Schoolgirls make history at World Championships
TWO schoolgirls have made British history after coming out top at the Aerobic World Championships.
Nancy Law, 12, from Pentrebach, and Seren Jones, 11, from Aberdare, blew away the competition in Portugal last week to take home silver in the group stage of the prestigious gymnastics competition.
For the girls the team achievement marked the first ever aerobic medal for Great Britain in their age group.
It also signalled the end of two years of hard work, training five times a week to get the coveted spot.
Nancy’s dad Jason, 43, said: “In the qualifications on Saturday they were third place so they were just hanging in equal to fourth and just behind second.
“It was emotional. When their final results came in we still had three or four to go but apart from Russia we were quite confident we would beat them.
“It was a strong performance and we came in front of Bulgaria and Hungary who had come in front of us in the qualifiers.
“It was an incredible achievement for the girls.”
For the pair the medal also follows after travelling hundreds of miles every day to train at Weston Aerobic Gymnastics Club in Westonsuper-Mare along with additional sessions with head coach Shea Jones in Aberdare.
Jason said: “Two years of hard work is all worth it.
“We have the British Championships in two weeks and then we will sit down with the coaches to see how we are doing.
“It will calm down now with training four nights a week.”
Seren’s mum Karen said: “It’s just an immense feeling, we travelled down with the team and just went through a whole series of emotions – nerves, excitement, anticipation to pure joy and elation.
“It was nerve-wrecking but we know the coaches and girls have worked so hard and they delivered what we knew they would.
“It was just so good to see them reap the rewards of their hard work.”
After reaching the club’s best ever score of 19.0 the girls also had the chance to celebrate in a post-competition party with other countries.
Seren said: “It was amazing but really nerve-wracking. The best bit was standing on the podium getting given the medals.
“It all paid off in the end.”