It’s been a year of achievement for GB pathway athletes on the international stage as the hard work put in at the Elite Training Centre in Sheffield enabled medal-winning performances across all age groups.

We’ve picked out some of the biggest moments and asked Director of Performance Development, Gavin Evans, so explain why they were so significant.

In no particular order, here are our top five.

Tom Jarvis reaches World Championships last 16

When Tom Jarvis was 3-0 up on No 10 seed and former European champion Dang Qiu of Germany in the last 64 in Doha, a major upset was on the cards. At 3-3, hopes looked to have faded but Tom stepped up brilliantly to seal a pulsating victory – the biggest of his career – in just under 62 minutes.

Ranked No 148, Jarvis went on to defeat world No 95 Ovidiu Ionescu with an imperious 4-0 victory, before his run ended at the hands of No 5 seed Liang Jingkun of China, though not before Jarvis had stretched his illustrious opponent in a 4-2 scoreline.

Gavin says: “Tom’s performance in Doha was special, he was a reserve athlete for the event and ended up beating the number 10 in the world and reaching the last 16. Subsequently, Tom has continued to springboard, climbing the world rankings to number 61 and medalling in several WTT Feeder events. I believe this event was the catalyst to Tom’s continued progression.”

WTT Feeder Manchester – British champions galore

On a historic day for British table tennis, Liam Pitchford and Anna Hursey won singles titles and Paul Drinkhall & Sam Walker took Men’s Doubles gold at WTT Feeder Manchester.

The doubles pair were the first to win, defeating Rafael De Las Heras & Diego Lillo of Spain 3-1 (10-12, 11-6, 11-9, 12-10) in the final at the National Cycling Centre.

Wales’ Hursey won her fourth successive tournament – and her first senior one – as she defeated Spain’s Elvira Rad 3-0 in the Women’s Singles final.

And Pitchford brought the curtain down on an incredible day with an emphatic win over Samuel Kulczycki of Poland in the Men’s Singles final – his first WTT title.

A sell-out crowd was spellbound – and a silver for Connor Green & Sophie Earley in the Mixed Doubles added to the sense that this was the pathway’s biggest day in recent memory. Pitchford & Hursey also won Mixed bronze.

Gavin says: “The Feeder in Manchester was a great honour for our athletes to play in front of a home crowd and come away with five medals! It was fantastic to see Liam Pitchford win his first WTT Feeder title in emphatic style. It really helped us believe as a nation that we are moving in the right direction.”

Connor Green on the podium at Europe Youth Top 10

Connor Green beat the eventual champion and the second seed on his way to a brilliant bronze medal at the Youth Top 10 in Tours, France.

Green won six of his nine matches and took his form into the WTT Star Contender London later the same month, with an eye-catching win over Feng Yi-Hsin, the world No 55 from Chinese Taipei, in the first round.

Gavin says: “This was a testament to Connor’s continued hard work and stoic mindset. In many ways a late bloomer in the junior game, however, to win a bronze in the under-19 European Top 10 was an extraordinary moment and the first European under-19 singles medal for many years. This has helped Connor’s confidence which led to him winning against the world number 55 in the London Star Contender.”

Anna Hursey conquers Europe and the world

A quite brilliant year for the teenage Wales and GB athlete saw her win a stack of titles – including four WTT youth and senior tournaments in a row, ending at WTT Feeder Manchester. She also ended the year ranked inside the world’s top 50.

But she made a mark on even bigger stages, starting with winning both singles and doubles – alongside Germany’s Mia Griesel – at the European Under-21 Championships. She then added under-19 Girls’ Singles gold at the European Youth Championships.

And if that was not impressive enough, she topped it all in November with three medals – one of each colour – at the World Youth Championships, including taking Girls’ Doubles gold alongside Griesel. The silver was with Romania’s Iulian Chirita in the Mixed and the bronze was in the singles.

Gavin says: “Anna’s year in many ways has been a year of dreams. Triple European youth medallist, double under-21 gold medallist and triple world youth medallist. Anna has risen to the number 45 in the senior world rankings list and has cemented herself as a global young superstar. Anna last year played in the bottom tier of WTT events in Villa Real WTT Youth Contender and in the same year played in the WTT Champions. This just shows the pathway is there for those who dare to capitalise on it.”

England women qualify for the Europeans – then beat Italy

A youthful England squad completed a brilliant 100% campaign at the European Team Qualification Event in January, booking a place at the finals in Croatia.

Tin-Tin Ho completed an unbeaten event, leading the team to five victories out of five, completed when Tianer Yu won the decisive match against Slovenia to seal qualification.

At the finals in October, Yu came of age with a brilliant double against two top-100 players as England women dispatched ninth seeds Italy to move into the knockout phase of the European Championships in Croatia – where they were defeated by second seeds Germany.

Gavin says: “Congratulations to the women for the amazing performance, Tin-Tin leading from the front with an unbeaten qualifying campaign and then Tia seizing the moment against Italy, while Jasmin Wong and Ella Pashley made important contributions on and off the table. This is a young team and I hope they take confidence from this and continue to flourish.”