ST ANNES language student Ross Gibson feels like doing somersaults after becoming Great Britain's number one tumbler.

Twenty-year-old Ross, of Norwood Road, clinched the top ranking place in Britain by finishing fourth in the European Tumbling and Trampoline Championships in Eindhoven, Holland.

After the first two rounds of the competition Ross was lying third behind two Russians who went to the Sydney Olympics to demonstrate the sport before it is introduced into the Athens Games in 2004.

The fourth and final round saw Ross slip into fourth place, but his contribution helped the Great Britain tumbling team to win a silver medal behind the Russians and ahead of the French who took the bronze.

Now Ross, pictured here practicing, who is studying French in London, is off to live in France for a year during which he will not only improve his linguistic ability but also live and train with the French tumbling team.

And now that tumbling is to be an Olympic sport Ross will be working hard to try to bring one of those coveted "golds" back to St Annes.