A talented group of 49 Broken Hill gymnasts hit the road to Whyalla over the long weekend to compete in their first Invitational Championships event.
Performing on all four apparatus – vault, bars, beam, and floor – for many of the gymnasts, this was their first competition performing in a higher level.
The 2023 Whyalla Gymnastics Invitational Championships were the biggest regional gymnastics event in SA history, attracting over 600 athletes to Whyalla to compete in Masters, Men’s Artistic Gymnastics (MAG), Women’s Artistic Gymnastics (WAG) and more than 13 Free Gym/Fun Gymnastics sessions with 2500 people passing through the doors to watch gymnasts perform.
“All gymnasts performed exceptionally well with many achieving personal best scores,” said local Head Coach, Zoe Tonkin.
“The competition was very high scoring overall and our girls did not disappoint. It was a privilege to see many achieve skills for the first time that they’d been working on in a competition setting,” she said.
With the event themed, ‘Spring is in the Eyre’, the local gymnasts wore bright yellow and pink leotards designed especially for the event and dressed as bright flowerpots between performances, taking out the Best Dressed win in the first session of the event.
“We’ve had a very successful year with gymnast competing in three major competitions and doing extremely well representing, not just themselves, but their club and Broken Hill,” says Ms Tonkin.
“As a club, we now get to have some fun, learn some new skills, and prepare for comp season 2024.”
Broken Hill participated in eight out of the 11 sessions over the long weekend with Broken Hill receiving placings in all levels:
Level 5
Zahlia Delbridge 2nd Vault
Zahra Cawley 1st floor, 6th beam, and 6th overall
Belle Mullins 4th Bars
Level 4
Molly Gibson 5th Floor
Brooklyn Mannion 3rd Vault
Level 3
Freya Lloyd 2nd Bars, 2nd Vault, 3rd Floor and 2nd overall
Level 1 and 2
Many first, second and third placings for these levels
