Only seven months have passed since Claudia Fragapane cartwheeled into the nation’s hearts at the Commonwealth Games – her tiny 4ft 6in frame twirling like a wand through each routine; her victory smiles carrying enough wattage to light up Glasgow – by winning four artistic gymnastic gold medals. However, as the 17-year-old prepares for this weekend’s British championships in Liverpool she insists she has kicked on again.
“I’ve improved a lot since last year,” she says. “I’ve upgraded all my routines and I’m more confident now. With the bars, I’ve got a new release and catch. With the beams, I have a bigger dismount, which I have upgraded, and I’ve got a completely new floor routine, too. So I’m looking to improve my scores and hopefully hit the high-14s with some of my routines.”
Crucially, Fragapane reveals that the nerves that used to chew at her before a major competition no longer have such a fearsome bite. “When I was younger I didn’t talk to anyone before competing, not even my parents, because I was that nervous,” she admits. “But I feel like it’s getting easier. Now I’m more chatty and outgoing. I’m even laughing before I go on, so I’m getting used to them now.”
At last year’s national championships, Fragapane finished second on the vault, fifth on the floor and third in both the uneven bars and the all-around. She was in the pack of top British gymnasts but she was not leading it. Now, though, everyone is gunning for her – something that she breezily brushes off. “I’m just going to enjoy it, perform all my new moves and show off in front of a home crowd that is going to be really buzzing and pushing everyone,” she says. “It will be really lovely to compete against all the GB girls because all of us are great friends who push each other to get better.”
The British championships are the first step on a path that Fragapane hopes will lead to the world championships in Glasgow and next year’s Rio Olympics. “My main aim for this year is to qualify for the worlds in October and play a part in a really good result which will get us to the Olympics as a team,” she says. “Although it would also be nice to get a team or individual medal along the way, too.”
Rory Weavers, one of Fragapane’s coaches at her club, Bristol Hawks, has no doubts she can improve again after reaching the floor and vault finals at the world championships in China last year. “Claudia’s always in the gym, always working really, really hard,” he says. “You can’t really rest on your laurels because everyone around the world is constantly improving.
“We are permanently on the internet looking at other gymnasts because there’s always something you could do to get an extra 10th on the execution score or by upping your difficulty level of your routine.
“That said, we don’t want to put any pressure on massive targets or scores,” he adds. “But that’s what we are working for, a great team result at the world championships and then any individual things that come along are wonderful. But she’s got the potential to be up there at world level, definitely.”
If there is a greater burden being placed on her shoulders, then Fragapane shows scant signs of worrying about it.
Such was the impression she left in 2014 that she was shortlisted for the BT Sport Action Woman award and named the BBC’s Young Sports Personality of the Year.
She was stunned to win – and to find out that Rory Mcllroy and Tom Daley had not only heard of her but admired her talents. “The medals were nice, obviously, and it was lovely to meet people like Rory and Tom,” she says. “But all that happened last year hasn’t changed me. I’m still very much same person.” Except for one crucial aspect: her gymnastics – something she intends to show in two days of competition in Liverpool this weekend.
