THREE Pinewood gymnasts have won gold medals at the European Championships in Spain.

Lucie Colebeck and Yasmin Taite were part of the Great Britain senior women’s team and Dominic Mensah represented the junior men.

Britain qualified for the finals of the senior women’s event two points behind Russia, but they turned the tables when it really mattered.

Colebeck led the way for GB with an opening score of 34.6, and her next two team-mates kept the momentum going with 34.9 and 34.3.

Last to perform was Taite, and she kept up the pressure with a score of 34.1.

With all the GB girls scoring so highly the pressure was on Russia, and in a tense final they cracked, finishing 1.4 points behind.

Mensah also claimed gold at his first European Championships.

A very strong British team needed to be at their best throughout to have any chance of a medal, and with all four lads performing out of their skin, they pushed Russia all the way, finishing just 0.7 ahead.

Great Britain also won the senior men and junior women’s competitions, and in taking all four team titles, they achieved something which has never been done before.

In the individual women’s final, Colebeck produced a stunning performance to finish second, just 0.6 points behind Russia. She was closely followed by Britain’s other representative, Rachel Davies from Deerness, who was just 0.3 behind.

Pinewood member Vicki Colebeck praised the performers and said: “We are very proud that we sent three tumblers to Spain and all came back with gold medals.

“These are brilliant results by these three young gymnasts. They have shown so much dedication over the last few years. It has certainly paid off with a European Championship gold medals.”

She added: “Huge credit must go to Vladimir Podobin who has coached them throughout and to get all three ready for this level of competition is an outstanding achievement.

“The results reflect his ongoing passion and commitment to this wonderful sport.”