TWO Redlands gymnasts are en route to an elite international competition known as the olympics of university sport.
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Rhythmic gymnasts Alexia Teixeira of Wellington Point and Alannah Mathews of Sheldon will represent Australia in the 2019 Summer Universiade, held in Naples, Italy from July 3 to 14.
They will be joined by Premier Gymnastics teammates Alexandra Eedle, Emily Abbot, Himeka Onoda and Felicity White.
The 60th anniversary year of the Universiade will see the more than 8000 world's best young athletes looking to kick-start their professional sporting careers, many with a view to competing at the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.
Several previous Universiade medal winners have gone on to score Olympic golds.
Among the high-profile competitors will be Russian gymnast Aleksandra Soldatova, who was last year named the world ribbon champion.
The Premier team's selection for the competition comes after they were named the 2019 state and national champions.
It also follows their high-scoring performances at world championships in Sofia, Bulgaria in September 2018 and Pesaro, Italy in April.
The group of athletes - all of whom are full-time university students - have trained together for 12 months.
Premier Gymnastics director Nicki Robbins said the team would also be looking to head to Tokyo in 2020.
"Olympic representation is the pinnacle of success in Rhythmic Gymnastics and the group is wholly focused on achieving the required national and international ranking to be selected for this privilege," she said.
She said the team would be looking to better their impressive Pesaro performance in preparation for their first Olympic trial at the end of the year.
"Their commitment and dedication is incredible," she said.
"They have their mind on the task and they're so hardworking and diligent.
"Their strength is their support for each other. They really are a great team."
