Two British barefooters - Tom Heaps and Ben Sullivan -  won medals at the IWWF World Barefoot Waterski Championships in the USA, which were cut short by Hurricane Milton.

Tom won silver in Open Men’s Jump and Ben won bronze in Under-23 Men’s Jump.

The Championships were held at Lake Myrtle in Auburndale, Florida.  There were difficult weather conditions from the start of the competition, which resulted in scores lower than expected. With the hurricane imminent, the organisers postponed two days of competition, hoping to restart it once the storm had passed.  However, it proved impossible and results of the earlier rounds stood as the final results.

The silver medal for Tom, who trains at Weaver Sailing & Ski Club in Frodsham, Cheshire, is the climax of a great season.  This summer he returned from the European Championships with four individual medals, including gold overall.

Tom Heaps jumps at the 2024 World Championships. Photo Greg Adams

Ben, who is studying to be an architect and trains at Cotswold Water Ski Club at South Cerney, Gloucestershire, said he was thrilled to win a medal in jump with a big personal best distance of 21 metres.

“Being placed earlier in the starting order because of my earlier lower personal best meant I had to wait for the bigger jumpers to jump towards the end to see if I would make it into the semi-finals,” he said.

“As I watched skier after skier jump, I remained top seed until the last few skiers. My score ended up placing me third in the first round. Unfortunately, due to the hurricane, we were not able to continue with the Under 23 Men’s Jump and so I got a bronze medal at my first-ever World Championships.

“I can’t describe the feeling that you get landing a good jump, especially when it brings with it a podium position in my first world title event."

Ben Sullivan jumps at the 2024 World Championships. Photo Greg Adams

Great Britain took a squad of eight athletes to the World Championships. Both the Open Team and the Junior Team finished 5^th overall.

The team has been praised for coming together to help Floridians recover from Hurricane Milton.

“Big shout out to the British Barefoot Waterski Team, who took shelter at our home on Lake Whistler,” said Vanessa White in a message posted on social media. “They have spent the day helping the neighbourhood clear up after the hurricane. Thank you.”

Well done everyone!

The full GB team at the Championships: Olly Moore, Matilda Mulcahy, Ben Sullivan, Henry Sullivan, Tom Heaps, Rick Moyes, Robbie Crewe, Hayden Knaggs.

GB was also represented among the officials by Paul Turner (homologator) and Andy Harris (judge).

The results can be found here.

Look out for a full account of the team's experience in the winter edition of the BWSW magazine.