Photo credits: Tom Horig
British Surfing Championships whittle down Team GB Olympic surfing team
On April 10 and 11, Team GB held its latest surfing trials at the British Surfing Championships. The competition was help to aid the selection of Team GB surfing for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and ISA World Surfing Games being held next month. The event took place in Thurso, located in the extreme north of Scotland, where waves are powerful and the water is cold. Surfers not only had to compete against one another, but they had to battle fridge temperatures thrown at them.
Making the grade for the Olympics
Four men and four women competed in the qualifiers in Thurso with just three positions for each division up for grabs. The event was designed to help pair down the competitors for the final team to represent Great Britain at the ISA competition in May. The English, Scottish, and Welsh surfing federations hosted the event in conjunction with sponsors Impact Sports and Weret surf watches.
Impact Sports’ sponsoring of the British Surfing Championships continued to show the brand’s dedication to professional and amateur athletes. The CBD supplement company has worked with athletes from a variety of backgrounds. It is committed to helping athletes of all levels achieve success. CBD supplements are growing in popularity and is officially legal for Olympic athletes to take. Many sportsmen and women use CBD supplements to support them through training.
The world’s sporting calendar was greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The originally planned Summer Olympics will go ahead in just a few months’ time and Team GB is taking shape. The surfing qualification event in Thurso was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. New, relaxed Scottish rulings allowed the event to be held in April with the Summer Games taking place in July and August.
Scotland hosts event for the first time since 1992
The waves off of the Thurso coast are considered some of the best for surfing in all of Great Britain. Despite the freezing temperatures and snow around the area, the event was a major success. The Caithness region of Scotland last hosted the British Surfing Championship qualifiers in the 1980s, while the last time Scotland hosted the surfing event was in 1992.
In the women’s division, England’s Lucy Campbell rode to victory scoring 13.83 on her two best waves. Second place went to Emily Currie, a fellow English surfer. On the men’s side of the finals, Scotland’s Luke Dillion delivered a strong performance all weekend but was overcome by England’s Stan Norman in the finals for the win. His quick turns sealed a late comeback as Luke fell to second place.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be the first for surfing. The sport’s debut in the Summer Games will bring together some of the top surfers from around the globe. Before making its first-ever appearance at the Olympics, the ISA World Surfing Games will take place in El Salvador next month.
Team GB surfers will continue to compete for the remaining places in the team. The British Surfing Championships in Thurso enabled Team GB to select members for the ISA World Surfing Games. Although Campbell and Norman won their respective divisions at the British Surfing Championships, they are not yet guaranteed a place in the final team for Tokyo.
