Eilidh Gibson

2018 inductee

Canoeist Eilidh Gibson rode the wave of success in 2017-18 as a key member of Great Britain’s C1W Team that won an unprecedented clean sweep of gold medals glory at the Senior World, Senior European and World U23 Championships.

Eilidh is one of the most gifted paddlers of her generation and a prodigious talent. She has won national titles at every age category in her preferred C1W event and has been competing internationally for Great Britain since 2012.

Early in her career, she won bronze medals in the Team C1W events at both the European U-23 and World U-23 Championships in 2012, as well as a bronze at the World Junior Championships a year later. She then went on to achieve three successive gold medals at each of the European U23 Team C1W championships between 2014-16. Yet more gold medal glory followed as Eilidh helped Great Britain’s C1W Team win the World U-23 Team title and the Senior European Team Championships in both 2016 and 2017, as well as claiming the sport’s ultimate crown, the World Senior championship in 2017. 

Eilidh’s performances in the individual global C1W events are equally impressive and prolific. She won a silver medal at the World Cup in 2014, came 5th and then 4th at the Senior World Championships in 2015 and 2017, and 4th at the Senior European Championships in 2016. Throughout her studies, Eilidh has been a key member of the University’s Performance Sport Programme and EU Canoe Club, proving a great role model for student sport. She has also scooped a series of C1W individual titles at the British Universities’ Championships, winning gold in 2015 and 2017 and silver in 2016. The University has already marked Eilidh’s sporting prowess with the 2014-15 Captain S.T. Garner Trophy for most outstanding sporting achievement by a first year student and the 2017-18 Eva Bailey Cup for most outstanding female athlete of the year (awarded jointly).