Medals and awards highlight 470 crew's World Cup lead-in
by David Sygall 5 Jun 2018 03:58 PDT
470 crew Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries © Australian Sailing
470 crew Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries will enter the World Cup Series Final at the 2024 Olympic regatta venue this week feeling settled and confident after an action-packed lead-in, topped off with a significant award.
It's been a hectic few months for the West Australian duo, who won silver at the 470 Junior World Championship last September and claimed the 420 World Championship in January. Jerwood was awarded a 2018 Sport Australia Hall of Fame mentoring scholarship in which she has been paired with hockey great Liane Tooth OAM.
Last month, Jerwood and de Vries were jointly named Female Sailor of the Year at the Yachting Western Australia Awards, in recognition of their outstanding recent efforts.
"Monique and I were both really excited about that," Jerwood said. "We were up against some hot competition, as WA has a number of talented female sailors, and to win the award definitely means a lot us."
Jerwood and de Vries spent April competing at the Palma Regatta in Spain and then the Spring Cup and World Cup Series in France. They returned to Australian Sailing's Gold Coast Training Centre to work with the rest of the 470 Women's squad before heading back to Europe for this week's regatta in Marseille.
"After the last two months of competition and training we're feeling prepared going into the World Cup Final," Jerwood said.
"The fleet will be smaller, with just the top 20 boats from the series competing. It will be interesting to test our skills in the smaller high quality fleet next week."
World Sailing reports that temperatures this week in Marseille are expected to be around 23 degrees, mostly sunny, with winds ranging between 7 to 14 knots.
Rio silver medallist Mat Belcher and Will Ryan are the other Australian crew competing, in the 470 Men's division.
For more information visit the event website.