Falmouth’s Josie Williams has claimed gold in the Youth Surf Life Saving European Championships -  retaining the title she won in 2011.

Seventeen-year-old Josie represented Great Britain at the Youth Surf Life Saving European Championships in Sweden.

Held over three days it saw teams consisting of five girls and five boys compete from 13 countries from across Europe.

The extremely demanding 11 events, challenge the best youth life savers both on land and sea.

Day one saw the teams go head-to- head, with the GB team placing fourth in the Simulated Emergency Response Competition (SERC).

This is an event which tests the initiative, judgment, knowledge, and abilities of the lifesavers acting as a team and apply lifesaving skills in a simulated emergency situation.

However it was on days two and three, where Josie’s success came.
The five day-two events switched to the 50-metre swimming pool, where Josie raced hard making five finals and scoring valuable points for the GB team.

Day three saw the teams switch to the five beach and sea events, where Josie dominated the run-swim-run crossing the finishing line for the gold medal 25 metres ahead of the competitors from Denmark and Ireland.
Following her win the elation was evident on Josie’s face.

“I can’t believe I won again, you always think you are in with a chance of winning but you also have the fear of losing as defending champion,” she said.

This win helped the GB team to an overall fourth place finish; with the girls GB team picking up a bronze medal finishing in third place overall.
Josie who has been using her skills working as an RNLI beach lifeguard over the summer will now return to Falmouth Sixth Form College in September where she will continue her studies.