Gymnast Heath Thorpe is headed to World Championship after this winning floor display

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A post shared by Heath Thorpe (@heaththorpe)

Congratulations to Australian athlete Heath Thorpe. The 22-year-old, gay gymnast took part in an important meet on the weekend. He and his Team Australia teammates did well enough to secure themself a coveted spot at the World Championships.

They beat Team New Zealand to win the Oceania Continental Championships by just a 0.54 points margin.

Thorpe won the weekend’s floor event for the second year in a row. You can watch his routine below. He also came second in the high bar.

If his floor routine is not as showy as what you might be used to women athletes performing, it’s because leaps and other dance moves aren’t in the Code of Points on the men’s side. More’s the pity!

Thorpe himself was elated by the team’s success. They will now compete in the World Championships in Belgium in October. It also keeps them in the running for a sport at the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Here’s a video demonstrating his skills on the high bar.

Last week, Queerty ran an article on Thorpe and his career. He came out at the age of 18. Besides gymnastics, he’s also been modeling for Calvin Klein. He said he struggled when younger with his sexuality, but was also surprised at the lack of out-gay gymnasts.

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A post shared by Heath Thorpe (@heaththorpe)

“When I was younger, there were no queer gymnasts competing on the international level,” he said in an interview about his advocacy efforts. “So when I was coming to terms with my identity, I now realize how significant it could’ve been if there were one or even two people at the top level being themselves.”

Thorpe responded with a cute video on TikTok. He said his Instagram enjoyed quite a bump from the article.

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