Silver for Holly on successful weekend for Wales
A GOLD medal for the Wales men’s artistic team and individual all-around gold for man of the moment Joe Cemlyn-jones were the highlights of two days of Northern Europeans gymnastics action in Cardiff last weekend.
The six-strong Welsh team also included Emil Barber, Brinn Bevan, Jacob Edwards, Benji Eyre and brilliant junior Alex Niscoveanu and dominated the men’s team competition with a 319.400 total, ahead of defending team champions Norway (307.750) and Finland (306.050).
It saw the team go one better than their silver medal at the last Northern Europeans in 2019, while it also secured a first gold medal for the Wales men’s team at this event since 2011.
Also going one better was City of Birmingham’s Cemlyn-jones, second in the individual all-around in 2019. He took the honours with a total score of 80.750; 15-year-old Niscoveanu (78.700) was rewarded with a bronze after a stunning all-around performance.
The medals continued to roll in on Sunday in the apparatus finals.
Cemlyn-jones took two more golds, on floor and the pommel horse, to complete a golden individual treble. He also claimed bronze on the parallel bars.
Brinn Bevan (South Essex Gymnastics Club), the reigning British champion on parallel bars, added the Northern European title on that apparatus to his long list of achievements, with Benji Eyre (Loughborough Students) bagging a bronze on high bar.
There was also Welsh representation in two other apparatus finals, with Emil Barber (Swansea Gymnastics Centre) fourth on vault and Niscoveanu eighth on rings.
Welsh gymnasts made up four of the top five in the individual all-around on Saturday, with Bevan in fourth and Eyre fifth.
In the women’s competition, Swansea’s Holly Jones matched her second place on vault from this event in 2019 with another silver to put down a marker for this month’s Women’s Artistic British Championships.
She took second with an average score of 13.600 for her two vaults to finish behind Denmark’s Sara Bergmann Jacobsen (13.850).
“I was pleased considering this is my first competition back in two years,” said Jones, from Morriston, who had qualified in sixth.
“I did my harder first vault today as well. I didn’t do it yesterday because I just wanted to do a clean vault and if I made finals today, which I did, I was going to go for it – and it paid off.
“This was a good first competition to get back into the flow. I didn’t put any pressure on myself to get a medal, I just wanted to come and do everything I’ve been training for.”
England, making their first Northern Europeans appearance in the 20-year history of the competition, took the women’s team title, with Norway second and Finland third.
Full results from the 2021 Northern Europeans are available at gymdata.co.uk