Jerwood and de Vries Can Begin to Dream of Tokyo
Western Australian sailors Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries have secured Australia a spot at the Tokyo2020 Olympic Games in the women’s 470 class after earning a top 10 ranking at the World Championships in Japan.
Racing on the course which will play host to the Olympic sailing next year, Jerwood and de Vries wrapped up Australia’s spot by securing a top 10 finish, which will see the Fremantle Sailing Club members race in the medal round.
The pair currently occupy ninth spot and will target a move up the leaderboard as they now look to cement their own future Olympic qualification prospects.
Based on the evidence of the past week however, the WA combo will be a hard act to overlook, with their results steadily improving over the past six months, not only in top end performance, but crucially, through the increased consistency of their best racing performance.
At the 2019 World Championships, the team has posted four single digit finishes, with their most costly races quarantined to manageable cards.
They’ve faced plenty of challenges and temperamental conditions in Enoshima but will walk away from their worlds campaign with no worse than a 10th place finish.
The race at the front of the fleet is tight, with crews from Great Britain and Japan separated by just a single net point, meaning the medal race will be significantly high stakes with double points attracted.
Meanwhile, in a WA Sailing Squad Winter Update, coach Matt Jerwood has provided the following update:
Laser Radial Youth World Championship, Kingston, Canada
Three WASS sailors, Michael Compton, Stefan Elliott-Shircore and Caitlin Shaw along with WASS Coaches Ben Walkemeyer and Ryan Palk recently headed over to Kingston Canada for the Youth Laser Radial World Championships. It was a gruelling six day event with 160 competitors in the boys fleet and 48 in the girls!
After six days of racing Michael Compton put together a fantastic finals series to finish 3rd overall and U17 World Champion! Michael started the qualifying series with two wobbly races but came home strong in finals with top 10 scores which included 3 bullets in a row rocketing him up the rankings to the Bronze Medal, congratulations Michael.
Stefan Eliiott-Shircore also had a strong regatta finishing in 16th place overall and 3rd U17, a very credible result. Caitlin Shaw finished 24th in her fleet with some strong individual race performances.
A big well done to our WASS Laser program and coaches Ben and Ryan with some fantastic results. Michael and Stefan were in Laser 4.7 this time last year and one year later have graduated to Laser Radial and are mixing it with the best youth sailors in the world in the class. A real credit to the dedication of the boys and the group as a whole to push and support each other. Well done Laser Squad!
29er World Championships, Gydnia, Poland
WASS and WAIS sailors Kieran Bucktin and Axel Fleet have recently competed in the 29er World Championship in Gydnia Poland against 175 boats from around the world. These followed on for the Youth World Championships the week prior.
Well done to the boys who finished 21st Overall in the Gold Fleet and winners of the U17 World Championship! The regatta was characterised by very light winds with only a few races early in the qualifying series allowing the boys to stretch their legs. The team showed their speed and skills in these conditions with strong race performances early in the regatta including a World Championship Heat Win! Lighter airs at the end of the regatta saw the boys slide down the leaderboard a little but I am sure that they will learn from this and come back stronger for it.
Again, congratulations to the 29er squad for the continued work in pushing and supporting each other. Looking forward to seeing what they can do in the lead up to Melbourne at the end of the year.
Our Olympic Pathway Sailors
Lachy Gilham has recenty returned from an extended European Finn Campaign where notably competed at the Finn European Title in Athens against 85 Other Finns and the Finn Silver Cup, the Junior World Titles for the Finn Class. Lachy described the racing in Athens as the hardest he has ever raced in with all the boats racing in one fleet all together. Picking your spot on the startline was not easy!
Richard Maher has been away competing at the Laser Word Championships in Sakaiminato-City, Japan. Again another event this year where light airs dominated with 156 competitors. It was a tough event for Richard finishing up in 100th spot against the World’s best. WAIS sailor Matthew Wearn finished with a silver medal.