TUMBLING gymnast Ben Goodall recovered from an early setback to take an unlikely gold in the last British Championships qualifying event of the season.

Competing at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield, the Wantage youngster’s campaign started with a stumble in landing his first run

He struggled to complete his double-twisting double-tuck somersault, ending with a hand touching the mat on landing.

A penalty for not completing the required eight moves left him languishing down in 12th place out of 20 after the first of two rounds of routines.

Disappointed, he reviewed a video of the routine with his two coaches.

Taking on board some coaching points, he had to compose himself before his next run.

As he stood at the end of the track for his final run, he knew nothing but a perfectly-executed run, on a high tariff score, could save the day.

And he delivered in style..

His double straight somersault transition in the middle of the track, ending with a triple twisting double somersault was landed with a slight step to steady himself.

A score of 34.500 and combined tally of 63.200 took him straight to the top of the leaderboard.

Goodall can now look forward to September’s British Championships, having taken gold in both qualifying events.

Equally he takes with him the knowledge that he has the mental strength to get through difficult situations in competition.

Back in training, he will be aiming to increase the difficulty of these runs for the final, and a trip to Portugal for the Scalabais Cup.

The international competition in July will see him compete in the senior men’s category as part of a three-strong British team.