Boccia European gold win 'huge' for Kidson
Kidson, from Salisbury, made her Paralympic debut last summer for Great Britain in Paris where she was the youngest person on the team. She was introduced to the sport in primary school and made her international competition in 2022, aged 17."The last Europeans [championships] I did in 2023, I literally came dead last and so to go from dead last to first place is absolutely mental," Kidson said.
Honouring former Paralympians
Kidson said the gold medal win was even more poignant following the deaths of her pairs partner Will Arnott and Great Britain team-mate Matt Berry at the end of 2024.Kidson and Arnott's gold medal in the Paralympic Games qualifying event secured Great Britain a place in the BC3 category at last summer's event."It's nothing short of a tragedy to lose both Will and Matt at the tail end of last year," Kidson said.Kidson worked with Arnott's long-time assistant Connor Welfare in Zagreb which she said made the event more special."This one especially, we know it was a big one because me and Connor Welfare, who was [Arnott's] assistant for 11 years, we thought it would be good to do this together and do it for the big guy," Kidson said."To be able to get a gold medal and also Zagreb is where Will had his first international competition and his first gold medal [in 2019]."It was really special to be able to do it."
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