Credit to Gerhart Nel for the wonderful photographs throughout. 

Racketlon World Championships 2026

Joel Durston reports on GB5’s route to victory in the inaugural Satellite Cup!

The Team

The 5th team had an excellent line up with Sam Barker as captain, Ishan Bairoliya, Kayleigh Chapman, Joel Durston, Ian Johnston, and Cam Leighton. Sam, Ian, Ishan, and Joel were the top four in the B category of the British Championships this year, in that order. Meanwhile, Kayleigh was a finalist in the Women’s B, as well as a player in the 5th team last year, and Cam brought a good deal of UK and international experience to the team.

Our 5s enjoyed a bye as second seeds then cruised to victory in the quarter final over Germany 5, the only other team apart from the two seeds to get a bye, with the impressive record of not dropping a set across all 12 played. The match finished comfortably before tennis. In fact, arguably the most tricky thing about the match was a good five minutes debating if the men’s doubles score was 10-8 or 9-7 (to GB). Germany finally conceded it was 10-8 – a good lesson to always say the score out loud! 

Then things got serious. In the semi-final, we played Hong Kong 2, who had dominated both France 6 then France 8. In the first match, the team had lined up with Ishan on first singles, Ian on second, and Cam and Joel on doubles – and it was not broke, so they did not fix it. The same lineup remained for the final too, as Sam Barker’s knee was heavily strapped and he nobly decided not to risk playing himself. Instead he was captain extraordinaire, doing tons of research on the opponents, imparting good half-time feedback, giving moral support, and even providing refreshments.

Hong Kong are traditionally very strong in the first half of racketlon matches so GB5 did very well to only be four points down at halfway. There were a few big TT wins. An 11-5 score for Joel Durston and Cam Leighton in doubles against Ka Chun Lau and Anson Ng – a score that could have easily been the same the other way – and Ian Johnston, who has played the World Championships in ping pong (hardbat table tennis like on Marty Supreme), beat Sing Siu Lam 11-7. A strong squash saw them five points up going tennis. Ishan Bairoliya played a solid set and won 11-5 and Kayleigh Chapman played a remarkably controlled tennis set to win 11-1. She said she imagined the match as playing against her nine-year-old, moving him around with control and a lot of slice. This left Joel and Cam needing just two, which they got on the third point to get through to the final. 

The Final

In the final we met France 5, who led the charge of a whopping five French teams in this category – 5 to 9 (the 7s, 8s, and 9s finished 5th, 6th, and 7th respectively (credit to the selectors!), while France 6 finished 13th. France 5 had beaten USA 2 comfortably, France 7s by 12, and the top seeds Finland 2 in the semi-final, by 20.

France started out ominously strong. It is not often Ishan is beaten at table tennis but he simply came up against a better player (slightly) in Thomas Lauféron, who won 11-7, while Kayleigh got five against Magali Viaud, who could stay in the rallies a bit longer. Joel and Cam made a great comeback from 9-4 and then 10-7 down to win their set 12-10. Cam has an incredible ability to analyse and then read table tennis rallies a few shots ahead, like great chess players foreseeing chess games moves ahead, and was great at relaying this to Joel, which helped the comeback.They also got the benefit of a lucky back-table edge on a return from Joel to make it 10-9. So a 12-10 win instead of a 11-8 loss, in a match won a gummi – as the cliche goes, sport is often about fine margins! (Mind, you could say karma came later with a suspect squash call.) Ian made short work of Antoine Taramasco, not a bad player by any means, 11-1.

In badminton, Ishan was at 3-3 but then used his experience, finding the right percentage plays, to take the next eight in a row. Kayleigh scrapped hard for eight. Joel and Cam got six, which was ok overall, but good from the position of 8 2 down. Ian fought hard and was ‘in’ many rallies, but, ultimately, was frankly outclassed by his opponent, 11-1, giving France an eight-point half-time lead.

Strangely for international racketlon, Great Britain were not favourites for the squash. It was neither Ishan’s nor Thomas’ strongest discipline by any means, but nevertheless – or indeed because of that – was a ding-dong battle that ended 11-8 in the Frenchman’s favour. Magali, clearly a quite experienced squash player, had too much guile for Kayleigh, and won 11-1. Joel and Cam, though, are strong squash players – and their opponents were not very strong. In fact, Joel had beaten Gaël Gautier 21-0 in a friendly match two days before. On just the third point, Gaël played an average drop shot and moved into Joel’s line. Joel read it but was given a no let, which he thought was very harsh but he made no mistake with the rest and nor did Cam, for a 11-1 win. Ian’s squash set was very attritional, between two very equal players. He actually led 8-5 but Antoine recovered to win 11-8.

All this meant France extended their lead to 14 lead going into tennis. So, advantage France. Great Britain has some strong tennis players but it was a lot of scoreboard pressure – realistically, wins needed from all four. Captain Sam Barker said “11-7 from everyone. We are good players. No problem!” With, needless to say, tongue largely in cheek. But that’s exactly what they did!

Ishan’s opponent Thomas was a pretty strong player, but Ishan was very solid. Perfect tennis for racketlon (we are not saying ‘racketlon tennis’!). There were a lot of long rallies, which Ishan mostly got the better of, a few times as Thomas hit closer and closer to lines and then missed and a few times clever play from Ishan moving his opponent front and back. Setpoint, for example, was a clean dropshot winner. Kayleigh did the same, with some great tennis against a solid opponent, and Cam and Joel won 11-8.

This meant France’s Antoine Taramasco needed nine for the win and eight for the gummi. It was, like the squash between the two, 50/50. The Frenchman was 8-7 up, with four matchpoints. Ian held his nerve through some tense, long rallies to bring up a gummi. Antoine won the toss and put Ian in to serve. Ian served, and Antoine hit it on the run and rushed the net…but put it a bit long, to the delight of our Brits – watch the final point here! https://www.facebook.com/reel/1363949792081639

After the wild celebrations, everyone was saying what a hero Ian was and how we could not imagine playing that! Remarkably, he said he was happier having played it, as he had control over the proceedings, rather than watching it! 

Credit to Gerhart Nel for the wonderful photographs throughout. 

Racketlon World Championships 2026

Delegate, selector, player and captain – Jack Bishop takes us through the many different roles he takes on for the Racketlon World Championships…

Four. Four sports. Four years in Rotterdam. Four different hats I wore. Let’s explore.

Player

Day one for me was personally focussed as I began my Men’s B grade campaign. Inadvertently I heaped a lot more pressure upon myself for my first match after revealing pre-tournament that I’d never won a World Champs singles match in any form – 18 matches in 6 WCs spanning 12 years. Not that I was counting…I also got a full appreciation of how many people follow our social media as a lot of people mentioned it to me prior, and not just Brits! What followed was a match that pretty much summed everything up about Racketlon.

My opponent was Frenchman David Chelly. I knew the name but had never met him, and naturally I went deep into the data and his matches to get a sense of his profile; TT, tennis, squash, badminton. My plan was – lose as best I could in TT, follow it up with a must-win badminton, reverse the TT in the squash and then need about 16-18 in tennis – my racketlon career in a sentence! And it played out that way, kind of…

• Table tennis – an absolute GRIND to lose 21-8. Every point meant so much as I battled a crafty, left-hander with pimples. Thank you Keith ‘Quiche’ Lesser for responding to my ask for some half-time advice, especially when I simply said “Help, Keith, I literally don’t know what to do against these pimples”.
• Badminton – both our worst sports – and it was as pretty as you imagined. I knew it was key. And I was nervous. My short serves were about a foot over the net. Yet somehow I recorded my best badminton singles win on the tour since the Czech Open 2018. At this point I had (stupidly) got ahead of myself and thought this was mine for the taking.
• Squash – and the mentality changed again. Squash – the one I had been playing a lot of. Feeling confident. And suddenly I was in a battle. This guy was tricky…I’m not sure where his shots were going to go and some of the nicks he hit were outrageous. At about 8-7 up I’d  given away as many as I had hoped for the whole set. Mentally I reset, and I fought hard for a 21-9 win.
• Tennis – traditionally my second sport – but by god I hate playing on proper clay (probably my own fault for not buying clay shoes after 4 years in this venue!) I needed 11, and against most players I come up against I would be very confident in achieving that. But I have a history against TT-Tennis profiles. Markus Kugel. Marco Genzel. Yves Bret. Ghosts of the past. And within precisely one point I knew I was a bit in trouble. Crafty kick. High kicking forehands. I barely put up a fight before getting involved in the dreaded ‘Racketlon Tennis’. At 4-11 down at the turn I turned to Messrs Bispham and Langworthy (pictured below) – “I don’t know what to do, my head is scrambled”. However much my head said “hit topspins” I just couldn’t do it and remember telling myself “Well you’re gonna have to grind this one out. And somehow I did – 11-17. It was ugly as heck. A travesty to all past tennis coaches I’ve had. But that’s the 5th sport of Racketlon. The mental grind of every point. And why we love and hate Racketlon so much at times in equal measure.

Amongst all this – my opponent, David, was genuinely one of the nicest people I’ve met through Racketlon. A match played in the perfect spirit. Applauding each other’s great shots. Apologising for the lucky ones. And genuine conversation between sets, this match really did have it all. And I wouldn’t want my first win any other way. I promptly lost my second match, nearly getting bagelled at TT and losing the decisive badminton set – but I couldn’t be angry given I’d practised once pre-event…you get what you put in!

Delegate

Days two and three (and lots of the weeks prior) was dominated by Delegate mode – joining the unbelievable tournament volunteer team behind the desk. I am so pleased they got deserved limelight on the podium with special (chopping board) plaques as the effort that goes in behind the scenes is the reason the World Champs the last 4 years have been as good as they are. I have been a delegate at tournaments for over 10 years now – originally it was a means to keep my costs down but now I do it for the enjoyment of being part of a Dream Team once a year. It’s hard work but incredibly rewarding. Too many names to name, but you know who you are!

So, what do I actually do as a delegate? The majority is about draws and schedules. Over 1,000 matches, 400+ players. Trying as best we can to ensure 3 matches minimum for all. And the bane of my life – handling walkovers and byes! A plea for all – please only pull out of matches as a last resort!! And then there will always be some pesky ‘rule’ decisions to be made – thankfully there weren’t really any major ones this year. One that tickled me was a certain G.King and J.Clapp, two relatively (VERY) experienced players managing to finish their match only to realise it was actually tied. It took over 24hrs for the match to actually be finished with a modified Gummi-arm, which I allowed. I also enjoyed someone asking if their child could play two teams matches. At the same time. Despite the matches being on different sports throughout. Naturally, the answer was ‘NO’!

Any late teen or 20-something player – I fully encourage you to consider becoming a delegate. It has taught me a lot about tournament organising, decision making and handling difficult situations. And it helps keep your costs down. If interested, shoot me a message!

Captain

And finally, on days four and five of the World Championships, my head turned to Captaincy. I had the privilege of captaining GB2, a team rich in history. 5x winners of the Nations Cup. But never without its fearless leader Alex Du Noyer. And personally I had only won it once, in Zurich 2018, in one of the greatest Racketlon matches I’ve been part of. 

We had compiled an unbelievable squad (+ myself) – Hempstead. Jones. Patterson. Watkin-Rees. Wilson. All in great form in the singles. And even though we had some tired bodies and niggles, and no pre-existing doubles pairings, I knew deep down we were the favourites. Not that I was admitting that to anyone!

So what does a captain think about? Well if you’re me, you overthink! You want to give everyone game time / allow rests where needed, but you also can’t afford any slip ups. You want to test different doubles pairings but also IF you do have a final you want it to be a settled pair. And of course, you second guess what your opponents may do!

Our first match was against Denmark 2s, the Challenge Cup runners up in 2025. They had a team including Women’s B champion Deleuran and Men’s 55+ champion Steinmetz, and knew they would be strong in badminton in particular. When we won that sport +10 I knew we were in a good place and won the match +62. Next up was Germany 2s, the winners in 2024. I dwelled a lot on selection before sending Jamie to play against their TT gun (thankfully Jamie is a Bad-Squ gun dropping only 4 points) and then forming what turned out to be a masterstroke doubles pairing of Jones & Wilson. We won +38 with everyone winning their individual matches. What was left was what was going to be the closest group game versus Hong Kong, the winners in 2023. And this was my first big call. The ‘fairness’ call involved rotating me into the team. The sensible decision was keeping the same team. We all had the same goal. And we went with the latter decision. A +37 win later and we were in the final. Against the new (auld) enemy France 2s.

We had beaten them in the final handedly last year, but their team this year included a much improved Anais Ben Mansour – the newly crowned Women’s Elite singles champion! I contemplated a bit but I now had a new ethos: “don’t second guess their team, put our best team out and let them beat us”. So out went the same team. Little did I know how much of a nervy supporter I was! As Jamie conducted a push battle against Anti-Spin I could barely watch (see picture below). But what a performance from the whole team as we won +20.

Highlights:

Jamie – winning 11-2 at squash and then winning 5 in a row from 7-10 down in tennis. Iconic.

Mollie – outlandish TT against the World Champ and 7 incredibly valuable tennis points.

Henry – steadying the ship in the 2nd half of badminton to win a 50/50 set in the algorithm.

Ross – raw passion on the squash court against the French Captain. The roar is still ringing in my ears.

Hempstead – the cheat code at #2. 9 matches. 9 wins. I hope you’re recovering somewhere.

And yes, it was very enjoyable to win with a lot of pride. But what I loved more was the camaraderie and support. We had a travelling army of family from two thirds of the squad – thank you. And our team WhatsApp chat is a genuine joy. A lot of the time Racketlon is an individual sport but not Teams. I loved bringing together this group of 20-somethings (giving a good 10 years to all), a range of personalities who all kind of knew each other and us coming together as a team, creating closer friendships. And more than anything, having a great laugh.

Racketlon will always have my heart. See you in Helsinki, where if I’m honest, I’d like to be wearing fewer hats!

Credit to Gerhart Nel for the wonderful photographs. 

Racketlon World Championships 2026 – some thoughts and reports!

Matilda Parslow, GB Captain of Selectors, reports:

Once again, GB tops the medal table for the elite open and age categories. Although we were closely contested by the French, GB held on in multiple categories to once again show that we are the leading Racketlon nation. 

Gold medals in the inaugural +70s team championship and Satellite Cup (open division 4), GB retains its incredible status of having won every single seniors and open category possible at the World Team Championships over the years. Just wow!

I would like to quickly say a huge thank you to the other members of the selection committee, Jack Bishop and Peter Barton, for all their hard work leading up to the event. I would also like to thank every captain who has taken on the (difficult, and sometimes stressful!) responsibility of organising their team and deciding the lineups. Well done! Finally, thank you to everyone who has supported the players, come out to watch, and generally made the racketlon community a wonderful thing to be part of. 

Instead of a straightforward review of all the winners and categories, of which there are many, (check out our social media for all of the podium photos!) we present a variety of thoughts and reports from across the GB racketlon community. 

Tylor Li, GB U14 singles silver medallist, reports on his week at the Racketlon World Championships:

I walked off the court in Rotterdam with a silver medal hanging around my neck, and honestly, it still feels a bit surreal. I even joked I wanted to sleep with the medal because I honestly couldn’t have dreamed of this before the tournament started. Last year I was down in 17th place in U14, and since I’m only turning 13 this month, playing against kids who are not just older, but much taller than me made the whole thing feel pretty crazy.

People always say Racketlon is the ultimate test, and they aren’t wrong. You can’t just be good at one thing. If you spend all your time practicing just one sport, the other three will catch you out. It’s this brutal mix where you go from having lightning-fast reflexes at the table tennis table to exploding around the badminton court, and then straight into the lung-burning, suffocating nightmare of squash. By the time you finally step onto the tennis court, your legs are completely dead. Trying to switch your brain, your grip, and your muscle memory between four totally different rackets while you’re completely exhausted is the hardest part of the whole thing.

The absolute toughest part of the week for me was the U14 semifinal against Karl Robert Toomjõe from Estonia, who had just beaten the current British U14 Champion. It was the tightest match ever (21-23, 24-22, 21-17, 18-12,with a win of +10). I narrowly dropped the table tennis 21-23, and then my string broke right in the middle of badminton. After changing my racket, I managed to fight back and win 24-22. Squash was the massive turning point because he had crushed me 21-6 the night before (in the U16 draw, in a match I lost), so I had to completely change my strategy. I played really well, and just after the middle break at 11, while leading a close game, I took a brutal fall and banged up my knee and hip. Some people in the crowd were yelling at me to just quit, but I pushed through the pain, won the squash set, and held my nerve in tennis to secure the overall win. 

My luck appeared to end in the U12 World Singles final where I played Baptiste Pothier from France, the defending silver medalist for U12 last year. He is extremely talented at table tennis, completely wiping me out 21-3. Perhaps I could have achieved a few more points in badminton if not for my leg but no. He was very good and congratulations to him on a well deserved gold medal.

All year it’s been non-stop grinding. I’ve been running between different clubs, doing double sessions, and trying to build enough stamina just to survive the draw. To have all that split-training actually pay off on the world stage feels pretty awesome. If this week taught me anything, it’s that when you get knocked down, you just have to get right back up and never give up. Playing against guys way taller than me proved that you just have to believe in yourself—because short people can win too.

Now that I’ve tasted silver, my focus has completely shifted. The training for gold next year starts right now!

Parent Perspective: Jim Fontanelli, dad of 3 racketlon junior superstars (and player in his own right!) tells us about what being a racketlon parent feels like…

Being a racketlon parent has certain requirements. You need to have a deep and abiding love of sports halls. If they are humid and slightly smelly, all the better. You need to know where the nearest source of bananas is at any time of the day in any location in any country. You need to be able to survive on an entirely carbohydrate based diet (possibly for days on end). You need to be able to show some level of interest in interminable discussions around strings and rubbers. You need to be able to deal with stress levels that are materially higher watching a game than if you were playing. You need to explain that always going into squash and tennis down is how proper racketlon should be played. You need to be able to restrain yourself from calling in the GB racketlon rendition team to deal with the Frenchman with the megaphone. And if you can clone yourself to watch three matches playing at the same time then you can avoid a sticky conversation about who is your favourite child. 

But if you can tick those boxes the payoff is huge. The term “racketlon family” absolutely rings true. Mutual support through the trials, tribulations and successes of competitive sport. It starts with explanations about what the hell is going on – four sports against the same person? It progresses through the more obscure; gummi arm – some medical complication from carrying a bag with too many racquets in it? But it ends with seeing your child being absorbed into a broader community that is always welcoming. There is the direct community – familiar faces, encouraging nods, a quiet word on some point of technique or strategy, louder support as the stakes become bigger. But there is also the indirect community, as you find friends in sports you otherwise would not have given time to – for us that has been table tennis and finding a local club that has become a central part of our week, which would never have happened without racketlon. 

On the junior side there is also seeing the kids grow up  – catching up a few times a year at tournaments and the progression through the various age categories marking out important transitions in the outside world, with GCSEs, A-levels, university and beyond. It also seems to be some weird side effect of racketlon that the kids – whilst fiercely competitive – all seem to get along really well once the final point has been played, a trait which extends to the international competitions and results in a broad network of like-minded kids across a swathe of countries who meet up and catch up in random cities dictated by the FIR. 

Then there are the Teams events at the World Champs and getting a chance to play individual sports with your peers as part of a team for your country – the highlight of the year and an opportunity that motivates practise through the dreary winter months. Bringing together multiple racquet sports in one event gives a chance for a sports-mad junior to extend skills beyond their favourite sport – making the most of your strengths as well as working on your weaknesses. There are levels for everyone and starting out is easy – just pitch up to a tournament and if in doubt talk to the nearest person and soon enough you and your child will be absorbed into a niche, but fast-growing sport that offers a lifetime of competition, from the U12’s to the 70+ category – just about enough time to figure out badminton!

Senior report from Keith Lesser, captain of the +45 team, as he reports on their route to victory!

GB retained the +45 Team World Championship title, with stalwarts Peter Barton and Jon Foulds joined by “youngsters” Ray Jordan, Keith Lesser, Alice Flatman and debutant Gavin Stephenson — and what a signing he proved to be!

The team event followed a gruelling eight singles matches, and the first team tie against France looked like a particularly tough ask. Two of their players were unknown surprises who had reached the singles semi-finals just days earlier. Benoit Pothier had knocked out the much-fancied Dane Anders Fyrst across three sports, losing only in squash, while Hervé Tixier, who went on to take bronze, had beaten not only the Czech number three seed Rostislav Kniezek — including a scary 21–12 win in tennis — but also our own Gav.

Gav got his revenge in the team event, securing an important table tennis victory before winning heavily in squash. Ray Jordan and Jon Foulds couldn’t quite overcome the power of Benoit and Guicherd, although they did secure a hugely important squash set. 

Lesser had defeated Yves Bret +36 in the singles quarter-final before tennis, but the team match-up was much more evenly balanced. Fortunately for GB, Cassier was competing in the +40 category for the team event, making the +45 team’s chances slightly easier. Cassier had also narrowly defeated Ray Jordan in the +45s singles quarter-final, with the match going all the way to 18–18 in tennis.

On the women’s side, Alice Flatman had taken silver and bronze in the +40 and +45 singles respectively, narrowly missing out on repeating her gold from last year. However, she was determined to make amends in the team event. Against Stéphanie Bret, Alice won the first three sports and ultimately secured the gold medal for GB.

After overcoming France, GB made relatively light work of Germany and India. By this stage, however, the inevitable toll of the tournament was starting to show, with some sore muscles throughout the team, and, in the case of Mr Foulds, a very sore back! Peter Barton stepped up against India to carry us comfortably over the line.

Then came the Netherlands and, with the gold medal within touching distance, it was party time!

Flatman once again faced a tough match against Dutch opponent Kirsten Kaptein, while Stephenson continued to prove exactly why his debut signing had been such a good one. He systematically dismantled former elite player Alwin Krist across three sports, including Alwin’s strongest discipline, squash.

Lesser then had to dig deep against tour favourite Guus van der Burgt, winning the first three sports and producing some immense squash in the process.

It was a hard-fought journey, with France providing a formidable early challenge and plenty of hurdles along the way. But the GB +45 team overcame them all to successfully defend their World Championship title – back-to-back gold for the +45s!