A MALVERN girl has returned home triumphant following a medal winning performance at her first international freestyle kayaking competition.
Emma Witherford completed the last of her three finals on Saturday (July 12) in Sort in Spain bagging a bronze medal which secured her a third place finish overall.
The 16-year-old who attends Dyson Perrins High School had previously finished third and fourth in finals which took place on previous weekends in France’s Millau and Spain’s Salt.
Emma had to qualify for each contest in a preliminary round days before each final. The talented teen who has been kayaking since the age of seven, was scored on daring moves and tricks such as front flips, ‘McNasties’ and ‘Phonics Monkeys’ which she had to perform in 45 second slots.
She said news of her first victory did not sink in until later on in the day as she was busy watching her fellow Team GB teammates compete.
“I was shocked and it felt really good but there was not much time to celebrate after the first final as we went straight onto Spain.”
While away competing Emma was also declared Young Sports Personality of the Year by Malvern Hills District Council at this year’s annual sports awards.
“That was a bit of a surprise, I saw a poster for the event on Facebook but I didn’t realise I had won for a while because we couldn’t access the internet, I am just really pleased.” she said.
Emma is enjoying some time at home this week before heading to Nottingham to train for the European Championships.
