Blind mum from Ormskirk is water-skiing world champ

A mother-of-three has told how she defied blindness to become a World Champion water-skier.

Jill Williams took up the sport after being diagnosed with a degenerative eye condition.

Despite starting lessons just three years ago, she scooped two golds and a pending disabled world record in California.

Williams, who has been visually impaired since she was 19, called it a victory for anyone with a disability.

Growing up she dreamed of being an RAF pilot but struggled to see properly in her school years.

"I couldn't see the board at the front of class, I couldn't read," Williams, 49, told the BBC. "I'm astonished I got through school."

Despite her older sister Wendy being visually impaired, doctors refused to diagnose and Williams was deemed to have a mental health disorder.

Her parents even bought her a car before her 17th birthday when "she'd be able to drive."

But a chance meeting with a clinical psychologist who recognised her "lazy eye" confirmed her worst fears.

Williams, from Ormskirk, Lancs, said: "I was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, which means I have no central vision, only peripheral. It's got worse over time.

"I was in shock. I'd been led to believe it was in my own head but deep down I knew something wasn't right.

"In a way I was relieved that there was nothing wrong with me mentally. But now I had something new to face.

"There was no way I'd be driving that car and I definitely wouldn't be joining the RAF. It was tough.

"But then I started to realise that, actually, there's help out there. There's things I can do."

Williams loved water-skiing during family trips to Anglesey as it made her "feel free".

But it only ever remained a hobby until she got lessons at the Water Ski Academy in Whitworth, Rochdale in 2021.

Williams, who is registered blind, said: "It was really hard at first. I needed a guide and I was falling everywhere. But I loved it."

Hooked, she made a six-hour round train trip to Rochdale three days every week, often unable to see platform changes, causing delays as her sight continued to deteriorate, but it did not stop her.

Her coach was so impressed he entered her in the National Championships in the Tricks discipline - where she landed a world record only to have it taken away as she wasn't classified as visually impaired.

But it was in August's World Championships that she made her mark, taking gold for Team GB in the Tricks and Jump events and silver in the Slalom. Her Tricks score of 1340 is a pending world record.

Williams said: "As a disabled person, it's hard to achieve things. I've been to school plays and not been able to see my own kids perform. But I've never been one to give up. So I'm just so proud.

"I want disabled people to realise that you can get up start again. Obstacles are there to get over. This is a victory for them."