Australia tops ISAF World Sailing Rankings

by Craig Heydon on 28 Oct 2010 The Australian Sailing Team has a new world number one with Australian Women’s Match Racing Team skipper Nicky Souter jumping to the top of the latest Women’s Match Racing world ranking list.

Souter’s rise to the top of the Women’s Match Racing rankings sees Australia jump to the top of the overall Olympic class number one rankings list with three out of the 10 number one crews hailing from Australia.

The Australian Women’s Match Racing crew join 2010 470 World Champions and ISAF Sailing World Cup Champions Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page and 2010 Laser World Champion Tom Slingsby at the top of their respective classes.

Souter and crew Nina Curtis and Olivia Price have had a stellar 2010 and finished the year in style, winning the final round of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Weymouth, England, the Buddy Melges Grade 1 Regatta in Wisconsin, USA and then finishing with Bronze at the 2010 ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship in Rhode Island, USA.

'We’re really excited with the news, it was a pleasant surprise to wake up to this morning,' said Souter. 'This is the first time that an Australian crew has been ranked number one in Women’s Match Racing and it’s showing that all of the hard work is paying off.'

'The rankings take in the last two years worth of results, proving that it’s important to be consistent and while we’ve had some great results recently getting to number one was also due to our performances back in 2009.'

The Australians jumped from fourth to first, ahead of Lucy Macgregor of Great Britain and Claire Leroy of France, with just eight points separating Souter and Macgregor.

'It’s incredibly tight at the top and Lucy and Claire have been right up there for the last few ranking cycles so it’s nice to leapfrog them into number one,' said Souter. 'The closeness of the rankings show how tight the class is now, we had seven different winners of the seven ISAF Sailing World Cup rounds this year and it’s really heating up as we head towards the 2012 London Olympic Games.'

Souter and fellow Australian Women’s Match Racing Team skipper next head to Dubai where they will be observers for the final round of the Louis Vuitton Trophy before kicking off their 2011 ISAF Sailing World Cup campaign in Miami in January.

Yachting Australia High Performance Director Peter Conde said that having three Australian crews ranked number one in the world was a good indication that the team is progressing well towards the 2012 London Olympic Games.

'As our Women’s Match Racing crew join Mathew Belcher, Malcolm Page and Tom Slingsby at the top of the respective classes its testament to the hard work currently being put in by all members of the Australian Sailing Team,' said Conde.

'The last year has been a great one for the Australian Sailing Team with two World Championship wins, a Silver and two Bronzes, and 16 ISAF Sailing World Cup medals, including four Golds and a Silver at the recent event in Weymouth, England, the sailing venue for the 2012 London Olympic Games,' he said.

'With less than two years to go until the 2012 London Olympic Games all of our crews are stepping up the intensity and we are looking forward to more strong results in the future,' he said.