Long sporting journey leads Gisborne trampolinist and tumbler to the international arena

Lily Arnold relaxes on the trampoline safety pad as she looks ahead to the world championships in Birmingham next week.Picture by Liam Clayton

Lily Arnold sets out on her big adventure on Tuesday.

She leaves Gisborne to compete for New Zealand at the World Trampoline Championships in Birmingham, England.

The event will be held at the Utilita Arena Birmingham from Thursday, November 9, to Sunday, November 19.

As a competitor in the world champs, Gisborne Trampoline Club member Arnold, 16, has the opportunity to qualify for the trampoline competition at the Paris Olympic Games next year.

Arnold first competed internationally at the Australian Gymnastics Championships on the Gold Coast in May.

Competing in the 15/16-year age group, she reached the finals in all her categories, taking fifth place in trampoline, fourth in synchronised (with Auckland’s Luci Unkovich-Smith), sixth in tumbling and eighth in the double mini trampoline.

At the New Zealand national champs in Tauranga in July, and competing at FIG (International Gymnastics Federation) level, Arnold won gold in tumbling, double mini and synchro, and bronze in trampoline. She claimed a fourth gold medal on double mini, competing against Australia as a member of the New Zealand team who won the Trans-Tasman Challenge held in conjunction with the national champs.

She has been part of the Tairāwhiti Rising Legends programme, which helped her develop confidence and new skills.

After the world champs, Arnold and her mother Heather, herself a Poverty Bay football representative in the 1980s, will take the opportunity to see some of the rest of Britain and visit relatives and friends.

They go with the best wishes of Gisborne Trampoline Club members for a safe trip and an enjoyable competition.

A student at Gisborne Girls’ High School, Lily Arnold has been active in trampolining for seven years.

She plans to return to school next year as a Year 13 student, and is grateful for sponsors and supporters who have helped her on the way to the world champs.

• Arena Birmingham is the third-largest indoor arena by capacity in the United Kingdom. When it opened in 1991, it was the largest indoor arena in the UK. Among the events for which it has been a venue were the Commonwealth Games in 2022, the Trampoline World Championships in 2011, the European men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics championships in 2010, the European Athletics Indoor Championships in 2007, the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998 and the netball world championships in 1995.