Four gold medals, five silvers and one bronze – the impressive tally for GB skiers at the 2022 IWWF World Over 35 Waterski Championships in Bordeaux, France.  They included silver for the Team behind a huge USA team and ahead of the home nation.

The star individual performer was Philippa Shedd, who was competing in the highly competitive Over 55 Women category, She won three gold medals - in slalom, tricks and overall - and silver in the jump.

Philippa is a former professional who competed for GB under her maiden name of Roberts at Open level from 1974 to 1997. In that era, she won five European titles, three World Games and was US Masters Champion.  She also has 50 British Open Championships titles. She was made an MBE in recognition of her achievements. 

“I’m really happy to win golds for the King for the first time and represent our country,” Philippa said.  “Even though I live in America I’m still British, so, thank you Britain, it’s been great. I sang the National Anthem and got it right!  All my life it’s been God Save the Queen but now it’s the King.  I shook his hand when I got my MBE and I’m proud to be British.”

Tricks gold for Philippa 

Philippa was one of 16 British skiers who competed at the 2022 Worlds, 10 of whom were scoring members of the team. The youngest was Will Morrison (36) and the oldest Carol Worship (76).

Carol won gold in the Over 75 Women tricks and silver in the slalom. There were also silver medals for Jeremy Newby-Ricci in Over 45 Men slalom and Chris Singleton in Over 55 Men jump.  Kelly Atkins won bronze in the Over 35 Women slalom.

As well as the medallists, there were strong performances from many others in the GB team, with six more skiers making their respective finals and four 4th places, with the Team finishing in second place overall.

Team Captain, Mark Beard, who competed in all three events of slalom, tricks and jump, and made the tricks final in the Over 45 Men category, said:

“This Championships was a stark reminder of how tough it is to go and win medals outside our own waters, but the newcomers and the more experienced skiers all contributed to an outstanding performance for Team GB. 

“The home nation, France, fielded a really strong team and we had to be at our best to compete and to beat them to the silver with an impressive points tally.”

11 of the 16 GB skiers

GB Team Skiers: Kelly Atkins, Mark Beard, Glenn Campbell, Tim Hazelwood, Oliver Jessop, Will Morrison, Jeremy Newby-Ricci, Philippa Shedd, Chris Singleton, Jonathan Wilkinson.

Individual GB Skiers: Chantal Clements, Chris Heron, Kevin Lochhead, Hilary Winter, Carol Worship, Jindrich Wybraniech.