Lottie Laidler joins Great Britain flag football squad for world championships

Lottie Laidler returned from a five-day Great Britain training camp in Boston. Great Britain will compete in the IFAF World Flag tournament in Düsseldorf, Germany, from August 13-16, with 32 teams from 19 nations chasing a title that carries Olympic weight, since the top two teams in each gender will qualify for Los Angeles in 2028.

Laidler has moved from the Isle of Wight into Britain’s elite pathway. Great Britain’s women enter Group C alongside Austria, France and China, and they arrive as European champions after defending their continental title in Paris in 2025, beating France in the semifinals and Austria in the final. The Boston camp was part of the squad’s preparation for the tournament in Düsseldorf.

Her route has also been built through Coventry, where the Cougars completed an undefeated 2025-26 season and claimed their tenth national championship in British women’s flag football. Great Britain captains Ellie Thorpe and Grace Conway were singled out as key performers in British American Football Association coverage of that title run.

The Isle of Wight Gifted and Talented Scheme has backed her development, and she has also used recovery sessions at Luccombe Manor Hotel as part of her training plan.

Laidler has already been through a recent Great Britain campaign overseas. She travelled with GB to Warner University in Florida for a training camp, played friendlies against Warner and China’s national team, and then competed at the Tampa World Championship, where Great Britain reached the semi-finals of the Olympic division before losing to Canada. She was selected for Great Britain at the world championships in Lahti, Finland, where Team GB topped its group.