Gosfield waterskier Ben Turp heading to world championships

Ben Turp, from Gosfield, will be part of a 14-athlete squad representing Great Britain at the 2023 IWWF World Waterski Championships in Florida.

The 11 men and three women are among more than 200 competitors from 35 countries taking part.

Waterskiers compete in the three separate disciplines of slalom, tricks and jump, and the combined scores in each contribute to an overall score.

Ben, 23, has been entered in slalom, and will be hoping to see similar success to brother Seb, who returned home with a stash of medals from the British National Championships, which took place in Dorchester-on-Thames in August.

Although this is Seb's first year competing in the under-17 age category, having just moved up from the under-14s, he achieved phenomenal results, picking up three gold medals, a silver and a bronze.

Seb said he was “really pleased” with his performance at the Nationals.

“It’s great to come away with some titles but I’m chuffed with my slalom gold and the open men’s bronze,” he added.

Ben, Seb and sister Tilly all train at the family's Gosfield Lake site, near Halstead, and have competed all over the world in international championships and other competitions.

Dad Vince is an international boat driver for waterski competitions.

Ahead of the competition in Florida, team captain Steve Sopp said: “All the squad members are looking forward to the world championships which are the climax of a long season of training and competing.

“It is the ambition of every waterskier chosen to represent their country to perform well at the Worlds and Great Britain has a strong pedigree, producing many world champions and medallists since the 1960s.

"After our success at the last world championships, expectations are inevitably high, and I know that our athletes will be doing everything they can to match or exceed our results in 2021."

The 2023 IWWF World Waterski Championships take place at Sunset Lakes, Groveland, Florida, from October 10 to October 15.