British surfers make waves at last

Lukas Skinner, right, won the European junior championships with Alys Barton matching his achievement. They celebrated with Arthur Randell, a third British winnerWill Humphries, Southwest CorrespondentEnglish surfers have been looked down on as the underdogs on the world’s competitive circuit for decades thanks to a track record of underachievement.

It was all achieved without Surfing England, the sport’s governing body, receiving any funding from Sport England despite it now being an Olympic sport. “I couldn’t really believe it [when I won],” he said. “I had worked so hard for it and it all came together for me. Now we have got golds I think everyone will be scared of us next time.”

“They all know now what is possible and they can win and I think that will change English surfing forever.” She left college at 17 and is currently competing on the senior European tour but her family has to self-fund her travel and expenses because her sponsorship doesn’t cover the costs. “There is a much bigger field of people in the sport now and getting a massive sponsorship deal is really difficult,” she said. “Even being the top European female surfer I am still not getting enough for a year’s worth of contests, there is so much travel involved. It becomes such an expensive sport.

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