Kieran Behan ecstatic as he brings Ireland’s first FIG World Cup title, qualifies for Category A competitions
Irish gymnast, Kieran Behan recently returned to his home country, sporting a piece of history for the Irish gymnastics community. His gold medal win at the 2011 FIG Artistic Gymnastics Challenge Cup in Ostrava is a milestone in his career as well as the
development of gymnastics in Ireland.
On December 2, 2011, the gymnast delighted his fans and supporters by becoming the top qualifier on the men’s floor exercise, tying with the defending titlist, Eleftherios Kosmidis.
He displayed consistency in performance on the day of the event finals on December 3, 2011, and secured the title for the event. His topping score was 14.675.
His routine was seamless, starting off with a front double full to front layout half, followed by layout Thomas, tucked Thomas and press, roundoff, full twisting windmill, 1.5 to front layout full, and sealing the routine close with a stag jump.
During the same series, Behan also claimed a bronze medal for his floor routine. This was back in September this year and was another first that he shared with Ireland. In Croatia, he upgraded himself and earned a silver medal.
With this latest win under his belt, Behan now holds the honour of being the first Irish gymnast to have attained a prestigious FIG World Cup title.
The 22-year-old gymnast trains at the Tolsworth Gymnastics Club in Surrey, under the able supervision of Simon Gale, Darren Gerrad and Demetrios Bradshaw. His time at the gym amounts to typically 30 hours every week.
The Ostrava Grand Prix marks an end of gymnastics competitions for the year of 2011 – a successful close which should buoy the gymnast’s performance in the coming year.
Behan was ecstatic, terming this to be the “best achievement of (his) life”.
“It is what dreams are made of and to top it off to win the World Cup Series and be ranked number 1 is absolutely amazing. It opens doors to the invite only category A event, one will be in Paris and the other in China and that would be fantastic,” he said.
Behan joined Gymnastics Ireland last year. The High Performance Unit Director of Gymnastics Ireland, Sally Filmer, finds Behan’s stability and continuous improvement to be a “fantastic achievement for Kieran and Ireland.”
“Kieran is showing his strength as a competitor now. It’s exciting times for him,” Filmer said.
She also emphasized that this was the kind of consistency and preparation that is imperative for World tournaments.
Surely, Great Britain regrets not having Behan as part of its Team GB squad anymore.
It has been a constant upgrade for Behan on his specialty event. The gymnastics community has indeed come to view him as the floor master who shows great promise in his progress.
Now, Behan qualifies for the category A tournaments and is foreseen to continue adding to his and Ireland’s successes. Behan is excited as Paris and China await.
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