A superb display of angling on the last day of the competition saw the England senior team crowned world champions for the first time since 2006 as Colin Searles, Ray Barron, Gary Galbraith, Rolf Marschalek, Cliff Newbold and reserve Mark Smith clinched gold with four boat wins out of five; there was a double celebration for Colin Searles too, as he finished runner-up to Frenchman Matthieu Hervouet in the individual competition.
In the under-21 championship England, competing at the world championship level for the first time, came home third. France, in second, got the better of Ryan Casey, Jordan Davis, Aaron Comben, George Fox and Michael Webber on countback, with Italy the clear winners. There was, however, consolation for England youngster Jordan Davis who claimed a bronze medal in the individual event.
Speaking after an awards presentation at Weymouth’s Riviera Hotel England team manager Neil Bryant said:
“The lads are elated; it was an amazing performance on the last day. We knew we had to up our game if we wanted to win and the guys did just that.
It was a fabulous event and it couldn’t have finished better for the England team. Everything went superbly, everyone was really helpful, and in excess of 12,000 fish were caught and returned.”
RESULTS
Seniors (team)
1 England 939 points
2 France 935 points
3 Italy 770 points
Seniors (individual)
1 Matthieu Hervouet (France) 216 points
2 Colin Searles (England) 231 points
3 Dejan Struna (Slovenia) 184 points
Under-21 (team)
1 Italy 762 points
2 France 597 points
3 England 640 points
Under-21 (individual)
1 Anthony Giacomini (Italy) 260 points
2 Thomas Claverie (France) 184 points
3 Jordan Davis (England) 125 points
