WATCH - Inverness Gymnastics Club athlete Jack Finnigan becomes Scottish gymnastics champion
Jack Finnigan made history by being the first Inverness Gymnastics Club athlete to become under-18 Scottish vault champion. He tells Will Clark how hard work and dedication paid off.
After becoming Under-18 Scottish vault champion, Jack Finnigan hopes he can inspire more people into gymnastics.
The Inverness Royal Academy pupil made history when he became the first athlete from Inverness Gymnastics Club at his level to become a Scottish champion.
It was the culmination of a decade in the sport on the 16-year-old’s road to becoming a Scottish champion after attending competitions across Scotland and England.
As well as winning gold in the vault, he also won a silver medal in the floor championships.
His achievement is made more remarkable as he was only making his debut at the national championships.
Finnigan was aiming to test himself and find out where his performances ranked against the best.
He never thought that he would leave as the best vault gymnast at under-18 level in the country.
“It is a good feeling, it took a while for it to sink in but I am getting there,” he said.
“It was my first time at the Championships and I was only there for the experience.
“I wanted to try and perform my routines and see where I am.
“It was tough, but it was more in my mind that in the weeks leading up to the event that I was doubting myself, but that is part of the training.
“It went so much better than expected, I fell on the high bar in the final, but that was the only thing that didn’t go to plan.
“Vault was the last event of the day.
“I was already second on the floor and I was still wondering what would happen when the last gymnast was about to take part in the vault, so it was great to win gold.
“Now with these results I can compare myself with the best in Scotland.
“To be compared among the best in Scotland is a great title to have.
“The response has been crazy, a lot of people have been in touch and are happy for me which is great to see.”
Targeting clean routines and personal best scores, Finnigan competed in the Under-18 All Round competition on Saturday, delivering personal bests on four out of six pieces.
He placed ninth in the All Round event – with his best ever score – placing him within Scotland’s top 10 gymnasts for the under-18 category.
His All Round results qualified him for three apparatus finals: vault in third, floor in fourth and Pommel Horse in eighth, as well first reserve for High Bar and Parallel Bar Finals. As a result of substitutions on the day, he competed in all five.
On floor, Finnigan delivered a personal best score of 12.550, taking the silver medal just 0.1 behind Ruben Ward of Manchester Gymnastics Academy who is British Gymnastics European Junior Medalist and Scottish 2023 All Round Champion.
On vault, whilst his competitors held an advantage on difficulty, Jack delivered two strong vaults, with the execution score clinching him the gold medal, and the title of Under-18 Scottish Vault Champion.
Finnigan trains between 12 to 14 hours per week at Inverness Gymnastics Club and is trained by club chairman John Humphries.
As part of his preparation for the National Championship, Finnigan travelled to other clubs in order to benefit from their facilities, and work with high level coaches, training alongside Scottish, British and Commonwealth squad gymnasts.
This was all while the fifth year pupil was studying for and undertaking his Higher prelims.
Inverness Gymnastics Club provides recreational and competitive gymnastics programmes for over 750 members attending over 35 sessions per week.
The club competes across Scotland in three disciplines – Men’s Artistic, Women’s Artistic, and TeamGym – as well as taking part in non competitive Gym For All display events.
Finnigan says the support he receives at Inverness Gymnastics Club has been fundamental to where he has got at this stage in his gymnastics career.
He hopes that becoming national champion can inspire others to follow in his footsteps.
“Inspiring other people is definitely a big part of sport, especially gymnastics,” says Finnigan.
“Inverness is one of the biggest gymnastics clubs in Britain. I want to inspire people who are here to continue trying gymnastics and see what happens.
“When I spoke about the national championships, my coach said we were doing it and that was it.
“I have received a great grounding, and hopefully people will see what Inverness Gymnastics Club are capable of and maybe receive some extra help to upgrade.”
Finnigan also paid tribute to his mother, Hazel, for introducing him to gymnastics as a young child.
He says she continues to play a vital part in his progression in the sport for over a decade, which has resulted in him now becoming a national champion.
Recalling how he first got involved in the sport, Finnigan said: “My mum took me to a gymnastics session when I was five years old.
“I just kept going back as I enjoyed it.
“I then joined the club when I was seven and have just kept going on from there.
“My mum is a coach at Inverness Gymnastics Club and she is training children every week.
“She is also involved with my training and coaching which it is great as she is so supportive to me.”
Finnigan is now taking a break from competition for two months before planning to compete again during the spring.
However, the hard work does not stop for him and he is working closely with his coaches as he targets more success in the future.
He is not setting himself any targets on how far he can take his gymnastics career.
However, he hopes others can follow in his footsteps and find out where hard work and dedication can take them in the sport.
He said: “I am now going to continue practising the harder skills and perform them more cleanly.
“What I would say to others is trust you can do it, trust in your ability and trust in the process that you can get to those places and compete well.”
