Australian Team Announced For 2023 Sailing World Championships

Ten World Championships will be on the line when the 51 selected Australian athletes hit the water at the 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships in The Netherlands next month.

This will be the first-time nations will have the chance to secure quota spots for Paris, and the first combined Sailing World Championships since 2018. Australia will have athletes competing in all ten Olympic classes at the event, which will be take place in The Hague, The Netherlands from 11-20 August.

“Our team is incredibly excited and well prepared for the Worlds,” said Australian Sailing Team High Performance Director Iain Brambell.

“We’ve had some great results throughout the 2023 season, which has the team in an excellent position for success in The Hague. We have built our preparation around the opportunity to win World Titles and ensure Australia achieves 2024 Olympic qualification across as many classes as possible at this initial Olympic qualifier.”

The team will again be led by Matt Wearn OAM, with the Tokyo Olympic champion returning to form with a win at the recent Olympic Test Event.

“I am really looking forward to the Worlds, it has been a number of years since I have had the chance to compete at the combined event so it’s exciting to have that opportunity again,” said Wearn.

“With the Hague being on the North Sea it offers some different conditions to what we normally race in in Europe with the tidal flow being the biggest challenge. If you get the tide moving in a different direction to the wind it can make for some extremely tough racing.”

Australia has a long history of success in the 470 class, and the team of Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas continued their emergence at the Test Event where they finished sixth.

Conor and I are coming off the back of a good performance at the Test Event, we both felt that we still left plenty of points on the table in Marseille,” said Jerwood. “It will be great to have another opportunity this European season to improve again.

“The lead-in to this event is a bit different as we will only be allowed to access the venue a few days before racing kicks off. To make sure we get the best preparation possible we will be training in Nieuwpoort, Belgium to try and simulate the conditions we will have in The Hague.”

The following Paris 2024 country quota spots will be available at the 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships:

Men’s One Person Dinghy (ILCA 7) – 16
Women’s One Person Dinghy (ILCA 6) – 16
Men’s Skiff (49er) – 10
Women’s Skiff (49erFX) – 10
Men’s Kite (Formula Kite) – 8
Women’s Kite (Formula Kite) – 8
Men’s Windsurfing (iQFOiL) – 11
Women’s Windsurfing (iQFOiL) – 11
Mixed Two Person Dinghy (470) – 8
Mixed Multihull (Nacra 17) – 9

With multiple entries per nation allowed at the World Championships, it is the top unique finishing nations that will earn the quota spots. For example, if two Australians finish in the top ten of the Men’s Skiff it will earn Australia one quota spot and the 11th-placed team will be offered the quota spot (provided another entry from their nation had not already earned the spot by finishing in the top ten). You can read more about the Olympic qualification system here. The host country France receives automatic entry in every event.

For the first time four Para Sailing World Championships will be held alongside their Olympic counterparts, with the Hansa 303 (Men and Women), 2.4 Meter and RS Venture Connect set to compete in The Hague. Australia will have Alison Weatherly (Women’s Hansa 303) and Peter Coleman (Men’s Hansa 303) competing.

The 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships are expecting more than 900 boats and 1,400 participants from over 90 nations.

“We are delighted with how the team has prepared for this event,” concluded Brambell. “But we are nowhere close to being content. We are here to compete and earn Medal Races and Series, and will be putting everything we have into ensuring we leave with more medals and confirmed Olympic quotas.”

The regatta will include tracking from SAP, with more information (including the Notice of Race) available on the event website.

2023 Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Squad (ASS) and Australian Sailing Futures (ASF) and other Australian Sailing World Championships Selections:

*Women’s iQFOiL*			*Men’s iQFOiL*
Samantha Costin (ASF/QLD)			Grae Morris (ASS/NSW)
			Harry Joyner (ASS/WA)
			Jack Marquardt (Vic Inst Sport)

*ILCA 6*		*ILCA 7*
Zoe Thomson (AST/WA)		Matt Wearn (AST/WA)
Elyse Ainsworth (ASS/WA)		Finn Alexander (ASS/NSW)
Casey Imeneo (ASS/VIC)		Luke Elliott (ASS/NSW)
Mara Stranksy (ASS/QLD)		Zac Littlewood (ASS/WA)
Evie Saunders (ASF/NSW)		Ethan McAullay (ASS/WA)
Sylvie Stannage (ASF/NSW)

*49erFX*		*49er*
Laura Harding & Annie Wilmot (ASS/VIC & NSW)		Jim Colley & Shaun Conor (AST/NSW)
Olivia Price & Evie Haseldine (ASS/NSW)		Tom Burton & Max Paul (ASS/NSW)
Natasha Bryant & Madeleine McLeay (ASF/NSW)		Thomas Needham & Joel Turner (ASS/QLD)
Mina Ferguson (ASF/NSW) & Dervla Duggan (ASS/VIC)		Thomas Cunich & Miles Davey (ASF/NSW)

*Women’s Formula Kite*		*Mixed 470*
Breiana Whitehead (AST/QLD)		Nia Jerwood & Conor Nicholas (ASS/WA)
		Sophie Jackson & Angus Higgins (ASF/VIC & SA)

*Men’s Formula Kite*		*Nacra 17*
Hector Paturau (ASS/WA)		Lisa Darmanin (AST) & Darren Bundock (NSW)
Scott Whitehead (ASS/QLD)		Jake Liddell & Lucy Copeland (ASS/NSW)
Oscar Timm (ASF/QLD)		Archie Gargett & Sarah Hoffman (ASF/NSW)
		Brin Liddell & Rhiannan Brown (ASF/NSW)
		Ruben Booth & Rita Booth (AUS)