CHIPPENHAM teenager Calum Gingell is gearing himself up to head stateside and take on some of the world’s best young paddlers next week in only his third international competition.

The 15-year-old, a pupil at Sheldon School, jetted off to the United States on Tuesday to take part in the ICF Junior & U23 Wildwater Canoeing World Championships at the Nantahala Outdoor Centre in North Carolina, which take place on the Nantahala River and run from August 2-7.

Gingell, a member of the Melksham-based Wiltshire Youth Canoe Club, is one of three junior (U18) boys competing in the K1 discipline, with Devizes Canoe Club’s Spencer Armstrong, 16, also in action.

His only other international forays came at the 2013 iteration of the world championships in Lofer, Austria, where Gingell was a member of the British development team, and last year’s European Championships in Bosnia but the youngster is excited to see what awaits him across the pond.

“I was really excited when I found out it was in America and it’s nice to be able to go out and see these places,” said Gingell, who sealed fourth-placed finishes in both the classic and sprint races at May’s GB Open Championships in Grandtully, Scotland.

“It’s only my third international trip in river racing. When I went to Austria, that was just to get some experience but last year at the Europeans, I was in the full squad.

“I don’t think that I’m going to go out there and become a world champion but I want to try and get as close as I can.”

After first getting into a boat whilst at an activity camp in Scotland ran by his auntie Rona Jensen, Gingell began paddling with Chippenham Sailing and Canoe Club in 2010.

The Great Britain junior team is coached by Nicky Cresser.