Team GB's women's group acrobatic team qualified for three gymnastics finals at the European Games in Baku on Wednesday thanks to strong performances across two separate categories.
Jennifer Bailey, Josie Russell and Cicely Irwin will be going for balance, dynamic and all-around glory when they return to action later this week.
Along with aerobic gymnastics, the acrobatic event is one of two non-Olympic gymnastics disciplines to be included in the schedule at Baku.
Following their impressive routines inside Azerbaijan's National Gymnastics Arena, Sports Mole caught up with the trio to get their reaction.
How are you feeling after qualifying for three finals? I'm guessing you all must be thrilled...
Russell: "We're really pleased with our performances, but we also know that there's room for improvement. On our dynamic routine we were .03 behind the people in third and we ended up in fourth, so we know that if we can improve some of our execution in that routine, which we definitely can, then we have the potential to pull up to third.
"Today was about doing clean routines and securing our spot in the finals, but because [our two scores] count towards the all-around final it wasn't like today didn't count. We've put ourselves in a good position."
You finished above the likes of Russia and Ukraine with your balance routine earlier. Considering the high calibre of their gymnasts, that must be very pleasing.
Irwin: "Our [balance] routine was really good; it was the best we could have done it."
Josie Russell: "But we would never have expected to have pulled ahead of Russia, but they got a time fault in their routine because they didn't hold one of their positions for three seconds, and if they hadn't have got the time fault they would have been ahead of us. There's everything to play for in the finals."
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For those that aren't familiar with what you do, just how much training and dedication goes into it?
Bailey: "We train 24 hours a week, which is six sessions that are four hours long and we've been doing that for the last five years."
Russell: "It's not an Olympic sport and we don't get paid to do it, which makes the hours and time that we put in more remarkable. I've deferred [going] to university for the past two years because it's not possible for me to study full time and train because it's just such a massive commitment. The training is really difficult - it's not like you can go out the night before and be fresh the next day to do a session. We literally sacrifice everything to compete with the best."
How are you finding the European Games and Baku in general?
Irwin: "It's the most amazing competition that we've been to. Everything is just incredible - the Athletes' Village, the arena, it's all much better than our other competitions. We came out here for the experience mainly. Anything can happen out in the arena, but we're just enjoying every minute here."
Russell: "Any result like a medal would just be a huge bonus. Our main goal for this year was just to make selection for this competition and work really hard to put ourselves in the best possible position coming out here, but being out here is a massive shock for us. We've never been in a multi-sport environment, let alone one that has Olympic sports in it as well. And [in Team GB] with, like Nicola Adams and Jade Jones... you just feel starstruck by all of these people. Every day is something new. We presented the Mayor of Baku with some gifts the other day, so, yeah, it's unbelievable."
Jack Prescott
