Olympic gymnast Kristian Thomas ‘wows’ High Peak kids during visit

Olympic gymnast Kristian Thomas with youngsters from primary schools across High Peak at an afternoon of activities at New Mills Lesiure Centre

Kristian, 30, met with Year 10 young ambassadors from High Peak School & Sport Partnership to pass on his knowledge and experience around public speaking.

The European Championship gold-medallist showed the youngsters - who work with local primary schools advocating the role of being physically active - how to inspire and ‘work a crowd’.

After passing on his speaking skills Kristian delighted kids from 12 High Peak primary schools with ‘backflips galore’ followed by audience participation.

Following a question and answer session with ‘lots of selfies and autographs’, the children themselves were able to show Kristian what they were capable of on various pieces of apparatus.

Dawn Richardson, of the High Peak School & Sport Partnership, described the day as ‘amazingly captivating’.

She said: “Kristian Thomas wasn’t a disappointment, that’s for sure.

Olympic gymnast Kristian Thomas meeting the High Peak Sports Partnership's Year 10 Young Ambassadors

“In the morning he not only inspired our young ambassadors but was able to pass on his knowledge and experience around public speaking and ‘how to work a crowd’!

“Our young ambassadors practiced some of the skills after learning different techniques.”

Dawn said the ambassadors ‘really pushed themselves out of their comfort zones’ and she was ‘extremely proud’ of what they had achieved.

She said: “Our young ambassadors have already been through a tough selection process - including written applications and interviews.

“Public speaking is a key skill they need and this has resulted in our previous ambassadors opening county events, speaking about their journey at sports awards evenings and has helped them in their future careers too.

“Altogether we all had an incredible day that, most likely, no-one will forget for a very, very long time.”