THREE youngsters from the Bradford district are making an impression at national level, with Jack Stanley, Simon Toussaint and Patrick Watkinson excelling in the U14 competition at the British Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool.

The trio have had their recent performances rewarded by being selected for the GB Elite Performance Squad with British Gymnastics for 2018, Jack and Simon in the U14 category and Patrick for the U13s.

The older boys are two of only five athletes selected at their age level, while Patrick is one of just seven male U13s in the squad, so their achievements should not be underestimated.

Their efforts in Liverpool certainly justified their selections, with Jack and Simon collecting seven medals between them. Patrick belied his younger age to record some fine results too.

Simon took gold medal on rings to become British U14 champion, while Jack ensured a double podium for Bradford by picking up the bronze medal.

There were also two top-three finishes in the all-around competition. Jack, Simon and Patrick all achieved personal bests of 76.000, 75.550 and 68.500 respectively. Jack and Simon's scores were enough to secure a silver and a bronze.

Jack managed silver in the high bar competition, and completed his medal haul with a bronze in the parallel bars. Simon's second place finish on the pommel horse meant that he finished with three individual medals.

The two older boys had several other fine results. Jack achieved fourth on the pommel horse, with Simon finishing one place outside of the medals in the vault. Simon also came fifth on the high bars and parallel bars.

Jack could have achieved even greater success at the Echo Arena venue, but had to withdraw from the vault and floor finals due to an injury in the warm-up.

Despite being the youngest of the three, Patrick was selected for the Elite Performance Squad first, in 2016, with Jack and Simon chosen for the first time last year.

All three have shown real dedication to the sport, as they train for 27 hours per week alongside their studies. Jack attends Immanuel College in Bradford, and comes from Thackley, while Simon goes to BBG Academy, and lives in Gomersal.

Patrick studies at Hipperholme Grammar School, which classes several sporting prodigies among their current alumni, and he hails from Thornton. The trio all train at City of Leeds Gymnastics.