Judo star Gracie Wilson targeting European qualification

By James Reid, Sportsbeat

Hull judoka Gracie Wilson wants to continue her meteoric rise with qualification for this year’s Under-21 European Championships.

The 16-year-old star only took up the sport four years ago after seeing it advertised at her local leisure centre but has gone from strength to strength since first taking to the mat.

Wilson quickly earned a silver medal at the British Championships, paving the way for a place in the Great Britain junior squad - and now has her eyes on a trip to Slovenia this autumn ahead of targeting a step up to senior level.

“Judo was advertised at our local leisure centre – I thought I might as well give it a try and I really enjoyed it,” explained Wilson, who has been selected to be part of Aldi’s Rising Stars programme, an initiative with SportsAid that provides talented young athletes with financial support, recognition and personal development opportunities .

“Within my first two years of judo I picked up a national silver medal at the British Championships and then got selected for the regional squad. The following year I won, went up an age band and got a silver, and then won again the year after that. Now I am on the GB junior squad.

“I recently got selected to go to a junior competition in Denmark where I picked up two bronze medals in the Under 21s and Under 23s – that was quite a big achievement as it was a big step up in competition for me.

“It was intimidating at first but once I got my first fight out of the way, I settled into it and it was a really good experience.

“Coming up I want to do some U21 European cups and hopefully qualify for the U21 European Championships.

“Long-term, I want to go to the Olympics, definitely, and the World Championships at senior level.”

Each athlete on the Rising Stars programme, which was launched with SportsAid last year, receives funding to help towards costs such as travel, accommodation, equipment and nutrition, with Aldi also delivering workshop sessions on a range of topics to help nurture athletes for their sporting endeavours and beyond.

This includes top tips on healthy eating and performance nutrition, restful sleep, managing mental wellbeing, social media training and working with the media.

In addition, the talented young athletes, who have been nominated to SportsAid by the governing bodies of their respective sports, play a key role in the promotion of the supermarket’s ‘Get Set to Eat Fresh’ programme, which aims to educate children on the importance of a healthy diet.

To date this partnership has reached over 2.2 million young people, with a target to educate an extra one million children by the end of 2024.

Wilson’s Olympic dreams are aided by regular trips to the British Judo National Training Centre in Walsall, where she is able compete alongside heroes such as Commonwealth champion Emma Reid.

And she added: “I really look up to Emma Reid. Her style of judo and her performance internationally is really inspiring for me.

“We have the opportunity to go down to Walsall and train whenever we can, whenever we are free.

There are set weekends that we do, open national squad training, four times a year as well as camps throughout the year.

“I try to train every day, at least cardio, and then I do weights three times a week and judo three times a week.”

Wilson is managing her extensive schedule alongside finishing her GCSE exams but revealed she is just about fitting it all in - and would not have it any other way.

“It has been quite manageable because both the sport and school have been very understanding – it works well together,” she added.

“My life is on the mat. I am always there, I am always training, but that is what I choose to do. I would rather be training than be at a party with school friends.”

Aldi is the Official Supermarket Partner of Team GB and ParalympicsGB and have partnered with Team GB since 2015, ParalympicsGB since 2022 and will be supporting them through to Paris 2024