European Championship and Youth World Title for Steph & Ollie Bridge
by Steph Bridge 11 Oct 2012 19:26 BST
The sport of Kitesurf racing has recently been selected to appear at the Olympic Games and will be showcased for the first time at Rio in 2016. The RYA is now heavily is involved in the sport and will be developing GB's Kitesurfers alongside its elite sailing squads for the next 4 years.
Mother and son team Steph and Oliver Bridge began their campaign for Rio 2016 with back to back European and World Championship events in France and Italy during recent weeks.
First came the European Championships in La Baulle, France. After several days of tough competition Steph became European Champion in the Women's fleet, whilst Oliver at just 15 years of age achieved a solid 6th in the Men's fleet.
Just a few days later the duo were in Cagliari, Italy to compete in the World Championships. The field was the largest in the sports short history with over 240 participants. Following 2 days of qualifying Oliver Bridge the youngest rider in the event, became the only UK rider to qualify for the Men's Gold Fleet. This represented an incredible performance and Oliver duly topped it off with several top 10 finishes. However his event was not without a few disappointments for Oliver with some close quarter kite tangles, however he insists they are all part of the "learning process". Overall Oliver battled extremely hard and his results landed him his first Youth World Championship Title.
Mum Steph Bridge went into the final day of selection with a one point disadvantage to USA competitor, Erika Heineken. It was all to play for in the final 2 medal races, with Steph winning the 1st race to bring it back to all square. All that was needed was for Steph to finish ahead of Erika in the final race. However a windshift on the start allowed rival to get the upper hand and following an 8 minute battle, Steph came away with a silver medal, relinquishing her world title for the first time in 4 years.
Other members of the GB Women's fleet included Alice Shoulder who at 16 finished runner-up in the Youth Girls fleet and overall 42nd in the Women's fleet.
Both Steph & Oliver now continue training in the UK until the first ISAF World Cup event which kicks off in the southern hemisphere at Christmas time. Steph and Oliver are supported by Edgewatersports.