Magicperformanceslift TeamAustraliafrombronzetosilver

THEY said it best — a team silver medal made for a truly magical moment for Australia’s artistic gymnasts at the Commonwealth Games.

The Australians took home bronze on the Gold Coast in 2018, and they went one better in Birmingham with a stylish series of performances from Alexandra Kiroi-Bogatyreva, Lidiia

Iakovleva and Ashari Gill. Canada claimed the team gold, while England took bronze.

“We all came through a very long journey to be here, a few mistakes were made, but we can work through that for the all-around and individual finals,” Kiroi-Bogatyreva said.

“We’re going bigger and bigger each time.”

Wellington-born, Melbournebased Kiroi-Bogatyreva will be a hot favourite heading into the all-around and individual apparatus finals after a strong showing in the qualifiers.

The 20-year-old athlete qualified third overall in the all-around, first in the ball, second in the clubs and fourth in ribbons — only missing out on the hoop final.

In an interesting quirk, Kiroi-Bogatyreva is the only athlete at the Commonwealth Games who competed in Birmingham 2022 and - well, Birmingham 2022.

Kiroi-Bogatyreva was recently in

Birmingham, Alabama in the United States — named after Birmingham, England — where she also competed at the World Games.

At the games Kiroi-Bogatyreva recorded the highest ever ranking for an Australian gymnast.

“I think I’m one of the only athletes today with two major competitions before this,” she said.

“They were very big events, it was the best physical preparation I could ever have.”