Welsh Duo Poppy-Grace Stickler And Ruby Evans Earn GB Call For Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Series Opener

By Carl Field

Welsh gymnasts Poppy-Grace Stickler and Ruby Evans have both been selected to represent Great Britain at the first FIG Artistic World Cup series event of 2023 later this month.

The event will take place in Cottbus, Germany, from 23-26 February.

Clwb Cymru Caerdydd duo Poppy and Ruby will be accompanied on the trip by lead Welsh women’s artistic national coach, Tracey Skirton-Davies.

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For Evans, from Cardiff and who turns 16 next month, it will also mark her first assignment as a senior gymnast.

A double British junior all-around champion, Evans added to her growing reputation last year when she secured a brilliant silver medal on the vault for Team GB at the 2022 Summer European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Slovakia and only narrowly missing out on gold.

She was part of the British women’s artistic junior team for the 2022 Artistic European Championships in Munich and rounded off her junior career in style by helping Wales win gold in the women’s team event at the Northern Europeans in Finland in November.

Evans also grabbed individual gold on vault with a beautiful double twisting Yurchenko followed by a full twist.

Meanwhile, Stickler, 16, also from Cardiff, is now looking to build on what was an excellent first year as a senior gymnast in 2022.

She was part of Team Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, captaining the women’s artistic team, and qualified for both the women’s individual all-around and floor finals.

Poppy Stickler On A High As She Heads For Birmingham With Team Wales

She finished in a fantastic fifth in the individual all-around final and sixth on floor.

Stickler made her senior bow for Great Britain in Slovenia last June, marking it in style with a stunning World Challenge Cup silver medal on floor.

A British Championship bronze medallist on floor last year, Stickler was also named as a women’s team reserve for Great Britain for the Artistic World Championships at the back end of last year and as part of the team also received a silver medal – the best-ever result by a British women’s artistic team at a World Championships.