A nine-year old gymnast has qualified for the national finals after winning gold in the east of England regional prelims.

Bella Marshment, who attend Commonswood School in Welwyn Garden City and the HGC gymnastics club in Hoddesdon, competed on Sunday alongside three others WGC girls as well.

The girls, who competed with the help of their coach Jodie Chapman were: Aimee Watson, in the regional 2 category for the 12-13 age group, Lucy Sugg in regional 3 for the 13+ category, Millie Sanders in regional 4 for the 15+ category and Bella had competed in regional 1 in the 9-10 category on the day.

Welwyn Hatfield Times: Bella Marshment, who attend Commonswood School in Welwyn Garden City and the HGC gymnastics club in Hoddesdon, had competed on Sunday, June 12 with three others WGC girls as well.Bella Marshment, who attend Commonswood School in Welwyn Garden City and the HGC gymnastics club in Hoddesdon, had competed on Sunday, June 12 with three others WGC girls as well. (Image: Leanne Marshment)

All four girls won first place and qualified to go through to the English Tumbling Silver Championships in July in Telford.

They will also be competing at the Trampoline and Tumbling Inter-Regional Challenge Cup happening in Sheffield this September.

Bella's mother Leanne Marshment said: “Me and Bella’s dad and sister are so proud of her. It can be a challenging sport but she showed so much dedication and gives up a lot of her time to train throughout the week, after school. So, it is nice to see her achieve this after all her hard work.

"Bella was quite shocked because she was obviously going up against the best in all the other clubs in the East of England. She is really proud of herself and knowing that all her hard work has paid off."