Gold has Jaydon Paddock jumping for joy

The Wood Green Academy pupil, who is from Wednesday, is now ranked the world's number one tumbler in the 17-21 age category following his success in St Petersburg.

Paddock received his first call-up to the senior British Gymnastics team back in October.

And he shone on his debut in elite competition with the 17-year-old winning a bronze medal at the Trampoline and Tumbling British Championships held in Birmingham.

Despite that success, gymnastics chiefs felt it was best he continued his development by competing at the junior world championships in Russia.

And the teenager continued his outstanding form by winning the competition and grabbing a gold medal.

"Jaydon is absolutely over the moon, his reaction when he won was priceless," his mum Jo said.

"It was a really tough competition and all the gymnasts that took part were on top form.

"In the preliminary round he was one of 40 athletes and after the first round he was top.

"He stayed top after the second round. But that meant when he went into the final, he was the last of eight to compete.

"He went out under a lot of pressure and it was really tight but he put in a fantastic performance to win by 0.3 points.

"It means, in his age category, he is now number one in the world – with the result a long time coming for Jaydon and his coach Chris Porter who has coached him since he was seven.

"They were both ecstatic with this achievement."

Paddock will now enjoy a break from competition before looking to cement his place in the senior gymnastics squad in 2019.

"He is going to have some well deserved down time but will carry on training until January," Mrs Paddock added.

"Then he will be back into competition and already has his sights set on 2019 World Championships which are in Tokyo."