Ashley Watson: Gymnast sets horizontal bar backflip record

A Leeds gymnast has set a Guinness World Record by propelling himself 5.87m (19ft 3.1in) between horizontal bars.

Ashley Watson, 26, set the feat at Leeds Gymnastics Club, with two independent witnesses present and a chartered surveyor measuring the distance.

Watson, who has been in the Great Britain squad since he was 15, was "surprised no-one had tried it before" and succeeded on his eighth attempt.

He said: "It was amazing, I didn't realise I had caught it until I was swinging around on the other bar.

"I caught it on the sixth attempt but I let my legs bend a bit - so I couldn't let that one go out on film."