Four Galway girls have made an historic breakthrough in gymnastics, qualifying for the 2018 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships.
The quartet, Emma Slevin egalway ), Kate Molloy (Moycullen ), Jane Heffernan (Moycullen ) and Blathnaid Higgins (Maree ), are all members of Renmore Gymnastics Club, and successfully completed the qualification process which resulted in all four making up the entire Irish delegation.
This achievement comes after a number of successful events over the past 18 months with the Renmore club which has made great headway in developing its high performance programme.
Last year the club-qualified gymnast competed in Hungary at the European Youth Olympics (EYOF ), followed by a further qualification securing one national spot at the World Youth Olympic Games (YOG ) which will take place later this year in Argentina.
Sally Batley, Renmore Gymnastics Club's head coach, says to have an Irish team comprised solely of her club's gymnasts marks huge progress for both athletes and Renmore Gymnastics Club.
"This huge achievement has far exceeded the club's expectations," she says. "We are delighted with this result and would like to wish the full delegation of Team Ireland the best of luck over the next two weeks and during their final preparations."
The squad will leave Ireland this week to embark on an international training camp in preparation for the major championships which will take place in Glasgow early August.
