Great Britain’s squad of senior waterskiers is coming home from the 2024 Europe & Africa Over-35s Waterski Championships in Spain with some welcome excess baggage. They picked up a big haul of medals, including five golds.

The GB Team of 10 skiers collected an impressive tally of 11 medals – 5 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze – across the age categories. They included the Overall Team bronze behind France (gold) and Sweden (silver). The home team of Spain finished fourth.

The GB skiers were among almost 100 athletes from 22 countries competing at the Championships.

GB medallists:

Kelly Atkins (Over 35 Women) of Kings Lynn, Norfolk: Gold in slalom, bronze in both tricks and jump and silver overall.

Hilary Winter (Over 55 Women) of Wandsworth, London: Gold in slalom.

Jonathan Cohen (Over 75 Men) of Snaresbrook, London. Gold in slalom

Juliet Thompson (Over 75 Women) of Ripponden, West Yorkshire. Gold in both slalom and tricks.

Rod Rowlands (Over 65 Men) of Roughton, Norfolk: Bronze in both tricks and overall

Team: Bronze

In a sign of the strength of the GB senior squad, four other athletes also made it through to their finals.

Many of the GB skiers who competed at the Europe & Africa Championships are also in the squad for the World Over-35 Championships, which will take place at the same site in Spain next month (4-8 September). While the Europeans are an annual event, the Worlds take place only every two years.

“What an effort from the GB squad,” said Team Captain, Chris Heron. “A team a little bit smaller than we normally take to the Euros and everyone skied out of their skin for the whole competition, bringing home a number of points that were unexpected.

“We worked as a team and we supported each other and managed to the beat the Spanish on their home turf and bring home the team bronze, which is more than I could have asked for. From me as Team Captain, a massive thank you to all the team and all the support crew who helped make this a successful tournament. Bring on the Worlds!”

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The IWWF (International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation) Europe & Africa +35 Waterski Championships were held at Botaski, Seseña near Madrid from 14-18 August 2024.

Photos can be found in the dropbox link below. Please credit the photographers as shown.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/eqr0xmeqyqtu1mu0z5wvf/AGlnkpCqpqAwMqWkZmPx46E?rlkey=md4i9g3w1wqr88p1sz5h66l0e&dl=0

For more information about the medallists or to request interviews, please contact Jane Peel, British Water Ski & Wakeboard Head of Communications on 07802 496927 or jane@bwsf.co.uk

WATER SKIING EXPLAINED

Jumping

Water ski jumping is a spectacular high-adrenaline event which involves skiing on two skis over a ramp, taking off and landing on the water to ski away. There are no style points. All the matters is the distance travelled and a successful landing.

Slalom

The boat travels at a constant speed in a straight line down the middle of the slalom course. The maximum speed of the boat is determined by the age category in which the skier competes. The skier, on a single ski, has to go through the entrance gates - a pair of buoys in the middle of the course - then virage from side to side across the boat wakes, successfully rounding six turn buoys before going through the exit gates.

Each successful pass results in the rope being shortened, making it increasingly difficult to reach the turn buoys. Eventually, the rope length becomes less than the distance from the boat to the turn buoys so the skier has to use body length and reach to round the buoys. The winner is the skier who completes the most turn buoys at the shortest rope length.

Tricks

The skier is given two 20-second passes to complete as many different tricks as possible. These can vary from a simple 180 degree turn to a somersault with a twist. There are also ‘toehold’ tricks where the skier holds the rope with one foot. Each trick is worth a given number of points according to difficulty. Points are awarded only if the tricks are deemed to have been successfully performed.

Overall

For an overall score, the skier competes in all three separate disciplines of slalom, tricks and jump, with the combined scores in each contributing to the overall score.

British Water Ski & Wakeboard (BWSW) is the sport’s national governing body and a non-profit making membership organisation. All its income is invested in developing and protecting water skiing and wakeboarding across the UK from the grassroots to our top athletes.

The International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) is the sport’s world governing body to which national organisations such as BWSW are affiliated.

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