THERE is little doubting the commitment it took from all of Team Scotland’s athletes to get to Glasgow 2014, but there can be few who pushed their bodies as hard as Cara Kennedy.

The Paisley gymnast battled through a serious ankle injury to compete in her home Commonwealth Games and it is only this year that she is finally recovering from the damage done.

“I hurt my ankle at the start of 2014 but the physios didn’t realise the extent of the injury until after the Games,” the 18 year-old said. “It turns out that I had completely torn my ligament and it had come away from the bone in two places so it was quite bad. I’m actually glad they didn’t know exactly what I’d done because if they had known, I don’t think I’d have been in Glasgow. It was hard at times but it was so worth it to get to the Games because they were amazing.”

Kennedy’s softly spoken persona belies her underlying toughness – she admits her ankle was constantly painful but she valiantly battled through the discomfort.

Once the Games were over, though, she realised that she needed to have her injury dealt with. Two operations followed, preventing her from competing for the remainder of 2014 and most of 2015. It was, she admits, not an easy period.

“It was very frustrating. I needed a second operation and the rehab was frustrating too – it sometimes seemed like very slow progress,” Kennedy said. “But I kept at it because I wanted to know I’d done everything I could to get fit. I had a few doubts about whether I could get back but not too many because I knew what I could do with the pain.”

It is only the last few months that Kennedy has regained full fitness and she couldn’t have timed it better. She will compete in the British Championships, which begin on Friday in Liverpool, and against all her expect-ations, Kennedy is in the form of her life. Just five weeks ago, she became Scottish all-around champion for the first time, as well as becoming national champion on the beam and the uneven bars.

“It was massive for me to win – I’ve always wanted to be all-around champion and I’m just amazed that I did it this year because I wasn’t expecting it at all,” she said. “Going in to the competition, I still had a few mental blocks so when I won, I couldn’t believe it. There are about five of us in Scotland who can all beat each other, it just comes down to who performs best on the day, which is good – that strength in depth really makes you up your game.”

The British Championships will be another step up for Kennedy, though. Currently, the English gymnasts are among some of the best in the world, a fact when they won team bronze at the World Championships last October. For Kennedy, it will be an opportunity to test herself against the very best. “I’m really excited about it – I’ve not been at the British for a couple of years so it’ll be good to be back, especially with how my year has gone so far,” she said. “It will be really tough though – it’s a big year because of the Olympics so the English girls will be very strong.

“It’s a great opportunity for me to see how high I can place and it’ll give me a good idea of where I am leading up to the Commonwealth Games in 2018. I know if I can place well in the British then I have a good chance of doing well in the Commonwealths because the English team will be the strongest gymnasts in Gold Coast.”

Gymnastics has enjoyed a transformation in Scotland in recent years, becoming one of this country’s most popular sports. In the aftermath of the Commonwealth Games, during which Glasgow’s Hydro Arena was filled to capacity, several major events have taken place in Scotland, including last year’s World Championships.

For Kennedy, it is an exciting time to be involved and she hopes to play a part in encouraging a new generation of Scottish gymnasts. “It’s really great for gymnastics that there’s more awareness of the sport in Scotland now,” she says. “It’s brilliant for kids to see top level gymnastics and hopefully they get inspired by that.

“And it’s so exciting for me to be involved in the sport because it means that I can hopefully help inspire younger gymnasts – I coach a few nights a week and I really enjoy doing that – when I retire, that’s what I’d really like to go into.