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2011 sporting round-up - May-August

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Grace Cullen 29 December 2011

May

In what turned out to be GB Taekwondo’s most successful ever World Championships, Sarah Stevenson won gold, defeating China's Guo Yunfei in the -67 kg weight category at the event in South Korea. Jade Jones won a silver medal in the -57kg category, while Martin Stamper won bronze in the -68kg division and Michael Harvey won silver in the non-Olympic -63kg category.

GB Canoeing’s world champion Ed McKeever won two World Cup gold medals in the K1 200m event; one at the event in Poland, and one in the Czech Republic. In Poland, world bronze medallists Liam Heath and Jon Schofield took silver in the K2 200m, while in the Czech Republic Britain won six medals in Olympic events, with two silver and three bronze, in addition to McKeever’s gold.

Britain's Paralympic cyclists won 10 medals at the Road World Cup event in Sydney, with six gold, three silver and a bronze.

Mhairi Spence won her second modern pentathlon World Cup medal of the season, taking bronze in Hungary.

Great Britain enjoyed success at the IPC Shooting World Cup in Turkey where they claimed four gold, three silver and two bronze medals. Paralympic champion Matt Skelhon took gold in the R1 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 Men. He then followed this up with a second gold in the R3 10m Air Rifle Prone SH1 Mixed, before teaming up with Deanna Coates and Ian Marsden to take team bronze.

Olympic silver medallist Keri-Anne Payne won her first 10km race of the season at the Open Water Cup in Israel. The 2009 10km World Champion took the victory in her fastest ever time of 1:52:12.

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Zoe Smith won silver at the Youth World Championships in Peru, breaking the Commonwealth record for both the snatch (91kg) and the total (201kg), while she equalled the clean and jerk record (110kg).

Richard Kruse took the silver medal at the Men’s Foil World Cup in Seoul. He came through five matches, including a 15-11 defeat of team mate Laurence Halstead in the last eight, to reach the final.

Great Britain clinched an historic bronze medal at the LEN European Synchronised Swimming Champions Cup at Ponds Forge, Sheffield. The British team finished third in the Team Combination event winning the country's first European medal since 1994 and their first in European Champions Cup history.

The Great Britain women's Wheelchair Basketball team were crowned champions of the BT Paralympic World Cup for the first time after beating Germany 63-52 in the final.

June

Great Britain were crowned BT Paralympic World Cup trophy champions on the final day of the competition, which saw the world's best Paralympic swimmers in action at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.

Britain's canoeists had another successful month, kicked off by Abigail Edmonds, Hayleigh Mason, Jessica Walker and Louisa Sawers, claiming gold in the K4 500m at the Duisburg leg of the World Cup. Lizzie Neave then claimed the bronze medal in the women’s kayak final at the Canoe Slalom European Championships in Spain. Olympic silver medallist David Florence won gold in the Canoe Slalom World Cup Series in Tacen. At the European Championships in Belgrade, Liam Heath and Jon Schofield won gold in the men’s K2 200m final, while Ed McKeever won bronze in the K1 200m and Lani Belcher won silver in the women’s K1 5000m.

Bobby White was named the new captain of the GB men’s handball team. The 6ft 4in goalkeeper only took up handball in 2007 after progressing through UK Sport’s 'Sporting Giants' Talent ID programme.

Meanwhile, a second successive victory over Finland at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre gave the women’s GB handball team a spot in the group stages of the 2012 European Championship.

The GB Rowing Team won 11 medals, five of them gold, at the opening World Cup of the season in Munich.

Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee finished in the two top spots at the Triathlon ITU World Championship Series in Madrid. Helen Jenkins finished second at the same event. At the next round in Kitzbühel, Alistair Brownlee won once again, while Helen Jenkins finished second to Canadian Paula Findlay. At the ETU European event in Spain, Alistair Brownlee reclaimed his title, with brother Jonathan in second place.

The British Team picked up eight medals at the Para-Cycling Road World Cup in Spain, a vital qualification event for the London Paralympic Games, with three gold, four silver and one bronze medal.

At the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta, Ben Ainslie and Nick Dempsey sealed victories in the Finn and RS:X windsurfing events, with further podium glory for British sailors in the 470 women’s, 49er and women’s match racing events taking the GB medal tally to nine from their home World Cup regatta.

There were wins for Andy Turner (110m hurdles), Charlene Thomas (1500m), Dai Greene (400m hurdles) and the men’s 4x100m relay team, as Britain finished fourth at the European Team Championships in Stockholm. In total GB won four gold, four silver and seven bronze medals.

Andrew Selby and Fred Evans both won gold for GB Boxing at the European Championships in Ankara. Liverpool’s Tom Stalker had to settle for silver after a 18-10 loss to Ray Moylette of Ireland. A bronze for Charlie Edwards, in the Light flyweight semi-final meant GB Boxing won an historic four medal haul.

Britain’s Michael Horley claimed a silver medal at the Judo European Cup for the first time in Slovenia. The 23-year-old won four of his five fights in the -90kg category as he charged to the biggest result of his career.

July

There was great success for the British Gas GBR Disability Swimming Team who won an incredible 81 medals, including 27 gold, at the IPC Swimming European Championships in Berlin. Standout performances came from  double Paralympic Champion, Eleanor Simmonds, who clocked a world record to win the S6 400m Freestyle, and Susie Rodgers who set a European record in the S7 400m freestyle, winning four individual gold medals and one silver, as well as winning gold in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay.

Piggy French claimed victory in the CIC2* Invitational Eventing competition at Greenwich, the Olympic Test Event. Top ten performances from team mates Pippa Funnell and William Fox-Pitt saw GB top the leader board in the team competition too.

British archers Larry Godfrey and Amy Oliver won a World Championship bronze medal in Turin. The GB duo were convincing winners over Poland's Jacek Proc and Justyna Mospinek in the third place shoot-off in the recurve mixed team tournament.

The IFDS Disabled Sailing World Championships saw medal success for Britain’s sailors, with the Sonar trio of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas claiming silver, and Helena Lucas taking bronze in the 2.4mR event to add to the gold already secured by SKUD duo Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell.

In the season's final World Cup in Lucerne, Britain’s Olympic rowing team secured medals in 10 of the 12 events they entered – with four of those medals being gold.

Holly Bleasdale set a new UK senior national pole vault record of 4.70m at the Bauhaus Junioren Gala in Germany. Later that month, Bleasdale and Lawrence Okoye, became European champions, winning the pole vault and discus respectively at the European Under-23 Championships in the Czech Republic, adding to a record medal haul of 19 for the Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland team. Meanwhile, world Junior Champion Jodie Williams achieved a sprint double at the European Junior Championships in Estonia, clocking a lifetime best and Championship Record of 11.18 to win 100m gold and also triumphing in the 200m.
 
British archers won two gold medals and three silvers at the Paralympic World Championships in Turin. After Dani Brown made a successful defence of her compound individual title, there was gold in the men's team compound event.

Peter Wilson shot his way to his first international gold by seeing off world-class competition at the Maribor World Cup in Slovenia. The world number nine double trap shooter saw off tough competion from former world record holder, Ronjan Sodhi, to claim the top medal.

At the Aquatics World Championships in Shanghai, Keri-Anne Payne defended her world title with a commanding, gold-medal winning performance in the Women’s 10km open water event. Rebecca Adlington opened the British Gas GBR Swimming Team’s account in the pool, winning 400m Freestyle silver. Ellen Gandy won the British Gas GBR Swimming Team’s third medal, taking silver in the 200m Butterfly.

Peter Norfolk returned to the world number one quad singles ranking following his victory in the quad singles final at the British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships at Nottingham Tennis Centre.

August

Rebecca Adlington won an historic gold on the penultimate day of the Aquatics World Championships in Shanghai, snatching a breathtaking victory in the 800m Freestyle.
Liam Tancock defended his 50m Backstroke title and Hannah Miley clinched the first World Championship medal of her career, winning silver in the 400m Individual Medley.

Britain's Jamie Cooke and Freyja Prentice both achieved the qualifying standard for London 2012 at the Modern Pentathlon European Championships at Medway Park, Kent.

The GB double trap shotgun team of Richard Faulds, Peter Wilson and Steve Walton secured a gold medal in the European Shooting Championships in Belgrade.

Helen Jenkins achieved a dream result at the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship London, winning in front of a home crowd on the proposed London 2012 Olympic Games course. The following day, Alistair Brownlee made it a golden double for Great Britain, winning the men’s elite race. And there was further celebration as Alistair’s younger brother Jonathan produced a strong finish to collect bronze.

Jonathan Brownlee retained his title at the ITU Sprint World Championships in Lausanne, finishing ahead of Javier Gomez and his brother Alistair. Alistair claimed bronze and third place was enough to take him to the top of the world rankings. In the women’s race, Helen Jenkins finished fourth, taking her to number one in the world rankings.

Chris Adcock and Imogen Bankier ended their fantastic run at the Yonex BWF World Badminton Championships at Wembley Arena with silver medals, losing out in the final 21-15 21-7 to top seeds Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunleiof China. The Anglo-Scottish pairing toppled the 15th, fourth and second seeds on the way to the final.

Britain's Mark Cavendish won the London 2012 road race test event to lay down a marker for Olympic gold with a typical sprint as the race finished on the Mall in London.

Shanaze Reade rode to victory in the BMX Olympic Test Event which was held at the Olympic Park. The BMX Time Trial World Champion qualified third in the time trials but led the final throughout.

Great Britain took home three silver medals from the 2011 Sprint Canoeing Championships, with Lani Belcher (Women’s 5km)  Ed McKeever (Men’s K1 200m) and Liam Heath and Jonathan Schofield (men’s K2 200m) all triumphing.

Great Britain won team gold for the first time at the FEI European Dressage Championships in Rotterdam. Their final team score of 238.678 also set a new European record. Carl Hester and Laura Bechtolsheimer also claimed individual titles in the grand prix special. The pair claimed silver and bronze respectively. Hester then went on to claim a second silver medal in the grand prix freestyle.

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