Irish Teams Conclude International Acro Competitions

Puurs-Sint-Amands, Belgium; Team Ireland’s Acro Gymnasts conclude the weekend's competition. Katie Byrne, Lily Murphy & Ciara Kane and Aaron Byrne & Thomas Joseph (TJ) Fenlon finished their respective finals at the Flanders International Acro and World Cup.

Katie, Lily, and Ciara qualified in 11th place in their Balance Routine Final at the Flanders International and finished 8th place with a score of 26.3 which was an increase from 26.1 in qualifications. 

Aaron and TJ qualified 5th place in the FIAC World Cup combined routine and finished in 5th place after an unfortunate slip in the routine. They showed great resilience and had a strong finish scoring 22.97 at their first Senior World Cup.

Commenting on their performances, Coach Aoife said:

"Having a group in both the FIAC final and the World Cup final was an extraordinary achievement for us! The trio performed beautifully and went up 3 rankings, this will give them so much confidence as they head into the Age Group European Championships next month. While the boys didn’t replicate their brilliant performance from the day before, they faced fierce competition, and the pressure was immense. The error occurred in a skill they had never missed before, showing just how intense the competition was. The USA, the reigning junior world champions, took gold, Spain claimed silver, and bronze went to Portugal. This is only the beginning for our boys! They’ve stepped onto a huge stage, and with more experience, they will continue to improve."

The girls commenting on their performance:

"We were so excited to final. Our goal was to improve our score and that’s what we did. We also moved up 3 places in the ranks qualifying at 11th and finishing 8th. We are very proud of ourselves and hope to keep improving and gaining experience at this level."

Well done and congratulations to all gymnasts, coaches and judges!

Make sure to follow us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and YouTube @GymnasticsIre for live updates and gymnastics news.

#GymnasticsIreland #SportStartsHere