The British Are Coming! The British Are Coming!

It's been more than a month now since the British Championships but there were many exciting things to see like the crowning of a new champion in Gabby Jupp and the return of Becky Downie and Ruby Harrold. The Espoirs are the athletes that particularly caught my attention. In Great Britain, the Espoirs are the current 12-13 year olds meaning some will be eligible for Rio 2016 but we'll see most of them in the next quad.

The two names most often talked about are Catherine Lyons (senior in 2016) and Louise McColgan (senior in 2017). Lyons represented Great Britain at the Australian Youth Olympic Games and made an impression for her great flexibility and grace on beam and floor. Louise McColgan is often praised for having unique choreography in her floor routine.

Below is Catherine Lyons 1st place floor routine as part of a playlist of Espoir beam and floor event finalists. My strong recommendation is for you to watch Lyons' beam, Louise McColgan's floor, & Georgia-Mae Fenton's bar routine (senior in 2016).


The gymnastics that the Espoir gymnasts are showing is truly exciting. There's a lot of talk of the new Code of Points and how it's bringing back the "old school" 3 combination passes on beam and taking artistry into account on floor. The Espoirs, however, seem to just have interesting routines, regardless of the new code. It ranges from different mounts on beam to interesting and unique choreography on floor. I'm curious how their floor routines will evolve. Currently, these young ladies are just 12 and 13 years old and this choreography may not work when they turn 16 and 17. I just hope the level of choreography and the interpretation of movement remains. They do such a great job for being so young!

Check out gifs of the beam mounts from the beam finalists here
And watch Catherine Lyons practice beam mounts with teammate Georgia-Mae Fenton here - includes a switch split mount!

Aspen835/@katie_holden17 made a montage introducing the Espoirs. Take notice! I'm looking forward to following their gymnastics through the next quad.



Photo Credit: Catherine Lyons on twitter