GYMNASTICS clubs across Glasgow are reporting a surge in numbers on the back of the recent World Championships.

According to new figures released by Glasgow Life, attendance at its gymnastics pathways programmes rose from 75,251 in 2014/15 to 86,206 in 2015/16 – an increase of 15 per cent.

During the same period, the city's seven gymnastics clubs have seen participation levels grow from 14,321 to 18,303 – up 28 per cent.

Glasgow Times:

The combined increase across all programmes is 17 per cent.

The 2015 World Gymnastics Championships last autumn welcomed a record 594 gymnasts from 87 nations to Glasgow – one of the largest single-sport events ever to be hosted in the UK.

READ MORE: World Gymnastics Championships in Glasgow hailed as setting “a new benchmark”

Over 10 days of competition, close to 80,000 fans packed into the SSE Hydro with a global television audience of 650 million tuning in to watch from around the world.

Great Britain's men and women's teams claimed a historic silver and bronze respectively, while Max Whitlock ended a 112-year wait when he took gold on the pommel horse.

Glasgow Times:

The star-studded sporting event was hailed as setting a new benchmark by International Gymnastics Federation president, Professor Bruno Grandi, who said it was "even better than the Olympic Games."

Nadia Comaneci, who made history as the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 at the 1976 Olympics, was so impressed with the set-up in Glasgow that she declared it "how gymnastics should have been presented at every competition".

Glasgow Times:

It also gave 678 pupils from the city's primary, secondary and additional support for learning schools a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to follow in the footsteps of their heroes.

The youngsters showed off their routines at the Glasgow Schools Gymfest where, using the same apparatus and arena as the elite gymnasts, they were cheered on by 1,500 proud parents and carers.

Colin Hartley, Glasgow 2015 championships director, said: "The 2015 World Gymnastics Championships was an incredible celebration of world-class sporting competition, bringing the world's greatest gymnasts to our city less than a year from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

"But our World Championships was about much more than just elite sport, we wanted to use them to inspire the next generation of young athletes and deliver a lasting legacy in terms of increased participation.

"We know from experience in Glasgow that sport changes lives. That is why it is so pleasing to see attendances at the city's gymnastics programmes increase in such large numbers. That is legacy in action."

Paul Bush, VisitScotland's director of events, said: "We're absolutely delighted that these figures show a significant increase in participation within gymnastics clubs and development programmes, which once again proves the powerful and highly positive impact of major sporting events.

"In addition to their crucial economic impacts, big events like the 2015 World Gymnastics Championships, and the athletes that compete in them, provide inspiration to citizens and encourage them to lead more active lifestyles."

Last month Glasgow was ranked fifth in a list of the world's top sporting cities ahead of Los Angeles, Tokyo, Sydney, Berlin and Paris.

Gymnastics will return to the SSE Hydro as part of the inaugural European Sports Championships in 2018.