London gymnast, 12, wins national individual championship

A young London gymnast won the national championship in Calgary. CTV London’s Brent Lale reports.

Ella Lau made quick work of her first ever appearance in the National Gymnastics Championships.

“I went to Calgary (Alberta) and I got first in the nation,” said Lau, 12, of London, Ont. “I got first in Bars, Beam, and Floor.”

She became the first individual national champion from the London Gymnastics Academy (LGA).

“It was her first time ever competing at nationals,” said Sarah Goudie, an LGA coach. “She’s had a little bit of a difficult year. Started off a little bit struggling and just persevered throughout the season winning both provincials and nationals.”

On day one of the weekend, she, along with teammate Piper Sommerfreund, helped Team Ontario capture the Canadian title.

On day two in the individual portion, she competed in Artistic Gymnastics. She won three of her four disciplines.

Described by Goudie as a “focused and clean gymnast,” Lau trains close to 25 hours per week.

“I love cheering on my friends and all my friends supporting me,” said Lau. “I also like all the new tricks I can learn.”

Although not yet a teenager, Lau is making great strides toward taking her talents to the next level.

“I really want to try college gymnastics because it seems a lot of fun,” said Lau. “All the girls are cheering around and just having fun”

Many people immediately think of the Olympics as the ultimate goal for gymnasts, but reaching that level is very rare.

“I would say we are more on a path of potentially a college scholarship,” said Goudie. “I’m not saying that anything’s out of the question, but it’s it just really depends what you want out of the sport, the path that we take.”

Ella knows she has the talent but admits there are some mental blocks which sometimes hold her back from reaching her ultimate potential.

“I just need to keep pushing through my fears and just listening to corrections because I can do the skills,” said Lau.