With a team of only 7 athletes due to the recent holding of the European Para Surfing Championships, and late announcement of the 2025 ISA World Para Surfing Championships, Team England once again did really well winning 3 medals and ranking 7th overall.
For the first time in its 10th year of holding the event, the north side of Oceanside Pier was this year’s venue. The surf pumped throughout the week, although by midday on most days the onshore winds picked up, and that combined with big tides meant the low tide heats were pretty tricky.
With a team of 4 male and 3 female athletes, and a smaller than normal support crew, it seemed to be a tough week ahead, but with everyone pulling together the optimism was high. This year there were 24 countries represented and around 135 athletes, in the 18 classifications classes.
As traditional the event started off with the parade of nations, walking to the auditorium where the sands of the nations were received, and the event was formally opened. There was still time on the Sunday to run through some heats as there was 35 hours of surfing ahead.
Most of the divisions were set up to be a qualification format. With all Surfers in classifications with more than five people, surfing twice against each other and their top two scores over the two heats would decide who would go through into the next round.
Onto the contest and men’s performance
In the men’s side of the competition, Pegleg Bennett was up against some pretty tough opposition in the Stand 2, and unfortunately, despite a valiant effort got knocked out in the early rounds, as did Spike Kane at his home beach, this time surfing in Prone 2.
One of our visually impaired athletes, David Lewis, in the VI2 division, battled valiantly in tough conditions with his guide Peg. In the second of his two heats the swell decreased in size, and Dave was able to catch more waves which was a great achievement.
Our final man in the team was James Price, who had the immense challenge of being classified from Prone 2 to Prone 1, which means you do not have a ‘pusher’, and have to catch waves independently. Despite this adversity, James gave it his best shot in some challenging onshore conditions, with support of Ryan Trott.
Three medals for the Women
On the women side, all three performed exceptionally and got through to their respective finals. Zoe Smith was up against a previous world champion, Laurie Phipps, in the stand 2 category and surfed brilliantly in tough conditions to secure a silver medal.
Hannah Dines, Prone 2, up until this event never won a heat in these events and had come fifth in the world twice. She had two really good first round heats and an excellent semi-final where she scored an 8.0 for one wave. And for the first time in her para surfing career at the ISA Worlds got through to the final. The final took place in large waves, and while she got a good first wave score, she was not able to catch a significant second wave but still got a really good fourth place and a copper medal. Mention should go to her pusher, Ariel, and catcher Patrick.
Three times world champion Melissa Reid in the Visually Impaired 2 division, progressed safely through her first-round heats which then took her to the final. In a great heat, Melissa completed second place, to the winner from Puerto Rico, Aleli Medina who got an incredible score of 18 points. During the final, Melissa took one of the biggest waves of her life, much to excitement of the crowd and her eyes in the water Phil Williams, in this role for the first time.
In the team rankings, despite having a small team, Team England placed to a very respectable 7th place in the world. This maintains the record that in every World Championships, the team have been in the top 10, quite an achievement.
Podium Photos
Team England sends a huge thanks
A very big thank you to all those that helped the team get there and in particular the coaching team of Matt Harwood, Ryan Trott, Ariel and Patrick, and a big thanks to Andy Banks in his role as Head Coach, and Phil Williams, Team Manager.
Team England are very much looking forward to the next world championships which we hope will be announced in good time, for all the team to focus on the event and build on all the good that has been achieved this year.
A huge thanks to our Team England supporters, Kukuna, dryrobe, Moulded Earplugs, Radical Wax, and Boardmasters.
