World's best gymnasts show off skills with gravity-defying routines

Some of the world's best gymnasts show off their skills with gravity-defying routines - where athletes fly through the air and balance on each others heads.

Both the junior and senior men's groups at Spelthorne Gymnastics took home the title at the Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships last month.

The two teams of four excelled in their routines, which saw the lads create pyramids three people tall - and balance on each other's heads one-handed.

The results were mesmerising and secured Spelthorne - based in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey - the title of being home to the best acrobatic gymnasts in the world.

Unlike rhythmic and artistic, acrobatic gymnastics is not currently an event in the Olympics - but the new world champs hope to change that one day.

Jacqui Taylor, one of the gym's coaches, said: "Gym is a very female sport but actually there are a lot of men who do it.

"It's actually quite tricky to find a group of men who want to stay in the sport together.

"And there is nothing bigger in the world for acrobatic gymnastics than the world championships.

"It's a huge commitment - they train six or seven days a week alongside school and work and they can't miss a session.

"At the competition we were all holding our breaths - they can train all the hours and days in the world but at the end of the day you never know what will happen when they get on the floor.

"When both teams won it was massive - it was just amazing."

The two boys' teams trained for months leading up to the World Championships - the most important competition in the world in acrobatic gymnastics.

The discipline sees gymnasts perform acrobatic balances, shapes and moves combined with dancing and tumbling to music.

The two teams, junior men's aged 13-19 and senior men's aged 15+, travelled to Baku in Azerbaijan ahead of the competition in early March.

After months of training the teams became world champs with stunning routines.

The junior team comprised of Jake Turner, 19, Ethan Law, 18, Jack Clegg, 17 and Cameron Patrick-Lothian, 16.

The senior team comprised of Finlay Gray, 19, Andrew Morris-Hunt, 19, Bradley Gold, 18 and Archie Collier, 15.

Leading up to the event, the lads were training up to seven days a week - in excess of 20 hours each week.

They had to skip parties and holidays in order to attend all training and be in peak physical fitness ahead of the event.

On March 6, the junior team competed against the other top teams in the world - and were crowned champs.

The following week, on March 11, the senior boys also secured their title.