ISAF Rolex World Sailor Of The Year 2012

Det är inget lätt år att vara nominerad för Sailor Of The Year!? Ben Ainslie är väl ohotad bland kiollarna och Franck Cammas kommer inte ens med på listan… Bland tjejerna är det cool att 15-åriga Saskia Sills är nominerad!

ISAF And Rolex Announce Nominees
ISAF Rolex World Sailor Of The Year
Dublin, Ireland

The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) and Rolex are proud to announce the Nominees for the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards 2012.

ISAF received nominations for the 2012 Awards from across the world for sailors representing all aspects of the sport. The nominees are put forward based on achievements made during the qualifying period of 1 September 2011 and 31 August 2012. Only one nominee wins from both the male and female category and the names vying for the coveted and prestigious 2012 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award are:

• Ben Ainslie (GBR) – Finn – London 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist & 2012 World Champion
• Mathew Belcher & Malcolm Page (AUS) – Men’s 470 – London 2012 Olympic Gold Medallists, 2011 and 2012 World Champions and 2011-2012 ISAF Sailing World Cup Champions
• Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS) – 49er – London 2012 Olympic Gold Medallists & 2011 and 2012 World Champions
• Loick Peyron – Outright Around the World Record
• Tom Slingsby (AUS) – Laser – London 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist & 2011 and 2012 World Champion

Ben Ainslie (GBR)
Ben Ainslie eclipsed Paul Elvstrøm’s (DEN) Olympic achievements at London 2012 by winning his fifth Olympic medal and fourth consecutive gold to become the most successful Olympic sailor of all time. It was fitting that a Danish sailor, Jonas Høgh-Christensen, stood in the way of Ainslie at London 2012 as a game of cat and mouse developed ensuring the Medal Race was one of the most anticipated of the competition. Ainslie held off Hogh-Christensen finishing ninth to the Danes tenth to win gold in front of a partisan home crowd and secure his place in the history books.

Finn
London 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist
2012 World Champion

Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page (AUS)
Over the past 12 months, Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page have amassed eight consecutive regatta victories including the Olympic Games, two 470 World Championships and four ISAF Sailing World Cup regattas. With three consecutive World titles since they teamed up in 2009, Belcher and Page were the undisputed favourites for gold at London 2012. Given a run for their money by British rivals who took an early initiative, the Australian team held firm in the Medal Race to take the title and consecutive gold medal success for Malcolm Page, the first time this has ever been achieved in the class.

Men’s Two Person Dinghy, 470
London 2012 Olympic Gold Medallists
2011 World Champions
2012 World Champions
2011-2012 ISAF Sailing World Cup Champions

Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS)
Childhood friends Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen have raised the bar in the 49er class since they teamed up in the class in 2009. The Australians have been a permanent fixture on podiums and only a second place at the 2012 Semaine Olympique Francaise tarnishes a near perfect record since they claimed their second 49er World Championship at the Perth 2011 ISAF Worlds. A successful defence at the 2012 49er Worlds in Zadar, Croatia teed them up nicely for the run up to London 2012 where they crushed the opposition to win gold with a race to spare.

Men’s skiff, 49er
London 2012 Olympic Gold Medallists
2011 World Champions
2012 World Champions
2011-2012 ISAF Sailing World Cup Champions

Loïck Peyron (FRA)
On 6 January 2012 at 22:14 UTC Loïck Peyron entered the history books as he and 13 crew aboard the 40m maxi trimaran Banque Populaire V smashed the Outright Around the World Record to become the fastest men around the planet. At an average speed of 19.75 knots it took just 45 days, 13 hours, 42 minutes and 53 seconds for Peyron to sail the 21,600 nautical miles and claim the Jules Verne Trophy. The team also set two new intermediate records for Equator to Equator at 32d 11h 52m and the Indian Ocean record at 8d, 7h 23m. Loïck Peyron is amongst the most decorated offshore sailors of all time with his success spanning single handed, two person and crewed ocean racing right through to the America’s Cup.

Banque Populaire V, maxi trimaran
Outright Around the World Record

Tom Slingsby (AUS)
Coming into the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition Tom Slingsby (AUS) was unbeaten on Weymouth and Portland waters and the overwhelming favourite to take gold. Determined to banish his Beijing 2008 demons Slingsby did not fail to impress and took the gold medal in style to become the first Australian sailor to win an individual Olympic gold medal. Slingsby’s road to London included wins at the 2011 and 2012 Laser World Championships to give him three consecutive titles and two ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta wins.

Men’s One Person Dinghy, Laser
London 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist
2011 World Champion
2012 World Champion

• Támara Echegoyen, Ángela Pumariega and Sofio Toro (ESP) – Women’s Match Racing – London 2012 Olympic Gold Medallists
• Helena Lucas (GBR) – 2.4mR – London 2012 Paralympic Gold Medallist and 2011-12 ISAF Sailing World Cup Champion
• Saskia Sills (GBR) – RS:X – ISAF Youth Sailing World Champion & European Youth Champion
• Lijia Xu (CHN) – Laser Radial – London 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist

Támara Echegoyen, Ángela Pumariega and Sofio Toro (ESP)
The Spanish women’s match racing team tore apart the form book at the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition to win the gold medal in spectacular style. Echegoyen, Pumariega and Toro, ranked #8 in the world, sailed an emphatic round robin series and never looked back. Defeating the medal favourites every step of the way they squared up against the Australian team in an epic big wind final. It all came down to a nail biting winner takes all decider and Echegoyen, Pumariega and Toro held their nerve to take the ultimate prize.

Women’s Match Racing
London 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist

Helena Lucas (GBR)
Helena Lucas (GBR) added a bit of girl power to the open 2.4mR fleet at the London 2012 Paralympic Games as the only female sailor in the fleet. Three former Paralympic gold medallists were amongst her 15 rivals but Lucas made light work of them taking four bullets in the 10 race series to clinch the gold, and Great Britain’s first ever Paralympic sailing medal. After winning a collection of silver and bronze medals to secure the 2011-12 ISAF Sailing World Cup title, standing on top of the podium at London 2012 was a victory worth waiting for.

One Person Keelboat, 2.4mR
London 2012 Paralympic Gold Medallist
2011-2012 ISAF Sailing World Cup Champion

Saskia Sills (GBR)
At only her second international RS:X regatta Great Britain’s Saskia Sills won Under 17 gold at the RS:X European Championship aged just 15. Less than two weeks later Sills stormed to gold at the 2012 Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship in Dublin, Ireland, leaving the defending champion in her wake. In August this rising star of windsurfing did the World and European double, winning nine of 13 races at the EUROSAF Youth Sailing European Championship.

Girl’s Windsurfing, RS;X
2012 ISAF Youth Sailing World Champion

Lijia Xu (CHN)
Lijia Xu reigned supreme in the Laser Radial Medal Race at London 2012 to win the first Olympic gold medal in a dinghy for China. In a four-way fight for supremacy, Xu sailed a clinical race to seal the deal with a race win leaving her rivals scrapping for the other medals behind her. After winning the bronze medal in Beijing 2008, Xu was relatively quiet on the international stage and sustained a hand injury in her final preparations for her second Olympic Games. Returning to form at just the right time, Xu won three ISAF Sailing World Cup regattas in strong fields and the silver medal at the 2012 Laser Radial Worlds to enter the Olympic Games as the dark horse in the hunt for medals.

Women’s One Person Dinghy, Laser Radial
London 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist

The Voting
The winners are selected by the ISAF Member National Authorities (MNAs), the national governing bodies for sailing around the world. The MNAs are now invited to vote for the male and female nominee they believe most deserves the Award.

The winners will be announced at the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards presentation and dinner, taking place on Tuesday 6 November 2012. The venue for the event is the Mansion House in Dublin, Ireland.

Each winner will be presented with the prestigious ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award Trophy and a distinctive Rolex timepiece.

Full profiling of each nominee and their achievements will be available on the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards microsite at www.sailing.org/worldsailor starting 4 October.