At this year’s Junior British, there was not only an individual title at stake, but also a place on the team for the European Youth Olympic Festival team. The list of past representatives is an illustrious one, including the impressive 97 team of Holly Murdock, Melissa Wilcox and Lisa Mason. As with the Espoires, there was a large group of contenders with the work to take the title, who hit or who had the fewest falls would be the ultimate decider. After the first two trials, the top five were Kim Lyon, Lamara Robb, Leonni Jennison, Kerry Passmore and Amy Bagshaw. These 5 girls would definitely be in contention for all-around medals, along with Junior internationals Rhian Pugh, Sam Bayley, Melanie Roberts and Melanie Revens along with 2001 Epoire bronze medallist Imogen Cairns. Also, the likes of Emma Jagger, Katherine Stevens and Leigh Rogers could all cause upsets provided their strong pieces went well. With such a large group of contenders, the competition was an extremely exciting prospect. With two rounds, with contenders in both, the tension built and the outcome was not clear until the final rotation of the 2nd round.

Round 1

Rotation 1 –

Leonni Jennison opened her competition with a hugely expressive and crowd-pleasing floor routine. Whilst there are other gymnasts who are as artistic as Leonni, her charisma and the manner in which she sells her routine are unmatched. She did not have the most difficult tumbling, double pike, front layout – tuck front and 2 ½ twist, but what she did was well performed. Her spins and jumps were what bolstered her start value and they were really top-draw. Rhian Pugh started on her strongest and most original event. Her club, Bristol Hawks, is definitely the most original gym in the country in terms of skill selection. Rhian opened with a stunning, difficult and original combination of Zuchold – Schluedern (see picture) to stalder 1/1, continuing with a stalder ½ to straddled jaeger and stalder snap to tuck back dismount.She was immediately followed by Mel Roberts who is recovering from a back injury and still has not returned to the form which she was in when she won several medals at internationals in Canada earlier this year. She started with a giant 1 ½ right on top of the bar to geinger. Her giant 1/1 – undershoot ½ to HS was rather crooked and loose in the back. She finished with a well-landed double pike. Imogen Cairns started on floor, performing her elegant routine to ‘Tango de Roxanne’ and was precise in her tumbling and dance. She landed a sky high double pike, a front to double twist and a triple twist well, although she is capable of more difficulty. Her double spin to tuck jump double was also extremely precise. Emma Jagger began her competition on vault with a clean but slightly lacking in distance piked yurchenko. Katie Slader, who represented Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games last year, start on floor and didn't have quite the same sparkle she did when she made the floor final in Manchester. She made her triple twist all the way around, but had some errors on her jumps and I think she touched down on one tumble. Kerry Passmore also started on floor, with some nice work. She made a double pike, tour jete ½ - cat leap double - cat leap 1 ½ and a nice 2 ½ twist dismount. Marisha McConvey showed some work remeniscent of Holly Murdock on beam, with some nice lines and steady work. Freewalkover, front and CL side and 1 ½ twist dismount all landed well for a good start.

Rotation 2 –

Imogen went to vault where she had landed on her back at the English championships resulting in zero score. Here she a very good piked luconi, resulting in the highest score for that vault of the weekend. She performed a tucked version of the vault in the hopes of qualifying to the apparatus finals. Mel Roberts was on beam with Rhian, where she has the potential to score well, with a 9.8 start value if she hits. She mounted with a nice piked front, then having a slight pause between her front somie and flic – layout. She came off the beam on her side somie and had a very strange landing from her shushunova ½ following a CL side leap, which might have been deducted as technical fall (0.3). Leonni has made real progress on vault, with a solid piked front and a nice landing. Rhian Pugh won a medal on beam at the Bluewater international in Canada earlier this year, and has been steadily improving on this piece. She performed a CL ring leap, freewalkover, flic – layout, CL leap – tuck back – ring jump, side somie and a double twist with only a couple of minor wobbles. Emma Jagger worked well on bars with a tkatchev, a rather strangely shapped pak, gaint 1/1 and double pike dismount. A much better performance than at the English. Kerry Passmore sat down her piked front on vault, whilst teammate Nicki Pelech unfortunately sat down her closing 2 ½ twist on floor after working well through her opening two tumbles. Vanessa Chadwick of Notts worked well on bars with a giant 1/1 - geinger and a good double pike dismount. Kathryn Thompson of Huntingdon came off the bars on her tkatchev and has down-graded her dismount since the English to a double pike.

Rotation 3 –

With a simple, but well performed routine, Imogen maintained her position at the top of the leaderboard. She performed a good geinger, pak and a stuck double pike dismount, and hit her handstands extremely well, equalling Rhian’s score with a much lower start value. Rhian was very elegant on floor, with a nailed double pike mount, no movement on landing, a triple twist (not quite round) and a front to double twist. Mel Roberts’ back injury was most obvious on floor, where she has down-graded her tumbling significantly compared to earlier this year. She used a triple twist, double pike and front to double twist, well-performed but not as difficult as she is capable of. Bars is not Leonni’s strongest event, but she went through cleanly with a piked jaeger, pak and double pike dismount with nice lines keeping herself in the hunt for a medal. Emma went clean on beam, managing to avoid falls, although having a couple of wobbles. She landed a freewalkover, flic – layout and a nice double twist dismount. Kerry Passmore came off the bars on her geinger roll - jaeger combination, but continued well with a undershoot ½ to HS and a double front dismount. Katie Slader had a very simple bar routine, lacking in some of the special requirements and so did not have the work to score well here. Nina Dearman of Vernon Park vaulted nicely with a handspring tuck front and a tucked Phelps.

Rotation 4 –

Finishing on beam when leading the British championships is a difficult prospect for even the most experienced gymnasts. For Imogen Cairns, who has had considerable time off with injury, this was going to be a real test. Imogen more than proved herself going clean with a solid routine with only couple of small wobbles and less difficulty than she is capable of. She landed a flic – layout, onodi, CL side leap and a double twist dismount for a score in the 34s which was going to be a challenge for those who followed. Mel Roberts showed an upgraded vault with a full-twisting yurchenko, which was greeted with delight by coach Sarah Atwell. Emma Jagger finished on her strongest piece, floor, with Annika Reeder’s 97-98 routine. She tumbled a double pike, front to double twist and 2 ½ twist and had some nice dance skills. She doesn’t sell the routine quite as well as Annika did, but hopefully that will come with age. Rhian Pugh chose to perform her piked tsuk, rather than the piked cuervo she used at the Bill Slater because of the hard landing mats in Guildford. Although it was well performed, she dropped behind Mel Roberts by virtue of a lower start value. Leonni was in top group going into beam, unfortunately she could not emulate Imogen, falling and losing valuable bonus tenths. Still, Leonni must be pleased with her massive progress over the last couple of years. Kerry Passmore did well do finish beam cleanly, much to her delight. She landed a good front somie, flic - whip and a 1 ½ twist dismount. Emily Needham of East Staffs finished on her best piece with a good tucked Phelps on vault. Kathryn Thompson of Huntingdon worked well on floor, with a high double pike, triple twist, straight front - tuck front and double twist and some lively choreography. Nice to see a Huntingdon back on the up after Lisa Mason retired.

Positions after Round 1:
1. Imogen Cairns 34.275
2. Mel Roberts 33.525
3. Rhian Pugh 33.125

Round 2

Rotation 1 -

The girls in the second round would have to go some to catch Imogen’s very impressive total, but her target was definitely achievable should they hit all of their routines well. Sam Bayley, who definitely had the work to challenge Imogen, started with a nice bar routine, somewhat watered down to protect an injured shoulder. She has really improved in terms of flow on this event. She caught a nice geinger, pak and double pike dismount. Kath Stevens of Uckfield was excellent at the 2001 British Championships, finishing in 4th overall in the Espoires. She unfortunately had a zero vault last year and so had something to prove. She opened with a good handspring piked front, following with a tuck front for event finals qualification which went for a run on landing. Kim Lyon, definitely one of the top favourites after leading after 2 trials for the EYOF team, started with a fall on her opening combination on beam. She dropped off the side on her layout. However, as Mel had shown, this did not rule her out of a good placing, providing she avoided any more errors. Melanie Revens vaulted nicely with a full-twisting tuck tsukahara and a tucked Arabian tsukahara. Lamara Robb started with a great full-twisting straight yurchenko, with an excellent landing. Teammate Leigh Rogers started nicely on bars with a giant 1/1, shoot ½ to HS and a double pike dismount. Amy Bagshaw had a disappointing start to the competition with a fall on her front somie mount. The rest of her routine was very solid, with a CL leap – popa, flic – layout and stuck double tuck dismount. Lynette Lisle of Cardiff Central started with a nice bar routine, although it was missing the required release-and-catch move. She used a piked underswing to HS (sole circle to HS) on the low bar and swung nicely through her transitions.

Rotation 2:

Kim Lyon caused yet another upset by falling on her front through to 2 ½ twist middle run on floor, normally a good event for her. Her other two tumbles were clean, with a double pike and triple twist close. Lamara swung her usual bar set of a giant 1/1 – geinger, pak and her customary nailed double pike dismount. Kath Stevens' bars were definitely her weakest piece, but she still had some good work. She was missing a release and catch element (lost 0.2 for the requirement), but connected a giant 1 ½ to counter swing to HS and really fought to keep still on her double straight dismount. On beam, Sam Bayley kept her concentration up, with some solid work. She connected a CL leap – CL ¼ turn, a slightly messy standing layout (missing an acrobatic series as a result, perhaps to protect her back) rulfova, popa, wolf 1/1 and double tuck dismount. Amy Bagshaw worked well on floor with a double pike, 2 ½ - front and double twist, but had a weak cat leap double. Leigh Rogers performed solidly on beam, if not spectacularly, dismounting with a nice double tuck. Lynette Lisle had a bad time on beam with falls on her flic – tuck back and side somie. Sarah Bellis hit her beam routine well, with a front that almost came from a stand and a high double tuck dismount. Mel Revens had a large body shape break on her shoot ½ to HS on bars, but this is not her strongest event so going through without a fall was the main aim.

Rotation 3 -

The group on floor this rotation was spectacular. First off, Leigh Rogers performed a great routine with some nice choreographical touches and some great tumbling. She openeing with a great full-in and had a beautifully lifted double pike middle run. Lynette Lisle was superb, and caused a great deal of muttering in the audience over exactly how many twists she performed. Performing to some Spanish guitar music, she tumbled a superbly controlled 3 ½ twist! She is only the 3rd gymnast I know in women’s artistic gymnastics to perform a 3 ½ twist (the other two being Carmen Ionescu of Romania and Patricia Moreno of Spain). She worked elegantly through the rest of her routine, finishing with a good triple twist. Sam Bayley warmed up some insane tumbling, with a running double front, 2 ½ - straight front, 2 ½ twisting straight front and a full-in. In the competition she sat down her opening double front, as the mat slipped away from her, and the rest of the performance was not up to her usually brilliant standard. She tucked the front after the 2 ½ and was a little short on the 2 ½ twisting front. She only used a double twist dismount and looked disappointed. Still, given her injury problems this was still a great performance. Amy Bagshaw performed well one vault, with a good piked front and a new piked front ½ vault, both of which were well-landed. Lamara went clean on beam with a routine that is simpler than she is capable of, but nevertheless scored well. She connected her CL leap – 1-arm flic and was stable on her flic – layout. The landing from her double tuck dismount was great too. Kath Stevens followed with a slightly less stable but more difficult routine. Flic – layout, side somie, front somie, CL leap ½, tuck jump 1/1 and a nice double twist dismounts but a couple of wobbly moments. With a much improved handspring piked front, Kim Lyon finally had things go her way on vault and made some ground on the leaders. Sarah Bellis also went clean with a double pike, front to 2 ½ twist and double twist on floor. Another challenge for a top placing fell apart on beam, with 3 falls from Mel Revens on her freewalkover, a layout and a tuck back.

Rotation 4 -

There were some strong performances in the final rotation, as despite her error, Sam still had a chance to make it into the medals with her best piece being up last. Kath Stevens finished on floor with a pleasing routine which started with a stuck double pike. She was slightly short on her triple twist, but this didn’t distract from the overall quality of the routine. Leigh Rogers and Sarah Bellis finished on vault with the same pairing of vaults. Both performed nice piked luconis and well-flighted straight yuchenkos. Lynette Lisle had beautiful rhythm on her piked yurchenko, floating over the vault to end a pretty good day. Amy Bagshaw worked well on bars, with a jaeger that was caught close to the bar, pak and a oddly shaped double straight dismount. Kim Lyon swung well on bars, with some form errors creeping in here and there. She linked a giant 1/1 – geinger, shoot ½ to HS – toe shoot and a nice double straight dismount. Disappointing competition overall, but she has been one of the top juniors this year, so an off competition is forgivable. Melanie Revens finished with a strong floor performance, as per usual, but had a bit of a strange landing on her middle run of 2 ½ twist. Lamara, much to the shock of her coaches, produced the second freak fall of the championships on a dance element, falling to the floor on her double spin. This cost her a chance of a medal, given her low start value on this event following a year of injuries. Sam Bayley vaulted herself into a medal position with a superb piked front ½ which rocketed off the top of the table. Not quite enough, but even with mistakes she is a force to be reckoned with.

1 .Imogen Cairns 34.275
2. Sam Bayley 33.675
3. Mel Roberts 33.525

This was a great year for the junior competition, despite the mistakes by some of the top contenders. There was quality way down the field and most encouraging of all, there was some great expression on floor, an area in which the seniors can sometimes be lacking. Hopefully this group will continue to progress for next year’s European championships and the worlds in 2005.

At the beginning of the Event finals the team was named for the EYOF. Kim Lyon, Imogen Cairns and Sam Bayley will go to Paris at the beginning of August, with Lamara Robb and Leonni Jennison being named as reserves.

Report writen by Dan