Wearn Sails Fifth at Miami World Cup

Published On: 29 January 2018

Laser sailor Matt Wearn has won the medal round race at the Miami World Cup to finish fifth overall in his first international hit-out for 2018.

The 2017 world championship medallist fought back from an indifferent start and finished on a high after besting the conditions in the closing medal round, elevating himself to fifth rank with 79 net points.

Olympic champion and fellow Australian Tom Burton enjoyed a successful campaign to take gold ahead of German Philipp Buhl and Great Britain’s Nick Thompson.

Wearn was only able to record a single top ten finish in his opening four races, but stormed home in the second half of competition to demonstrate that he will again be a force in the laser fleet when the European race season commences in March.

With Australia sending a small team of nine sailors to Miami, Burton’s success followed on from a gold medal effort from Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin in the Nacra 17 class.

Western Australian sailor David Gilmour will begin competition at the Oceanbridge New Zealand Sailing Regatta this Friday, competing in the 49er class with Joel Turner.