WARRINGTON Gymnastics Club's Rachael Letsche has won gold medals in two major competitions in the past two weeks.

The 15-year-old tumbler clinched victory in the under 16s age group at the British Tumbling Championships in Stoke on Sunday, having also emerged triumphant from the City of Coimbra Tournament in Portugal a week earlier.

Rachael, who represented the British junior squad in the European Championships last year, finished first in qualifying at the British Championships before staying ahead of the rest on finals day, with Warrington teammates Kara Heaton and Megan Johnson third and seventh respectively.

Rachael's victory was enough to secure her place in the British junior squad due to travel to Canada for the World Championships in November.

The Sutton Leach resident was also crowned the Portugal junior champion in Coimbra in a competition including tumblers from seven countries.

Callands tumbler Jenny Dawes impressively took silver in the senior competition at the British Championships despite being only 16 years old.

Jenny, who competes for Wakefield Gym Club, finished fifth in qualifying, which doubled up as the first selection trial for the British senior team travelling to the World Championships, before producing a good performance to finish second on finals day.

Jenny's Wakefield teammate, Padgate's Chris Carter, was part of a men's four team that took silver in the men's senior event in Stoke.

Warrington Gymnastics Club's Holly Bennett, Megan Johnson and Christina Duckers finished fourth in their age groups in the City of Coimbra Tournament, while Samantha McCormick was seventh in her first international competition.