To mark the milestone, Great Britain's Commonwealth Games stars England's Claudia Fragapane and Scotland's Dan Purvis, joined local school children at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, holding flags representing all the countries likely to be competing next year.

The Championships will continue Scotland's, and more specifically Glasgow's, hugely successful period of hosting major sporting events, following the success of Glasgow 2014, lauded as the "Best Games ever" by Commonwealth Games President Prince Imran of Malaysia.

Glasgow Council Leader Gordon Matheson joined the two medal winners and the children at the "One Year to Go" celebration for the event, due to take place from October 23 to November 1 next year at the SSE Hydro, home of the gymnastics at Glasgow 2014.

"The Championships will be seen by hundreds of millions of people on television and will showcase our great city to the superpowers of the sport with China, Russia, the United States and Japan all competing," said Matheson

"Because these Games will be qualifiers for the Olympics in 2016, all the top gymnasts will be here and they will all be performing at their absolute best.

"There will also be a cultural dimension to the event, with the Merchant City becoming a fan zone with the same sort of buzz that we had during the Commonwealth Games."

Claudia Fragapane was a star of England's Commonwealth Games team as she secured four gold medals inside the SSE Hydro ©Getty Images



Next year's World Championships will see more than 500 artistic gymnasts from around 80 nations compete to become world champion and secure their place among the legends of the sport.

The Championships will also serve as a qualification event for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

After competing for different countries during the Commonwealth Games, Purvis and Fragapane will hope to join forces in Glasgow next year as part of a strong British team, who will strive to hold their own against the world's best.

Fragapane, who stands at just 4ft 6ins tall, was a star of the England team during Glasgow 2014, securing four gold medals in the team, all-around, vault and floor exercise competitions.

During the celebration, she explained her excitement of returning to the scene of her recent success.

"It brings back such good memories being here today," she said.

"It will be a very good competition because we will be really pushing to make the Olympics.

"The British gymnasts have always worked hard, but now we are seeing that hard work paying off, and we are all such good friends and push each other to do our best."

Dan Purvis secured Scotland's first ever Commonwealth gold in the parallel bars during Glasgow 2014 ©Getty Images



Winner of the parallel bars gold for Scotland in Glasgow, Purvis added: "It wasn't that long since I was here doing the publicity before the Commonwealths and now I am back promoting the World Championships in Glasgow".

"It's just one fantastic thing after the other for the city.

"I really enjoyed the Commonwealth Games, it was a fantastic atmosphere and great results all round.

"A lot of my family are from Dundee and they came down to support me, and it was just like the London Games when everyone was so friendly.

"The Glasgow people were great, not just for the Scottish athletes, but for everyone.

"It's been a bit busy for me since then with the worlds, so I haven't been able to celebrate as much as I would have liked to."

Continuing Glasgow 2014's success both on and off the field, a fan zone will be set-up at Merchant Square and will include a big screen which will broadcast the event live, "come and try" sporting activities, athlete appearances and gymnastics demonstrations, as part of the event's cultural festival.

Official merchandise will also be sold within the fan zone, while Merchant Square will also play host to the Closing Party.

The decision by the FIG to award the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships to Glasgow followed a joint bid between British Gymnastics, Glasgow City Council, EventScotland and UK Sport, with Glasgow beating off tough competition from Paris and Orlando, Florida.

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