Harwell's tumbling gymnast Ben Goodall overcame illness to take a silver medal in the British Championships.

Competing at the Echo Arena on Liverpool’s Albert Dock in the 17-18 elite category, Goodall fought off a gastric bug to hit new heights over the weekend.

The 17-year-old began to feel unwell when training on the tumble track on Friday evening.

A sleepless night followed as he wondered whether the illness would prevent him competing.

He was unable to eat all day Saturday, which was not a great preparation for the competition, which was due to start that evening.

After being given the all clear to compete by the British gymnastics doctor, Goodall took part in two tumble runs, which would the top eight to proceed to Sunday's finals.

He produced two amazing displays, involving double and triple twisting double somersaults, to take a combined score of 65.600, which placed him third.

After a slightly better Saturday night's sleep, but still feeling drained, Goodall entered the arena for Sunday’s final needing one great run to consolidate his third position.

His ‘Miller Puck’, a triple twisting double backwards somersault in tuck shape, was landed perfectly without a single step.

His score of 33.500, moved him up one place to second and a silver medal.

Shattered but chuffed with his weekend's work, Goodall now has to wait to see if his performance was enough for a place in the GB team for either the upcoming world championships in Denmark or the Loulé World Cup competition, which takes place in Portugal.