By Carl Field
Ruby Evans got her senior career off to a sensational start as she bagged two medals for Great Britain at the FIG Artistic World Cup series event in Cottbus, Germany, over the weekend.
The 15-year-old women’s artistic gymnast from Cardiff, who attends Ysgol Plasmawr, took silver on vault and bronze on the floor to cap a remarkable first competition as a senior gymnast.
Evans’ average of 13.183 on vault secured silver behind Italian Manila Esposito (13.233).
In third place on vault was 47-year-old Oksana Chusovitina who, representing Uzbekistan, is a veteran of eight Olympic Games.
Ruby Evans 🇬🇧 starts commandingly on Floor with a superb double layout! Follow up passes are front layout to front double full and 1.5 to front layout full. She ends with a good high double tuck. 13.466 moves her into second now. What a #FIGWorldCup debut for her! #Gymnastics pic.twitter.com/ufn3ytKh5G
— FIG (@gymnastics) February 26, 2023
And there was bronze for Evans in the floor final, scoring 13.466 for third place behind Esposito (13.566) and Japan’s Azuki Kokufugata who secured gold with 13.633.
Team Wales Commonwealth Games gymnast Poppy-Grace Stickler also made the floor final, finishing in sixth.
Evans, who turns 16 next month, also qualified for the balance team final where she was fifth.
And it’s another medal for Ruby Evans at the Cottbus World Cup… this time BRONZE on the floor. 🥉
That follows on from yesterday’s vault silver. 🥈
What a sensational performance from 15-year-old Ruby in what is her first senior competition. 👏✨ pic.twitter.com/XHt33xLSdy
— Welsh Gymnastics (@WelshGymnastics) February 26, 2023
She now turns her focus to the upcoming Welsh Championships in Cardiff over the weekend of 11/12 March followed by the British Championships in Liverpool a fortnight later – both of which will see her take her place in the seniors for the first time.
Evans ended her junior career as a double British junior all-around champion.