CRICKLADE rhythmic gymnast Laura Halford is hoping to use her British Championship success as a springboard to the world stage.

Despite not being overly pleased with her performance, the Swindon Esprit gymnast secured her third consecutive all-around crown at the British Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool on Thursday.

That was followed up by gold medals in the individual hoop (16.050), clubs (16.000) and ball (15.950), and she was only denied a clean sweep by fellow Esprit gymnast Stephani Sherlock, who scored 15.150 in the ribbon competition.

“I started on my hoop routine on Thursday and it was a new routine so I was quite nervous as it is much more difficult than I have ever had before,” explained Halford after returning home.

“It went alright. It could have been better.

“Then I went on to ball and I felt like, because I hadn’t done my best on hoop, I really wanted to do well, and I was feeling quite confident and it didn’t really go to plan and I made a big error.

“I was quite upset after it and annoyed but I had to remember everything I had been through with my sports psychologist and I needed to get my act together.

“Thankfully, on clubs and ribbon I did a lot better and I think I did one of best ribbon routines I have ever done, so it really put me ahead of everybody else.

“I was much more relaxed on the Friday, because if I did one routine wrong, it didn’t matter because it wouldn’t affect the other routines.

“I still wanted to do well, but I think it benefitted my performances because I got two personal best scores on hoop and club.”

Halford now has grander ambitions as she sets her sights set on improving her standing on the world stage after blowing away the competition at the British Championships.

But first, the 19-year-old is hoping to get some rest before she travels to Sofia, Bulgaria, for the World Cup Series, next week.

“It is a really big achievement for me and I am really pleased,” she added.

“I have been working really hard in the gym this year to try and increase my difficulty so I can improve my world ranking.

“It was a big deal to try and prove myself as the best British gymnast so I can get selected for the bigger competitions and be better on the world stage.

“I need to have a bit of down time, but I can’t have that, so I just need to work on the consistency of my routines.

“Hopefully, it will secure my spot on the Worlds team in September and that would be really good because I would love to improve my world ranking from last year.”