Abigail Roper

At this weekend’s Welsh Championships held in Cardiff, 20-year-old Abigail Roper of Pipers Vale and 19-year-old Elliot Vernon of Leeds won the senior all-around titles in the national category, while 20-year-old Ruby Stacey of Plymouth Swallows and 25-year-old Adam Tobin of Notts took the open all-around titles.

Roper, who used to represent England but switched to Wales a few years ago along with her twin sister Emily Roper – who was the silver national all-around medalist here in addition to winning the vault and floor titles – had a fall on beam but was otherwise solid, earning a 50.900 to win the title by nearly two points, and she picked up the gold on bars on the second day of the competition. Her sister posted a 48.800 for second place, and Ellie Lewis of Pen Y Bont won the bronze with a 46.800, struggling on bars but showing a nice floor routine to finish things off.

Also in the hunt for the all-around podium was Jemima Taylor of Newport, who had a solid day until beam. Her mostly gorgeous routine included a leap series to Korbut and back roll to handstand into her acro series, but she ended up crashing her double tuck dismount. She still earned a 12.450 with the fall, but then unfortunately had a disastrous routine on floor, putting up just a 9.150 to finish her day with a 46.300. She did go on to win a pair of bronze medals in the apparatus finals, however, earning a 12.450 on bars and a 12.150 on beam.

2025 world floor medalist and last year’s national champion Ruby Evans of Cardiff Olympic competed only three events here, skipping bars. Her Yurchenko double full on vault showed a lot of power, earning a 14.100, and looked mostly solid on beam and floor, slipping a bit on the punch front mount and wobbling on a front aerial in the former but she managed a 13.100 there, and on floor she was a bit watered down with a front layout to front double full, front full to front full, back layout full, and double tuck, though again she scored well, earning a 12.900.

Evans skipped the apparatus finals, which the Ropers pretty heavily dominated, though the other standout was Frances Stone of Derbyshire with a lovely routine on beam. The 16-year-old showed polish and poise on her sole event both days of competition, with her finals routine earning a 13.050 to take the title.

The open all-around competition, which allows for non-Welsh gymnasts to compete and get some practice in, ended up seeing a very tight podium, where Stacey led with a 51.350, followed closely by Alia Leat of Heathrow with a 51.150 for silver thanks in part to a fabulous beam routine that earned a 13.650, and Abigail Roper, whose score of 50.900 was good enough for bronze in this field.

This competition marked Stacey’s first meet back since Euros last spring. She was hoping to make the world championships team last year, but suffered a car accident on her way to the trial competition and unfortunately had to withdraw. She looked great here, though – a bit weak in her tumbling on floor, but she was otherwise solid, putting up the highest bars score with a 13.450 and also landing a Yurchenko 1½ and earning a 13.100 on beam.

The biggest news in the open competition was the return of Jennifer Gadirova of Lynx Aylesbury on bars and beam. She didn’t have massive scores on either apparatus, but her beam looked lovely and controlled, and she still managed a 12.750 with just a layout dismount. This marked Gadirova’s first national-level competition since her previous comeback attempt at the British Team Championships in 2024, and was a great first step as she looks towards the English and British championships in the coming months, as well as any international meets she has her sights set on this year.

Madi Jones of Park Wrekin was the junior national champion with a 44.450 (which includes two tenths of bonus for her work on bars), but she didn’t reach the podium in the open field, where the English gymnast Helena Finc of Park Wrekin dominated with a 52.350 (including four tenths of bonus).

Finc had the top scores on vault (13.150), bars (13.450 without bonus), and beam (13.100) as well as the second-best score on floor (12.250 without bonus) to win this title by nearly five points. The open silver medalist was Jenitha Johnson of Heathrow with a 47.800 (including four tenths of bonus), while Elisabetta Cardelli of Heathrow won the bronze with a 47.500 (also including four tenths of bonus).

The national aspire-level title went to Sophia Davies of Pen Y Bont with a 43.284, while the open field saw Lily-Mae Challenger of Falcons win with a 45.951 (including two tenths of bonus).

In the men’s national competition, Vernon had a solid win with a 76.400 in the all-around – boosted by a 14.150 for his excellent parallel bars routine – to defeat last year’s champion Jacob Edwards of Olympus, who was second with a 75.050, while Alexander Niscoveanu of South Essex won the bronze with a 72.750.

Vernon was also a close fourth in the open field, where Adam Tobin of Notts won with a 78.750, ahead of his club teammate Hamish Carter with a 77.400 for silver, while Joshua Nathan of South Essex won the bronze with a 76.650.

Also notable in the open field was Courtney Tulloch of South Essex, who competed every apparatus except high bar and had a great day overall. He was a little iffy with some handstand positions on parallel bars, and had a few issues with landings on floor, but his rings routine was phenomenal, earning a 14.550, and he showed a powerful Dragulescu on vault to earn a 14.100 there. 2025 world pommel horse finalist Alexander Yolshin-Cash of Notts had a miss on his key event, but he showed a nice parallel bars set and also competed on high bar, Reuben Ward of MAOG stunned with a 14.950 on pommel horse in addition to a 13.300 on high bar, and Jonas Rushworth of Leeds hit pommels for a 13.100 and high bar for a 13.500.

In Sunday’s apparatus finals, Edwards won on floor with a 13.250, junior Zakaine Fawzi of Notts won pommel horse with a 14.300, Remell Robinson-Bailey of Birmingham won rings with a 13.350, the Irish gymnast Ewan McAteer of Salto Gymnastics won vault with a 13.00 average, Yolshin-Cash won parallel bars with a 13.800, and Ward – who unfortunately had a miss on pommels in the finals but still earned a 13.600 there – won high bar with a 13.500.

The junior and youth national competition saw Jed Lewis of Colchester win the U18 title with a 69.400, Iolo Parry of Fusion Wales win the U16 title with a 65.000, and Thomas Welch of Fusion Wales win the U14 title with a 62.600, while the open competition saw George Atkins of South Essex with the U18 title with a 76.600, James Knipe of MAOG win the U16 title with a 72.550, and Kaydn Jackson of South Essex win the U14 title with a 71.550. Ahmed Mirgahany of Swansea won the U12 title in both the national and open matches with a 61.450.

For complete results, click here for WAG and here for MAG.

Article by Lauren Hopkins