Ellie Downie scoops title in Liverpool


Ellie Downie claimed the women's all-around title at the British Gymnastics Championships at a sold-out Echo Arena in Liverpool on Saturday night.

The 17-year-old eclipsed team-mates Claudia Fragapane and Amy Tinkler to take the crown for the first time with a string of confident performances.

Downie, who was part of the hugely successful Great Britain team at last year's Rio Olympics, scored 55.350 ahead of Alice Kinsella and Maisie Methuen.

The result added to Downie's growing medal collection after she had taken all-around bronze at the European Championships two years ago.

Returning from a period away from the sport, Fragapane qualified first for Sunday's individual apparatus final with a crowd-pleasing performance on the floor.

Tinkler, in her first competitive performance since her shock Rio bronze medal, finished eighth on the parallel bars, which was also just enough to earn a place in Sunday's individual final.

The 17-year-old, who is shrugging off the after-effects of a minor calf injury, is targeting next month's World Cup and European Championships in London and Romania respectively.

Joe Fraser was a surprise winner of the men's all-around competition in his first year in the senior competition.

Fraser, who won the junior British title last year, totalled 82.100 ahead of Dominick Cunningham and James Hall, who shared the silver medal on 80.800.

Downie said she hoped her success would make up for the disappointment of her own below-par performance in Rio and set her up for improvement at the big events to come this year.

Despite the history-making seven-medal haul for the British Olympians, Downie was left dissatisfied with her 13th place in the all-around competition and her contribution to fifth place in the team event.

Downie said: "Rio was obviously great for the sport but for me it didn't really go to plan and it was hard to stay motivated after coming home, so this is a great achievement to come back and win.

"I've come close at the Nationals twice before and not quite got there so it's a really big boost for the year ahead. I think I performed pretty well although I know there is still a lot to work on."

Downie proved a popular winner in front of an enthusiastic Liverpool crowd and admitted the platform upon which the domestic sport now finds itself contributed hugely to her ability to bounce back after Brazil.

She added: "The sport is such a big thing right now and being part of that team in Rio - even if things didn't go exactly to plan for me personally - just showed that we belong at that level and there's no reason why I can't go on to achieve the same myself."

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