Alex finishes fourth in World Championship qualifier

It was just four years ago that Alex Sillitoe-Price picked up a bow for the first time…. and the rest, as they say, is history.

In such a short space of time, 14-year-old Alex, who lives near Newtown, has become one of the country’s best archers, securing a place on the Archery GB’s World Class Programme which means training three full days a week.

And, this week, he has finished fourth in the qualifying round of the World Youth Championships Recurve event for archers aged 18 and under, so goes into Sunday’s final in Winnipeg, Canada, as one of the in-form archers.

Sillitoe-Price finished just behind the top three from Chinese Taipei and a Korean pair in a quality field of 83 competitors.

The youngster has shown tremendous determination and mental strength, fighting through whatever neurodiversity and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome has thrown at him to become established as a superb talent.

But it comes at a price and with Archery living in the shadows of the more recognised Olympic sports, the family is battling hard to keep his dream alive of reaching an Olympic Games.

“We are, of course, incredibly proud and in complete awe of his achievements in such a short space of time, but when you add in the need for one of us to accompany Alex on his travels to advocate and support, we now find his talents have virtually outshot our finances,” said his mother, Jo, who has set up a gofundme page to help raise funds.