The World Champs is the best showcase for just how talented the racketlon community is, for both the very young and young at heart. It is inspiring to see young players master not just one discipline but four so early – and equally senior players maintain, throughout life, with all its struggles, the fitness and passion for our rather mad sport! Let’s have a look at the Juniors and Seniors in the Teams categories.
Juniors
Starting at the youngest age, u12, it was a three-way shootout between the current powerhouses of racketlon in general – France, Great Britain, and Germany. All had points difference well in the positive in the group of four, with Germany edging the encounters against the other two (France u12 – 2 were the other team).
The same three nations had two teams each in the u14s and Austria and Czech Republic completed the eight draw. France were dominant here, claiming gold, while Great Britain showed great strength in depth, their 1s bagging silver and their 2s getting the bronze – and in fact the 2s got very slightly better results against the same opponents (France and Austria).
The u16 competition followed the Sam(e) familiar pattern. Robin and Romeo Sam – part of what, with older brother Leon included, could probably be deemed a racketlon ‘dynasty by now – helped Austria to this title again, like they did last year and like Robin did in 2024 (and Romeo was just seven points from doing in 2023 too).
They played all matches together here and dominated, winning 28 sets and losing seven. Lucas Augereau and Calixte Hoarau of France provided the stiffest competition, in the final, which ended 109-86.
France got even for that in the u18s, where they and Austria were the only entrants – and where Robin Sam also played. They won this 72-56.
Holly Ranson inspired GB to the u21 title. In the final they played Austria and the Austrian boys, Benjamin Radl and Markus Perschinka, were actually a smidge up in their matches when it ended but Holly’s 33-3 scoreline against Romy Northegger meant that the overall tie was a comfortable win for Great Britain. She also enjoyed a 44-6 score against Lia Paglia of Switzerland – only Germany’s Alina Reissenauer got close, with a margin of eight (11-5 11-2 6-11 9-11).
And to think, she is now off to university (Warwick) where she is on a scholarships to play probably even more sports…
Seniors
France were convincing winners of a roundrobin in the Seniors +40 which also included GB 1s and 2s and Germany. Their team was stacked with talent: Men’s Elite Player Josselin Gadé; Jonathan Cassier, who also played the Men’s Elite and won the Seniors +45 title; Aurélien Guyonneau who was only stopped in the C category by winner Jack Taylor in the quarters; Seniors +40 Doubles World Champs 2025 winner Christophe Montoya; Igor Rapeneau; and Olivia Meunier.
The Seniors +45 category was very tightly contested, with the top and bottom teams winning about 54% and 45% of their points respectively and even the bottom team in the pool, India, winning 45% of all points they played and four of the ten matches ending with winning margins in single digits.
It was GB that won it – the pivotal match turning out to be the first one, late on Friday night against France – Alice Flatman with a big +10 (11-3 11-9 12-10 9-11) win over Stéphanie Bret key in +6 team win. Keith Lesser, Jon Foulds, Ray Jordan, Gavin Stephenson, and Pete Barton were the men in the team.
France and Netherlands battled it out for silver in the last match of the group. A typically boisterous French crowd cheered on Stéphanie Bret as she battled to a 17-15 win in tennis against Kirsten Kaptein, leaving France just two down (instead of six if she had lost the tie break), then Sébastien Guicherd and Hervé Tixier played some excellent tennis doubles to win 11-3 and Benoit Pothier sealed the win 11-9, for a 135-127 team win.
The Seniors +55 was a seven-team draw. Germany came through the tougher of the two groups, in quantity and quality, beating Sweden 144-140, France 147-134, and GB 1 +32, strangely the most comfortable win coming against the team that came second in the group, showing how competitive the group was.
Hungary progressed with more ease, beating Netherlands +76 and Hungary +31, to set up a final that might just be the most experienced racketlon match ever – with 1,216 international racketlon matches between the Hungary squad and a whopping 2,033 between the Germans! Carola Von Heimburg’s 11-13 11-1 11-3 11-3 win proved in a 127-120 triumph for her Frank Böhm, Thomas Knaack, Volker Sach, Ulrich Schlepphorst, Dirk Skock, and Heike Vogt.
Meanwhile, GB 1s beat the 2s 118-91 for the bronze, although credit to Stephen Davey, from the 2s, for upsetting the seedings with a 11-9 11-7 8-11 11-7 scoreline in his rubber with Simon Lau.
Great Britain dominated the eight-team monrad in the Seniors +65, submitting half of the team in the whole field as India 1 dropped out last minute so they created a fourth team – and they got a silver! In fact, it was a clean sweep for the Brits, with the first team of Duncan Marlow and Julian Clapp proving too strong for all comers and the 2nd team, after squeaking past Hungary and then losing to GB1s, winning the bronze match comprehensively, 68-33, against India 2.
And Great Britain further showed their strength among the veterans by Julian Clapp, Peter Arbuthnot, and Geoff Jordan, three of the players who also played in the Seniors +65, teaming up in the Seniors +70 to win 96-58 against India.
