RISING star Sophia Potter is celebrating after clinching silver and bronze at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships in Newcastle last weekend.
The Studley teenager, tipped as a future Olympian, came as close as it is possible to get to gold losing out by just one point in the final.
Sophia is also the Great Britain Under 18 and Under 23 Women’s Sabre champion and this year has competed in the World and European Championships, travelling to venues throughout Europe as well as the Olympic venue at Sochi.
She’s also as close to a ‘natural’ as it’s possible to be, starting the sport aged just 11 and going to represent England at 12 and team GB at 14.
“I used to work at the Priory Hospital and when I was pregnant one of the surgeons gave me a tatty old booklet on fencing and said I must get him – he was convinced she was going to be a boy – into the sport,” said proud mum Ronnie.
“Now she’s part of the British Fencing Talent Programme and is seen as a future Olympian and we are utterly delighted with her results from the Commonwealths.”
The future looks bright too – after years of being financed by her parents Sophia is now supported by Sports Aid as part of their ‘Backing the Best’ programme.
She’s also just finished her A Levels at Stratford College and will be taking a gap year to train with the Hungarian national squad, one of the best in the world.
A member of Shakespeare Swords Fencing Club, she’s also busy taking her coaching qualifications so she can give something back to the sport that has given her so much.
Sophia is next in action at the Under 20 British Championships in Nottingham before the Worlds in March 2019 as she works towards selection for the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.
