The England Youth U22s were well represented in this year’s World Championships in Mantova, Italy on 24th & 25th July, scooping team Bronze, with Matt Godfrey taking the Individual Silver. The venue was technically very difficult and the correct balance between big carp, catfish and bream had to be found, with the big shoals of small skimmer bream averaging just 15g each.
Day 1 saw a great team effort amassing a 12 total with Matt Godfrey winning his section with a staggering 260 fish for 4.95 Kg, 100 more fish than anyone else in the field. Seconds came from Matt Derry and Callum Dicks, and a 6th from Ricky Hines, who drew the wrong end of the end section. These performances helped us into second place and 2 points behind Serbia, whose big fish approach worked well.
Day 2 saw a controversial start when it became clear that France, Serbia, England and Holland, the top 4 teams, were all on adjacent pegs in every section, leaving Italy in the other half of the section with none of the main contenders to compete against. They made the most of it, scoring just 7 pts for a winning total of 22 pts.
Team England came in with another great 13pts, Matt Godfrey 2, Cameron Hughes 2, Matt Derry 4, Callum Dicks 5 for 25, tying with Serbia and Slovenia, but being beaten by Serbia by 900g. We were 3Kg ahead of Slovenia.
Matt Godfrey scooped silver with 3 points but was beaten by Dutchman, Sjors Milder on the same 3 pts, but with a 500 g weight advantage.
Mark Downes, England U22s Manager said “All in all a great result for the team, and with just a little luck we could have done a memorable double.”
Dick Clegg, OBE, International Events Manager stated “Once more England has proven at all levels that they are the team to beat in World Angling. By finishing 3rd in the U22s and with the ever consistent Matt Godfrey adding another medal to his trophy cabinet, we can all be proud of their achievements”.
England U18s team finished 6th at this year’s World Championships on Canale Fissero Tartaro in Mantova, Italy in one of the closest finishes for years. Unluckily, England did not draw one of the eight end pegs available over the weekend, which had a huge influence on the final result.
Fishing the whole week in 35 to 40 degrees heat, this year’s very young team proved themselves to be very efficient anglers drawing with Italy on points but losing out on weight. A total of 17 teams fished the Championships with Portugal winning the Gold medal with 29pts.
Individual placings for the England team
9th Ryan Watson 5pts
31st Ben Taylor 10pts
32nd Connor Barlow 10pts
58th Reece Nicolson 14pts
60th Alex Clements 14pts
from a total of 83 competitors.
World Championships Youth U18’s Team Results
1st Portugal 29 pts – 18.045kg
2nd Czech Republic 33 pts – 21.740kg
3rd Slovakia 33 pts – 21.615kg
4th Croatia 34 pts – 20.735kg
5th Italy 35 pts – 21.125kg
6th England – 35pts – 17.965kg
World Championships Youth U18’s Individual Results
1st Ivan Turkovic, Croatia 2 pts – 11.210kg
2nd Ondrej Pokorny, Czech Republic 3 pts – 7.280kg
3rd Ferenc Hamar, Hungary 3 pts – 6.690kg
4th Carlos Silva, Portugal 3 pts – 6.180kg
5th Alberto Visciglia, Italy 4 pts – 10.080kg
6th Juraj Smaha, Slovakia 4 pts – 9.295kg
World Championships Youth U22s Team Results
1st Italy 22 pts – 33.090kg
2nd Serbia 25 pts – 31.990kg
3rd England 25 pts – 31.080kg
4th Slovenia 25 pts – 27.220kg
5th Netherlands 27 pts – 29.330kg
6th Germany 32 pts – 24.740kg
World Championships Youth U22s Individual Results
1st Sjors Milder, Netherlands 3 pts – 9.120kg
2nd Matt Godfrey, England 3 pts – 8.620kg
3rd Vukasin Dimic, Serbia 3 pts – 8.280kg
4th Sven Hekman, Netherlands 3 pts – 7.520kg
5th Lorenzo Tassinari, Italy 4 pts – 9.560kg
6th Alberto Italiani, Italy 4 pts – 7.490kg
