An army veteran is celebrating Invictus Games glory.

Maidstone-based Kemsley Whittlesea, a tattoo artist with a shop in Folkestone’s Sandgate Road, came out on top in the alpine snowboarding while he also just missed out on a sitting volleyball medal with the Royal British Legion’s UK team in Canada. He took part in indoor rowing, too.

The Invictus Games were held in Vancouver and Whistler, having been launched in 2014 by Prince Harry in London.

“It was amazing,” said Whittlesea, who served with the Royal Signals for 15 years until he was medically discharged because of a shoulder injury and has since started to suffer with elbow problems.

“A lot of the people that have done more than one Games, they said this was the most spectacular show they’ve seen.

“We did so much better than we thought we would do. I got gold in the snowboarding.

“I was hoping to maybe get third, but we found out the Americans did extra training, so I was thinking of maybe getting fourth or fifth. But I won it!

“Then, we just missed out on bronze in the sitting volleyball to the Ukrainians.

"It was really good and I just absolutely loved it.”

Singers Chris Martin and Katy Perry headlined the opening ceremony at BC Place.

“It was so well put-together,” said Whittlesea, who attended the Abbey School, just off Faversham’s London Road.

“Walking out in Vancouver with that amount of people cheering, that was amazing.

“Even when people lost, they were still high-fiving each other a lot of the time. That was really nice to see.

“But obviously, it was nice to come home with a medal.”

Whittlesea timed 15.25sec on the slopes at the Whistler Alpine Venue, as he finished ahead of the American trio of Josh Shannon, Robert Dominguez and Colton Chabot - the US team seemingly putting extra training to good use.

He said: “My big thing was I just wanted to get down without falling over!

“I just wanted a clean run but, obviously, I wanted to go as fast as I could.

“I was pleased to get down and a few people said ‘You’re in first’ and I could hear the commentator say that it was a fast run.

“But I just didn’t want to get my hopes up.”

In the volleyball, the British team went down 2-0 at the Vancouver Convention Centre after being defeated by Nigeria, beaten by Brazil in the gold-medal match, by the same scoreline in their semi-final game.

He explained: “We were playing Ukraine in the bronze-medal match. They beat us but, speaking to some of the Ukrainians since, they’re fighting again now!

“It’s quite weird to go from playing them one week in sitting volleyball to what they’re doing.

"All their guys were brilliant people, as well.”

Whittlesea praised Team UK manager Louise Assioun and operations lead Laura Grassick for organising the British contingent.

“They did an amazing job,” he said. “They had difficult jobs in terms of making sure that everyone got to the right place at the right time, but they did really well.

“If it wasn’t for the British Legion funding it, I wouldn’t have even been able to do it.

“I just want to thank all the staff.”

While he intends to be involved as the Invictus Games returns to UK soil in 2027, with athletes only able to apply to compete twice, Whittlesea is undecided if he will try to be in the action in Birmingham.

He said: “I would like to make sure I’m doing it for the right reasons.

“I’d rather give up my space to someone because you can only apply for two Games - and even then, that doesn’t mean you will get it - and I know people that have never got in.

“But I will definitely look at volunteering.”