Australian Sailing has announced a 14-athlete strong team to represent the country at this year’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Test Event, which will take place at the Olympic venue at Enoshima, 70 kilometres south of Tokyo, from 15-22 August.
The team is made up of an exciting mix of the rising stars of the sport and past and current Olympic champions across eight boat classes.
“We have selected a team based around results, which we also feel is the best team Australian can forward at what is effectively a dry run for the Olympics” Australian Sailing Team Performance Director Iain Murray was quoted as saying at the announcement.
“The important thing is that we give the athletes the best chance to experience the performance environment as they would during the Games, and we will take the learnings from this to help shape how we behave when we are back there in July next year chasing Olympic gold”.
VIS siblings Sam and Will Phillips excelled at the 49er European Championships and will be Australia’s representatives in that class, with fellow VIS athlete Tess Lloyd and crew mate Jaime Ryan selected in the 49erFX.
The seven-day regatta will be followed by the World Cup Series event at the same venue, where a wider Australian team will be expected to take part.
The full team is:
470 Men: Mat Belcher and Will Ryan
470 Women: Nia Jerwood and Monique De Vries
Laser: Matt Wearn and Tom Burton
Radial: Mara Stransky
Finn: Jake Lilley
49er: Will Phillips and Sam Phillips
FX: Tess Lloyd and Jaime Ryan
Nacra: Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin
