The Norfolk Academy of Gymnastic's Annie Young will represent Great Britain this week at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Baku.

Annie, who lives in Wymondham and attends Wymondham High Academy, was selected following her results at the British Junior Championships earlier this year where she placed second overall, and trials at the national training centre at Lilleshall.

Joining up with her GB squad team mates Ondine Achampong (from Sapphire GC in Hemel Hempstead) and Halle Hilton (from South Essex GC in Basildon), the three teenage gymnasts were all part of the team which won bronze at last year's European Championships in Glasgow.

Young, who is coached by Sara-Jane and Helen Inglis, is excited for the experience. "It's fantastic to travel to new places and be part of such a big event, and I love competing with my friends as part of a close knit team," she said. "I think this should definitely help us support and encourage each other on to hopefully get the best result we can."

Young has started her preparation well helping the Great Britain team to the gold medal in the junior international Sainte Cup in Saint Etienne last week and also placing first on beam and second on bars individually. She will head to Lilleshall this weekend for a final period of intensive preparation before flying out to Baku.

"The level of gymnastics on show at EYOF will be of the highest quality with the newly crowned world junior champions Russia being favourites for the team title, but with GB having a genuine medal shot," said Sara-Jane. "All of our GB girls on the team turn senior next year and this will be great preparation for them of experiencing a multi-sport event. Annie has grown in confidence with every international call up she has had and will be seeking to do her very best here both for the team and individually. She trains 28 hours each week and makes huge commitments and sacrifices to follow her dream, and it's this kind of experience which makes all of that worthwhile."

EYOF is a multi-sport event where young athletes from ten different sports compete in an official Olympic branded games.

Team GB sends 44 athletes this time around and there are expected to be 2,500 athletes competing in all, representing 48 European nations.