ARRON Davies admits it is still sinking in after the Egerton A Level student won a silver and bronze at the World Junior Waterskiing Championships in Chile.

The Bolton School sixth form pupil was narrowly edged out of a gold medal in the boys slalom by British team-mate Robert Hazelwood, son of former world jump and overall champion Mike Hazelwood.

They could not be separated after their final runs, but Hazelwood pipped Davies to the title following a "sudden-death" showdown.

Davies also picked up a bronze medal in the team championships after team-mate Joel Poland won the boys' overall title and finished second in the jump.

"I didn't go expecting to come away with an individual medal," said the 18-year-old.

"I did think we had a chance of getting a team medal, but no part of me imagined I'd get an individual medal.

"I actually got the same score as Rob and we had to do another run, kind of a sudden death, and at the end I went part way around the buoy and he went all the way around the buoy so he got the gold.

"It was not exactly a hard pill to swallow because he's my team-mate, and I'm still very, very happy – I can't put it into words."

Davies, who also won silver and bronze at the European Under-17s Championships in Italy last summer, spent a month at a Team GB training base in America to prepare for the competition.

And his hard work was rewarded with his best-ever slalom display, narrowly missing out on a world junior record.

He added: "The whole experience in Chile was pretty awesome, as was the month I spent training with a few members of the team south of Orlando.

"I am delighted with the way things went.

"I've been trying to run a pass (completing the full length of a course without any penalties) all year and I've only done it once before.

"This was my second time doing it, so I was really pleased with that.

"My score was two passes off the world record, and those two are the hardest to get, obviously.

"Going around the final buoy on that final pass was just an amazing feeling."

Davies' parents were both keen water skiers and he says they put him on a set of skis for the first time when he was 18 months old.

He trains regularly at the British Water Ski and Wakeboard Association Centre at the Three Sisters Water Ski Club in Wigan, as well as with the British team at their base in Lincolnshire.

The teenager will now put his waterskiing on hold while he finishes A Levels in electronics, product design and maths, and hopes to go on to study either electronic engineering or mechanical engineering at Lafayette University in Louisiana, USA, next year.

But any future studies will dovetail with his sporting passion.

"Hopefully, the future for me will hold more world championships and medals," Davies added.

"I'm going to step back a bit this year for my education. I've just moved up a division (age group) as well, so I'll have a year to sort things out for that."