Young gymnasts thrive at national championships

Four boys from Shetland Gymnastics Club attended the National Scottish Gymnastics men’s artistic floor and vault championships on Sunday.

They won a team bronze in the competition, held in the new purpose-built Aberdeen Gymnastics Centre, while Ronan Grant won gold in his age group.

This was a “boys only” competition and each competed in a vault specific for their age group plus eight skills on a row of mats twelve by two metres.

The boys thrived being among other boys from all over Scotland, the City of Glasgow team being coached by a previous Commonwealth Games gymnast.

In the under-10 group Stephen Leask finished second on floor, fifth on vault and fourth overall, narrowly missing out on a medal by 0.25 points.

Wayne Leask finished sixth on floor, fourth on vault, missing out on a medal by 0.15 points, and sixth overall.

Joe Sales Leslie finished eighth on floor, ninth on vault and 10th overall.

Combining the boys scores meant the team finished third overall, receiving the bronze medal with a score of 68.90. The gold medal team finished with a score of 69.90.

In the under-12 group Grant won gold on floor, gold on vault and gold overall.

Head coach Julie Grant commended all the boys on their performances, saying they did Shetland proud.

She thanked Fiona Grieve, the coach on the day, for preparing the boys for the competition and making sure they knew exactly what they were doing, and Stuart Leask for being the photographer.