Olympic gymnast Alice Kinsella will represent Team GB this weekend in a senior team international event, a year after giving birth to her son. This competition, held on September 12-13 in Stoke against France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy, marks her first time competing in Team GB colors since her return.
Kinsella, a two-time European champion, made history in March by becoming the first British artistic gymnast to resume elite competition after giving birth, achieving a fourth-place finish on the balance beam at the British Championships. "It's kind of crazy - it's such a surreal feeling but I am very excited," Kinsella told BBC Radio Stoke. "It's only been a year, postpartum. Training-wise, it's been tough, but it's been good. I'm excited to finally get out there. I'm ready, I'm doing everything I can to get back where I was."
Her journey back to the sport is considered pioneering, even becoming the subject of a university research paper on elite gymnasts returning to competition post-childbirth. Her son, Parker, born in September 2025, will be in attendance as Kinsella prepares to compete in all four apparatus—balance beam, bars, vault, and floor—for the first time since her return. "It's really special because I've wanted to try to get back into a team and this is a really good start because it's a little four-way," Kinsella said. "It's not too big of a competition which is really good. I'm definitely nervous, but it's hard to put into words - it's been so long."
While she competed in the British Championships in March, she only performed on the balance beam, as it was the primary focus of her training at the time. Now, preparing for all four events signifies a more demanding physical challenge. "It's not like you've done one piece and you can stop thinking about everything, you've got to move on to the next and think about that. So it's been tough."