TALENTED gymnast Katie-Ann Barton helped the North West win the British National Finals.
The 12-year-old competed in the Grade 5 national final in Birmingham and helped the region to team glory.
Katie-Ann, a pupil at Fearns Community Sports College, was placed fourth individually but, in her routines, excelled on the bars, where she was first and was seventh in the floor exercise.
Katie-Ann trains at the City of Manchester Institute of Gymnastics (CMIG).
Her hopes of glory nearly ended in disaster when she slipped on the beam.
She said: “I missed my landing and fell and hit my thigh heavily on the beam. I heard the audience gasp but I got back on the beam and continued with the routine.
“I still had the hardest skills to complete but I got to the end of the routine and received a massive round of applause, from many people I didn’t know but who had seen what happened.
“When they announced the North West team had come first by two marks I was delighted.”
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