Bridge takes first ever British World Beach Games medal
by British Sailing Team Media 16 Oct 2019 16:39 PDT
Medals award ceremony for the men's Keitfoil Racing event of the 1st ANOC World Beach Games Qatar ..1st GRUBER Florian(GER) - 2nd: PARLIER Nicolas (FRA)- 3rd: BRIDGE Guy (GBR) © Pelagia Karanikola
The British Sailing Team's Guy Bridge has made history taking bronze in the kitefoil competition at the inaugural World Beach Games in Doha.
Bridge's medal is the first for Team GB in Qatar and is also the first British medal at a World Beach Games.
"I didn't realise I had won the first Team GB medal of the World Beach Games," said Bridge, 20, from Exmouth. "So that is great! It has been a hard couple of days, but it is great to come away with a medal.
"After my semi-final I felt like there wasn't much pressure on me going into the final," said Bridge, 20, from Exmouth. "I was underdog going in because to win the gold medal I would have to win all three races.
Bridge had narrowly missed out on a direct route to the final from the qualifying series by just two points so had to come through a tough semi-final line-up that included the most recent Kitefoil World Cup Series winner, France's Theo de Ramecourt, for his medal shot.
"My strategy for the final was the same as the semi-final, I wanted to sail quite clean and tack quite early to try and get the up-wind first.
"Racing was tight because there were less people in the field and the course was narrower and shorter, so it meant that everyone was close together and any little mistake would cost you."
Bridge eventually finished his campaign in third behind Germany's Florin Gruber who took gold and Nicolas Parlier of France who took silver.
Guy's brother Olly finished 16th overall in the men's competition while their mother Steph finished in 13th in the women's fleet.
Both Guy and Olly have joined the British Sailing Team after kiteboarding was slated for inclusion at Paris 2024, and thinking about a potential future Olympic appearance Bridge said: "Paris is still a long way off, but it would be pretty cool to go.
"Kitefoiling is a great sport for spectators, especially when the racing is all really close like it was today. The foils, the speed, it is just a great sport to watch."