The GB squad of 25 British skiers is returning home with an impressive total of 28 medals from the Europe & Africa Over-35s Waterski Championships in France.  They include 12 golds and  team silver. 

The medals were spread across all three events of slalom, tricks and jump and across the different age categories. Five skiers also won overall medals. The final tally was 12 golds, 9 silvers and 7 bronzes.

It is a spectacular achievement, especially as some of the original team members had to withdraw at the last minute due to injury. GB managed the highest points score across both the slalom and jump disciplines and were not far off beating the host nation.  In the end France won team gold, GB the silver and Germany the bronze.

The Championships took place at Club Omnisport de Jaumard (Le Plan d’Eau), Cazaux, near Bordeaux, over five days, ending on Sunday 17th September.  It was a great event, organised brilliantly by Raoul Gabriel and his team.

Team Medal Presentation

THE GB MEDALS

Over 35
Will Morrison - Gold in jump, bronze in tricks, silver overall.
Kelly Atkins - Gold in slalom, bronze in jump, bronze overall.

Over 55
Chantal Clements - Gold in slalom
Jon Wilkinson - Gold in slalom
Katie Lowe  Gold in jump, bronze in tricks, silver overall.
Hilary Winter - Silver in slalom.

Over 65
Paul Hammersley - Gold in jump, gold overall. (Paul also twice broke his own British jump record during the course of the competition with distances of 37 metres and 38.3 metres).
Rodney Rowlands -  Bronze in jump.
Keith Jones - Bronze in tricks.

Over 70
Jonathan Cohen - Silver in slalom.

Over 75
Juliet Thompson - Gold in slalom, gold in tricks.
John Philips - Gold in jump, gold in tricks and gold overall.
Carol Worship - Silver in slalom, silver in tricks.
Mike Hornagold Snr - Silver in slalom, silver in tricks.
Alan Robertson -  Bronze in slalom.

Team Silver: Jon Wilkinson, Paul Hammersley, Rod Rowlands, Keith Jones, Glenn Campbell, Hilary Winter, Will Morrison, Katie Lowe, Kelly Atkins, Mark Beard (Unfortunately, Mark was unable to continue to compete after retiring injured during his first event).

"The whole competition has been great. What a beautiful site and such a wonderful group of people and competitors to be skiing with. It’s an absolute pleasure to be GB Team Captain,” said Will Morrison.

Will was Team Captain for the first time and was ably assisted by Chris Heron.  Both gave tremendous support to everyone in the squad, as did Jeremy Stephenson, the team doctor.  

Congratulations to everyone involved and thanks to all the officials. The GB officials were Pete Davies (homologator), Gavin Kelly & David Stevenson (judges),  Ian Campbell (driver) and Sue Campbell (assistant scorer).

Full results can be found here

Most of the GB Squad at the 2023 Europeans