Newcastle University

Dorian Walker, Stage 3 MEng Mechanical & Low Carbon Transport Engineering student, was part of the four-man team confirmed as 2011 champions at the 25th Acrobatic Gymnastics European Championships, held last month in Varna Bulgaria.

Dorian, who is the “main base” (ie he stands on the bottom) for the senior men’s four in the Great Britain Gymnastics Squad, completed three days of training followed by four days of competition.  On the final day of competition the GB team finished ahead of the Russian team to be crowned champions.

“We were the first of the men's fours on which is usually considered a bad draw, and the wait after your routine for scores to appear is unbearable,” said Dorian.  “We did a clean routine with maybe a little wobble on first balance. Fortunately for us the Russians who were closest to us got a mass and maturity deduction, because their top looked like a child being thrown by three men (colloquially known as dwarf tossing). This allowed us to go into the lead and our overall score of 81.889 confimed us as 2011 European Champions.”

Congratulations to Dorian, and good luck in the World Cup in Forli, Italy!

The full results of the competition and a photo gallery can be found at: http://www.acro2011.bg/results.php.

UPDATE:  Dorian and the team attended the final round of the World Cup Series in Forli, Italy  on 12th and 13th November.  “This was our first time at senior level against competitors from the entire world,” said Dorian. “It gave us an understanding of the level of competition we will face at the World Championships next year.”

The men's fours were the last combinations to compete on the Sunday.  Dorian’s team finished third, behind China and one of the two Russian teams.  “Third place on a world stage is much better than we expected especially with having just got back from the European Championships recently, so not having the ideal build up to the competition. Now we're looking forward to the World Championships in April next year. I will be thrilled if we can get a medal there, but I expect it will be stiffer competition as men's fours from Poland and Ukraine who also competed this year will also be in the running for the medals.”