Great Britain 4 won the biggest Challenge Cup yet by far after a dominant display, making it, in the last three years, bronze, silver, and gold for the team in the competition!
It was a great moment for all the team and bittersweet for Kate Marian Russell, who unfortunately broke her ankle midway through their first match against France 5. Nonetheless, with Mollie Patterson stepping up from the 5s to take her place, she was their biggest supporter, sporting a large UK flag as spectator and, ultimately, up on the podium on crutches with the team singing God Save Our King!
Captain Stuart Preston says, “‘It feels amazing to go one better than last year when we were just beaten to gold by Hong Kong 2.”
“I knew we had such a strong team but you can never be sure with racketlon, and we were all a bit shook up when Kate broke her ankle in the first match. We all wanted to win it for her and ultimately I think those sort of setbacks really bond a team together.
“The team spirit was immense and Molly came in and did an incredible job, especially when you consider she only started playing racketlon this year! I’m so proud of my team and we can’t wait to be back next year.”


In the final, they lined up with Tom Watson at 1, Mollie Patterson in the women’s, Jon Spinks and Reuben Cox on doubles, and Henry Jones at 2.
They opened up a strong plus 17 lead from table tennis, thanks mostly to a faultless 11-0 set from Mollie Patterson, the UK’s No.4 table tennis player. The Danish team have very strong badminton, but GB stood up to the challenge and their lead was decreased by only 2. Squash opened things back up, with all the men winning for GB to lead plus 26 going into the tennis.
Tom Watson’s tennis set veered between the brilliant and ridiculous, often within the very same point. All very entertaining for the fans of course, especially when he approached the net, shaped to hit an on-the-run drive volley, but then faked it (by hitting under the ball)… only to see the ball land about a metre inside the baseline.
Their whole match-up at number one was interesting – the energetic, expressive Brummie, who very often has some kind of chat with the crowd or self-commentary after points, whether good or bad, against Kim Ljungberg-Jensen (organiser of the great World Doubles and Nordic Racket Games), who is very solid both as a player and emotionally. It ended 14-12 to the Danish captain
Then Mollie Patterson and Mathilde Deleuran scrapped out an 11-9 set which went Denmark’s way, leaving GB needing one in the doubles. Reuben and Jon sealed the win without actually hitting the ball. Morten Lindholm served an ace and then a double fault.
The question now is, can we have a fourth team in the Nations Cup?!
Great Britain 4 reached the final by first beating France 5, comfortably, despite Kate’s injury that occurred during badminton, meaning they got zero points for the remainder of her rubbers.
Tensions were high in their match against India as the Indians complained for a long time about Mollie Patterson taking the place of Kate, despite GB needing a woman to play the match, submitting the team on time, and bringing up a player they had selected as weaker (as Mollie was originally in the 5s).
They saw off this challenge plus 33 and then had an even bigger winning margin against Switzerland 2 in the semis – an impressive plus 40 against Switzerland 2. Their dominance shows the strength of racketlon in UK at the moment, which is so strong that they created a fifth team for the first time, after generally being against it, and some players are playing for lower teams than they have before.
Denmark 2 started off with a comfortable win against France 6, then an encounter with Germany 3 (who had beaten Hungary in a tight plus four win) that went all the way to the last tennis set. Germany needed a miracle, an 11-1, 11-0, or 11-2 and gummi victory – but it didn’t come. In fact, Anders Krog edged it for Denmark 2 with an 11-9 win.
Ylvie Zahn, winner of the Girls U14 and Girls U16, proved her quality again with by finishing exactly even against Mathilde Deleuran in the women’s singles, despite her age. It’s a sign of her confidence playing for an open age team and she’s a real star for the future in the making! The big difference in the match was Anders Krog, who ended up plus 12.
Then Denmark 2 had another great match with Great Britain 5, captained by racketlon weatherman, photographer, and all-round good egg James Pope. Kieran Shelley, who had been established firmly in the second singles berth, unfortunately saw his ankle swell up overnight, so he was out, meaning James stepped up to men’s singles 2.
Denmark 2 had just too much quality in the end, despite Joel Durston and James Trueman winning all four sports in doubles. The Danes needed six in the final tennis set and took it 6-3.
Great Britain 5 took the bronze after Switzerland 2 gave them a walkover due to injuries and booked flights. (They played an improvised format for a friendly, as Switzerland nobly offered to play in any way they could, which was pretty even.)
GB5 got there after an incredible match, which basically all of not only the winning GB team but the French team too, very gracious in defeat, described as the greatest match they’ve ever played.
The two teams were exactly even going into the penultimate tennis set. Simon Bacha and Freddy Runget of France won that 11-8 against Joel and James Pope, meaning Sebastian Guicherd needed nine to win it for France, eight for the gummi.
It was a good match, between solid, evenly matched tennis players, with the Frenchman going in 6-3 at the turn and the Brits hoping for a miracle…which Kieran provided! He won an incredible eight points in a row – and most through his own attacking play rather than opponent errors, each point garnering
On the penultimate one, Kieran dived full length and horizontal sideways, near the baseline, to lob Sebastian, got up, and then won the point! He then sealed it, sending the Brits into delirium.
Kieran says it’s “the best moment of my life”. France No.1 Theo Skibniewski said, “It’s what racketlon is all about.”

Elsewhere, Norway had a very successful opening tournament, ending up in fifth place – and they couldn’t have been closer to the semis, having lost, heartbreakingly, in a gummi in the quarters to Switzerland 2.
Switzerland 2 were bolstered significantly by the presence of elite player, former World No.1, and new mother Nicole Eisler. Her husband Rafael was playing in the same team and their son Nael was in attendance, and one day even in a racketlon top handmade by fellow player Astrid Reimer-Kern.
Earlier, Norway had beaten Germany 4 comfortably and USA 2 in a reasonably tight match. USA 2 went on to win their two other matches to finish 17th, so can arguably count themselves a little unlucky with their draw. It’s first second team that USA have fielded, testament to the growth of racketlon Stateside under the tireless Patrick Moran.
And Afghanistan got their first ever racketlon win – in near enough the most dramatic way possible! Afghanistan were one point down going into the final set of tennis, so ‘a game of tennis’ (a set of racketlon can’t end 11-10 so in these situations the set is played out and if it goes to two clear points the score will be a plus 3 or plus 1 win).
Mostafa Kazemi sealed the win with a 13-11 victory over Anton Mais, which was fitting as he was the star of the match, winning his rubber plus 19 (12-10, 11-6, 11-1, 13-11).
Let’s hope newer racketlon nations such as Norway, USA, and Afghanistan continue to grow and, who knows, soon we could see the Challenge Cup with a full 32 teams!

