WORCESTER-BORN Nick Wilson has won both a gold and a silver medal at an international fishing competition.
Wilson won gold in the duos competition, alongside his partner Ben Sharp, as well as picking up a silver medal in the team competition.
Wilson, who works for South East Rivers Trust, said: "It was amazing, it was surreal I suppose. It still hasn't quite sank in to be honest.
"It was amazing, and also the fact that we, as a team, got silver overall. Because it is a team sport, so the fact that we got gold, but then the team also got silver was the real amazing part of it."
The competition saw teams from 13 different nations vie for top spot, with the competing teams ranging from representing the USA and Belgium, to Latvia and Moldova.
It ran from October 23 through to October 27, in Lake Garda, Italy.
Wilson and Sharp caught more fish than any other duo, with teams from the Netherlands and France finishing second and third respectively.
The pairing's strong suits were opposite to one another, which ultimately worked in their favour as they clinched gold.
"It was a great thing because Ben was able to work on specific things that he was really strong at, and I was able to work on what I'm strong at," said Wilson. "There is not much point you and your partner doing the same thing, so being different gives you more options and hopefully you catch more fish."
Wilson was confident of a strong performance prior to the event, but he did not expect to take home gold.
"There are a lot of good teams," said Wilson. "I was confident that if we were able to get the spots we wanted, then we had a good chance. I wasn't expecting to win, but if we managed to get the spots we wanted then I thought we had a good chance of medalling."
Street fishing is a variation on typical fishing, which sees competitors race to secure their favoured spots.
"Thankfully we're both reasonably quick," said Wilson. "We're not as fast as some of the other teams, some of the other teams are lightning, but we're both reasonably quick so we were able to get our spots."
Wilson, who has been fishing his whole life, and always harboured hopes of one day competing for England, now looks ahead to the next World Championships which will be hosted in America.
"The hope is to retain it," said Wilson.
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