THIRTEEN year-old Ruby Stacey from Tavistock has had a successful start to the gymnastics competition season.  

In February she travelled to Essex to compete in the English Championships where she won a gold medal for bars, silver for floor and bronze for beam.  These scores meant she became the 2018 English Espoir champion.

Three weeks later it was the British Championships at the Echo Arena in Liverpool.  This is the biggest event in the British gymnastic calendar.  Ruby achieved a personal best score and became the runner up in the Espoir championship, and a silver medal.  Her results meant that she was in three finals three days later.  Ruby became the British bars champion, bronze medalist for vault and sixth on beam.  She was then invited to join a GB junior training squad at Lilleshall in Shropshire.  This was a weekend of intensive training with the best GB coaches and gymnasts.

This week Ruby has been invited to join the GB junior squad for 2018 and become an ambasador for a company that sponsors most of GB gymnastic events.  She was also delighted to be congratulated by British gymnastic star Amy Tinkler.

Ruby is trained at Plymouth Swallows by her coach Jemma Maskell.