Laser Radial Women's World Champs – Aiming for the top!

by Imogen Stanley on 19 Nov 2015 Al Mussanah, Oman will welcome over 100 of the best female single-handed racers in the world for the 2015 Laser Radial World Championships (20-27 November), and 2012 Olympian Alison Young wants to have her name at the top of results board by the end of the week.

Defending World Champion Marit Bouwmeester (NED) will be a leading challenger for Young who finished ninth at the ISAF World Championships in September 2014.

Young is the first to admit that this year has been hard but the Worlds is final test of 2015 and she has a point to prove: “It's not been a great year so far but I'm aiming to medal at the Worlds.

“We've been focussing on a couple of areas since the test event, which at the moment are a bit of a work in progress, so the Worlds will be a reality check to see if we're back on track.”

Young is already selected to attend the 2016 Rio Olympic Games so the pressure is off for qualifying, however this will not stop her performing to her best: “The Worlds are always important because you know everyone will be there trying to perform to their best.

“It's trials for some countries and a chance for some nations to qualify for the Olympics so you know everyone will be at the top of their game and I expect the racing to be intense,” said the 28-year-old.

It can be hard for sailors to keep the focus for such a long season, a season that has lasted some 11 months, Young was out at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami in January where she finished fifth.

“Through the year we have different phases where we put a different emphasis on training or competition. This means the intensity changes so you can keep making progress.

“I'm eager to go racing. Physically the support staff have got me in decent shape. Just got to go out and see what I can do with the strengths I have,” finished Young.

British Sailing Team Podium Potential rising star Georgina Povall will be the only other British sailor on the start line.

Qualifying racing starts tomorrow (20 November) through to Sunday, followed by a rest day on the Monday before fleets split into gold and silver for the final series. Racing concludes next Thursday (26 November).