ISLINGTON’S newly-crowned British trampolining champion Elliot Innocent admits he was overwhelmed the moment he discovered he had won his first national title.

Innocent, who lives off the City Road and jumps for Camden Gymnastics Club, fought off 16 competitors at the British national championships in Birmingham to win the Under-19 category.

The 16-year-old faced a nervous wait on the final day of the competition as judges totalled the scores – but needn’t have worried as his 10 years of hard work paid off.

“When I won, I was overwhelmed to be honest, speechless. I don’t think my parents could speak either!

“I went into the second day in second place, and I was the second-last to jump. I had to wait for the last guy to finish his routine, and when I saw on the big screen that I was still on top of the group I just punched the air.

“I felt composed all the way through really, I was the second youngest there so I didn’t put any pressure on myself.

“There was a lot of quality in the competition and most of the others were more experienced, but I knew I had earned the right to be there by qualifying.”

The competition saw Elliot perform twice in the first day, a set routine where each finalist was required to perform a number of specific moves, followed by a voluntary sequence where each was allowed to set their own difficulty in front of the five-strong panel of judges.

With the two scores added together, Elliot and seven others made it through to the second day where he performed his voluntary routine again. That score was added to the previous day’s total, and Elliot clung on to his place at the top of the table.

The teenager is now back in training ahead of the start of the new season in July, when he will return to competing at one major event each month, and is determined to build on his first title.

“I’ve been jumping since I was five or six and I’ve just kept on progressing, so I want to continue that,” he added.

“Eventually I would like to break into the Great Britain team. I’ve already moved up a category and it’s much tougher, the training and the moves are harder, but I’m going to keep training and keep working for it.”