An athlete from Huntingdon Gymnastics Club has been selected in the British team for the European Championships.

Jake Jarman will be part of the six-strong squad, his first major senior competition and he will be joined among the contingent by coach Ben Howells who will form part of the official delegation.

The championships begin today (Wednesday) in Basel, Switzerland, and run until Sunday. It will be streamed live on the BBC iPlayer.

Jarman,19, took silver at the Paris Grand Prix in late 2019 but the COVID-19 pandemic ruled out all of the 2020 competitive season, as well as causing massive disruption to his training schedule.

Huntingdon manager Adam Scott said: "His selection for the Europeans is testament to Jake’s hard work through this challenging year and as a club we wish him well and look forward to seeing him in action."

The British team will be led by Max Whitlock who will be looking to add a fifth European title to his growing list of accolades.

The championships represent an opportunity for gymnasts to earn additional places for Team GB at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

They do this by placing in the top two in the all-around competition although any gymnast that competed in the 2019 World Championships event is not eligible to qualify a place this way.

British Gymnastics' performance director, James Thomas, said: “To be back announcing teams for major championships feels like a huge landmark for the sport which has been affected so starkly at all levels by the COVID outbreak.

"Both the reopening of community clubs and elite gymnasts in competing on the world stage in April represents a really positive step towards seeing gymnastics fully back in action.

“This championship is unique and the selections take into account a wide range of factors specific to this event, not least the opportunity to qualify extra Team GB places via the all-around competition with some new faces drafted in who we are really excited to see compete."

Thomas went on to praise the strength in depth but insisted the names picked does not indicate who will be getting the nod for the Tokyo Olympics.

The final Olympic trial takes place on May 1 for the men and from May 7 for the women.