Great Britain Junior Trampoline Gymnast Corey Walkes has arrived home from his first international competition of 2018 with his first gold medal of the season.

Corey, who turned seventeen on Friday, is coached by International Performance Coach (IPC) Sue Bramble at Quayside Trampoline and Gymnastics Club in Bridgwater, alongside Senior Great Britain Trampoline gymnast, Laura Gallagher.

Corey lives with his family in Radstock and attends Beechen Cliff Sixth Form in Bath. He is combining studying for his A-Levels alongside his training at Quayside, and is a junior member of the British Gymnastics Great Britain Trampoline Olympic Potential (TOP) Squad.

Corey flew out to Portugal to compete as an individual in the Cascais Beach Cup, an international ‘friendly’ held near Lisbon, where he successfully completed his new voluntary routine for the first time, with a three triple-somersault start, impressing the judges and wowing spectators with the highest level of both difficulty (15.4) and execution of the entire competition.

Corey said: “It was a successful trip and a positive start to a potentially big year ahead for me. Thank you to everyone for all the support shown to me, especially my Personal Coach Sue Bramble. I’m really looking forward to the challenges ahead!”

2018 is an important year in trampolining, with the upcoming trials for the 26th European Championships in Trampoline, Double Mini-Trampoline and Tumbling – which will be held in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku in April. Before that, however, Corey has been selected to compete for Great Britain at the Dutch Open, which will be held in Alkmaar in three weeks time.