Local girls in World Open inline skating championships

Olivia Smith-Hughes

TWO local girls have just returned from Fasarno, in Italy, where they were members of the team representing Great Britain in the World Open Inline Skating Championships.
Amy Nelson, aged 15, from Warrington and Olivia Smith-Hughes, aged 10, from Lymm both members of the Silver Blades Altrincham Inline Skating team.
Each year the competition grows in size and this year there were nearly 350 skaters from around the world competing, including 22 in the GB team.
It was a hugely successful event for the Altrincham skaters, returning with four new world champions taking Gold in their respective categories, four silver medallists and two bronze medallist. The competition spanned four days.
Amy Nelson came ninth in the Third Division Ladies – a category so fiercely contested that there was less than two points dividing gold and ninth place.
Olivia came eighth in the Third Division cadets, which was a new higher category for her after her win in the same competition last year in Cork.
In addition to this, the Silver Blades also won Bronze in the team category, finishing behind Russia (Gold ) and Ireland (Silver).
Head coach Donna McCarthy was thrilled with the results and said “Each and every skater should be very proud of what they have achieved. They worked hard and impressed everyone with their performance and their team spirit.”