New Zealand Woman, Alex Edwards, Wins Silver Medal at the 2023 World Spearfishing Championships in Laredo, Spain
The New Zealand Spearfishing Team are on their way home from Laredo, Spain with a medal in the bag. Current New Zealand Women’s champion, Alex Edwards, Te Hikutu, Ngāpuhi, has won the silver medal in the World- Spearfishing Championships
The twenty-two-year-old has been competing at an international level since she was 14 and has won a number of Pacific Spearfishing Championships, but this was Alex’s first World Championships. She is the first New Zealand woman to enter the competition. Alex started the competition with a lead of 26 percentage points ahead of the reigning champion, Malén Sart of Spain on the first day.
The second day, Malén, overtook her to take the gold medal but she retained her lead over bronze medalist Onyx Le Bihan of Tahiti. Alex caught the best fish of the women’s competition with a 1.7 kg pinto maragota wrasse.
The New Zealand men’s team, Dwane Herbert, Chris Marshall and Rowan Virbickas, came a very respectable 6thplace, ahead of France on their back door-step. The Men’s champion was Santiago Lopez Cid of Spain. Spain won the Men’s and Women’s teams titles.