Gilmour Qualifies for the Australian Sailing Team
WAIS sailor David Gilmour has earned a spot on the 2015 Australian Sailing Team after finishing seventh with partner Rhys Mara in the men’s 49er class at the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Santander, Spain.
Making his world championship debut, Gilmour sailed an accomplished regatta, qualifying for the medal race, to finish seventh overall with Mara at the conclusion of competition.
The pair was second ranked of the Australian crews, with reigning Olympic champions Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen picking up bronze, with Australia qualifying a boat in the men’s skiff for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
With only top ten crews at benchmark international events earning Australian Sailing Team qualification, Gilmour acknowledged it had been a successful campaign for him and Mara.
“We’re quite happy with how we’ve gone overall this being our first Worlds,” he said.”The Australian Sailing Team is the pinnacle in Australia to qualify for and it’s extremely difficult and we’re stoked to have made it into the team,” he added.
In the 49erFX (women’s skiff) class, there was an agonisingly close campaign for fellow WAIS sailor Caitlin Elks and partner Tess Lloyd, who finished 11th on countback, to miss the medal race and qualification for the Australian Sailing Team.
The duo was however, the top ranked of the Australian crews, and showed solid consistency throughout the regatta, highlighted by six top ten finishes, including a second place result in race seven.
WAIS athlete Carrie Smith earned valuable experience in her first venture at senior world championship level. The former youth world champion competed with Jaime Ryan, with the pair finishing 26thoverall in the women’s 470 class.
The two person dinghy holds strong historic significance for WA sailors, with current WAIS head coach Belinda Stowell (Sydney 2000) and Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson (Beijing 2008) all Olympic gold medallists in the class.