovski continued her bad day with a fall on her opening double pike (a surprise as she is capable of a piked full-in!) and then finished with another fall on her 2 ½ twist. Maria Seager of Olga-Poole made the vault final with a well-landed tucked arabian tsuk. Nicole Wooder, who resembles the Romanian international Oana Ban, came off the bars on her clear circle 1/1 but went through her giant 1/1 and double pike dismount successfully.

Rotation 3:

Hayley Robson started the 3rd rotation with an unfortunate fall on ger piked luconi, after getting much better lift off the top of the vault, she pulled her feet under her and sat down. She did have the consolation of making the vault final by landing her second vault, a piked yurchenko. Amy Fossheim was high and clean in her straight and piked yurchenko, qualifying in second to the vault final. Laura Burridge dropped herself right out of the medal race with falls on beam. Despite her clean lines, a fall on her flic - layout and her front somie left her with too much to do on her final piece, floor. Stevie Monk also came off beam, on a free walkover, and only used a simple 1/1 twist dismount. Hannah Wickins has improved her technique on her arabian double front, but over-cooked if slightly, falling forward onto her hands and knees out of the area. She was also rather low on her double pike. Given her bruised ankles though, this was understandable and she is capable of much better. On bars, Emily Fiander caught a good tkatchev and on floor Lisa-Marie Winterage dance her way through a great exercise to the Mask. She stuck her opening double pike and boosted her start value with some good jumps, a cat leap double - cat leap 1 ½, and it was her precision which lifted her to one of the highest floor scores of the day. Nicole Wooder earned the 2nd highest beam score of the day with some good clean work. She used a flic - layout, sheep jump and a front somie avoiding major errors. Hala Alali performed some nice tumbles, including a double pike and a 2 ½ twist but stepped out of bounds on both. Sam Gavrovski looked relieved to go clean on her piked yurchenko, after a troubled start to the competition

Rotation 4:

Hayley Robson could have pulled herself back into contention for a medal with a clean bar routine, but she couldn't catch her massive geinger, losing the fall, the bonus for the connection with her giant 1/1 and her flight element special requirement, dropping her down to 9th by the end of the day. Amy Fossheim hit her bar routine superbly, extremely pleasing given this has been her bogey piece at the Spectrum for her last few competitions. She has improved her already good giant 1/1 so it finishes nearer handstand, and had good form on her geinger. A double pike with a couple of steps took her into the lead after the first round. Nicole Wooder finished what was a pretty successful competition on floor with some nice work, double tuck, 1 ½ - front and 2 ½ twist for 3rd after the first round. Lisa-Marie Winterage proved that clean lines, stability and quality can mean more than massive difficulty with a solid piked tsuk leaving her just behind Amy at the end of the first round in 2nd with an impressive 32.050 total. Neenagh Capmbell finished her competition on beam with a very steady routine, flic - tuck back without any movement on landing and an arabesque with great amplitude. Laura Burridge performed to 'Ballet Russe' with some nice twisting tumbles, 2 ½ - front (out of the area), triple twist (a little short) and double twist. Stevie Monk didn't have the most difficult of tumbling, but landed her tumbles well and had some nice presentation. Emily Fiander mount beam with a lovely back plance, ala Kim Zmeskal, but broke the connection between her tuck back and flic, leaving her without an acro series. Hannah Wickins had the performance she needed to regain her confidence with a handspring piked front vault that shot off the top of the apparatus. Paired with an equally dynamic tucked front, Hannah made her way into the apparatus final.

Top 5 after Round 1:

1. Amy Fossheim 32.650
2. Lisa-Marie Winterage 32.050
3. Nicole Wooder 31.850
4. Laura Burridge 31.750
5. Hayley Robson 31.375

Round 2

Rotation 1:

Zoe Allen, formerly of City of Liverpool and now at Wigan, opened her competition on floor. As the winner of the Level 2 voluntaries last year, Zoe definitely had the work to make an impression on the leader board. She opened with a high double tuck, using dramatic music (although she missed some of the beats, making me think this may have been a new routine). She had a large step on her 2 ½ twist but finished well with a front through to double twist. Aisling Williams opened with a very big double pike, but then, much to my dismay, over-cooked her return 2 ½ - punch front, landing sitting down. Still, as Amy Fosshiem had shown, a fall did not mean the end of the title chance. However, to the audience's and her coaches' astonishment, she had a freak fall on a cat leap 1 ½ having been off direction on the preceding cat leap double. She did well to hit her closing triple twist, but was obviously disappointed with the start to her championships. Heathrow's tiny Dalliah Owen made a good start to her competition on bars, with a tidy exercise including a tkatchev and a double pike dismount. Emma Smith of Liverpool managed to block out her teammate's disappointing start and performed a fantastic floor routine to 'The Mexican hat Dance' with some lovely little dance touches and some solid tumbling, a double pike, 2 ½ - front, triple twist and double twist, with solid landings. Her score on floor was to be the highest of the Espoires competition. Gabrielle Santus has obviously been working hard to prepare for this competition, looking much better than at the English Championships. She started on bars with a nice routine including a clear circle, tkacthev and shoot front ½. Emma Graddon of Exeter also proved to be an interesting gymnast to watch, with some nice tumbling on floor; a tidy 2 ½ twist and 1 ½ twist - punch front. The third contender from Liverpool, Hannah Clowes started her competition on beam. Suffering the same fate as the two South Durham girls, she dropped off the side on her side somie. This was a real pity, as she had made a confident start with a change leg leap - 1-arm flic - layout combination. Rebecca Price started with a gorgeous jump to straddle planche, being one of the few gymnasts to hit the correct body position in this skill. She landed her flic - tuck back solidly, and despite having only a straight back straight back dismount, she qualified to the apparatus final.

Rotation 2:

Zoe Allen performed a standard piked yurchenko, the vault of choice for many girls this age. Aisling Williams got back on track and considerably improved on Zoe with a flighty and difficult full-twisting straight yurchenko, to which she added a straight yurchenko for the top vault qualification. Over on beam, Gabrielle Santus suffered two falls, on her change leg leap - tuck back combination and on her flic - layout, effectively ending her chance of a podium finish. Lauren Graham of West Lothian had been impressive in the warm-up for floor, but in the competition she couldn't quite control the landing of her double pike, running backwards out of the area, to end up sitting down. Her other two tumbles, a 2 ½ twist and front to double twist, were well landed, but the damage was done. Hannah Clowes performed with pleasing expression to Emma Williams' old cowboyt style music, with clean tumbling and dance. Double pike, 2 ½ twist and front to double twist landed nicely and a well-connected CL ring leap to cat leap double. Emma Smith cemented her good start with an extremely well-landed handspring tuck front vault, the highest scoring performance of that vault amongst the espoires. Jennifer Hannah of Park Wrekin nailed her tumbling and had some great dance connections on floor, with the usual mix of turning cat leaps, and was credited with the highest floor start value of the competition, qualifying in equal second for the apparatus final. Dalliah Owen again performed well, with a very stable, although simple, routine. She mounted with a lift to handstand, lower to powerful planche, and her flic - tuck back was very steady. A double twist saw her into the apparatus final.

Rotation 3:

If there was one piece of apparatus with a gymnast well ahead of all of her contemporaries in terms of difficulty and performance, it was bars and Aisling Williams. Although it did not quite come off in the competition, with a rather off-kilter opening giant 1 ½, Aisling's bars are better than many senior competitiors, even those in the running for the World Championships squad. It is very encouraging to see such a young gymnast with such mastery over this technical event. She made her giant 1/1 - geinger, shoot 1/2 to handstand - toe shoot and full-in easily, and regained considerable ground in the race for the title. Gabrielle Santus has transformed on floor in a few short weeks. She opened with and impressive tucked full-in and moved her double pike to her second line. With work of this level, she placed herself in the finals and made somewhat of amends for her falls on beam. Emma Smith is not the strongest bar worker by any means, but she made it through her routine without major error, retaining her lead after three rotations. A giant full, undershoot ½ to HS and a double pike with another excellent landing did the business. Hannah Clowes performed another par for the course piked yurchenko, which kept her in the hunt for a top 10 placing. Zoe Allen is normally a strong bars performer, with good shapes in her swings and some difficult skills. Unfortunately, she caught her tkatchev only to slide off on the swing forward into the upstart which followed it. Even a very well-shapped and well-landed double straight couldn't pull her score up.

Rotation 4:

Emma Graddon performed some nice work on bars, with and interesting under pirouette after handstand rather than the regular blind turn before handstand. In the warm-ups she kept performing and exceptional high, but very close, straight back dismount, which had visions of Sam Bayley and Amy Bagshaw's crashes from last year running through my head. As it was, she made her double pike without my heary jumping into my mouth. Amy Nunes, competing on her only event, performed extremely well on bars. She appears to have grown a little, and her line was not quite as clean as earlier in the year, but her skills were still excellent. She caught a high tkatchev with good counter-rotation, giant 1/1 - pak and a double pike dismount. Finishing on beam is an unenviable task for an espoire, particularly when you are leading the competition unexpectedly. Emma Smith more than rose to the challenge on what is one of her strongest pieces. She performed one of the best acrobatic connections following a tuck back I've ever seen at any level, linking a CL leap - tuck back - 1-arm flic like it was a rebound series rather than on a beam. Her side somie was rock solid, and the only weak element in the routine was a slightly bent-legged CL side leap. With a flic - flic 2 - double twist Emma secured her place at the top of the leaderboard having put together 4 excellent, stable routines. Gabrielle Santus finished over on vault with yet another piked yurchenko, but must have been pleased with her performance overall. Zoe Allen unfortunately ended her competition on a disappointing note, with a fall on her opening combination of CL leap - ¾ shushunova. The rest of the routine was well done, with a solid flic - layout, side somie and double twist dismount, but the resulting 15th place AA was well below her potential, and I am sure there is much more to come from Zoe. Hannah Clowes finished on her weakest event as far as start value goes, bars, and so would have had to perform the routine of her life to make it into the top 5. She performed the same routine as Emma Smith had, but her undershoot ½ to HS was not quite good enough to be credited for bonus. Aisling Williams was the last of the contenders to compete, and beam was always going to be a tough one. It is proof of her ability that a score of 8.3, well within her grasp, would have taken her into the lead despite her disastrous start on floor. She started positively with a well-linked CL side to shushunova ½ combination. She missed her foot on her free-walkover, ending any chances of catching Emma Smith. Still, with no more errors, Amy Fossheim's score could well be beaten. Unfortunately, she remounted only to drop off on her flic - layout. A disappointing end to the competition for Aisling.

1. Emma Smith 33.250
2. Amy Fosshiem 32.650
3. Aisling Williams 32.225

Report writen by Dan