Australian Sailing’s Will Cooley and Rebecca Hancock have won gold in the Mixed Nacra 15 at the 2019 Hempel Youth Sailing World Championships in Gdynia, Poland with one day to spare.

The lead in the Nacra 15 changed on a daily basis but it was the Australians who ultimately prevailed. The Sydney pair finished the penultimate day of the Youth Sailing world titles with an unassailable nine-point lead after posting a second, eighth and fifth place. 

“It’s unreal and it doesn’t feel real at all. We’ve both worked so hard and it definitely paid off,” an emotional Bec Hancock said after racing. 

“All the effort we’ve put it and to see it come out the other end is just the best feeling,” Will Cooley agreed.

Across the week Cooley and Hancock have not won one race but their consistency is unrivalled and they have not finished outside of the top eight once. With one race remaining, they have clinched gold as they hold enough of a points buffer over the French team to confirm the title.

“Being consistent and working together as best as we can, that’s what this came from. There wasn’t any secret to it,” 2018 Youth Olympian Cooley said.

“We played it low risk and raced smart, not racing to win any races but to win the regatta. We wanted to be consistent and try our best,” Hancock added.

The emotional pair, who are New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holders and sail for Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and Woollahra Sailing Club, also thanked their support team.

“We want to say big thanks to Australian Sailing and big thanks to our parents and just to everyone around us supporting us,” Cooley said.

Hancock also added a thank you to their coaches with the pair coached by Matt Jerwood at the Youth World’s.

And in a message to all up and coming youth sailors, Cooley added, “Just keep at it. It might not feel like you are doing the best, wherever you are, but it will always pen out well as long as you put in the effort and the hard work. So keep it going, keep the drive and motivation.”

All Cooley and Hancock have to do on Friday in their final race now is to stay out of trouble and avoid a non-discardable disqualification or penalty to confirm their win.

Gold medals were also already decided in the 420 fleets with New Zealand winning the Boy’s 420 and USA the Girl’s division with just one race remaining. Australia is out of medal contention in both events with both the boys and the girls dropping two spots into 12^th and 14^th respectively after two races on the penultimate day.

Ryan Littlechild and Jack Ferguson dropped into 12^th after posting a 12^th and 24^th, while Lily and Matilda Richardson posted an 18^th and 23^rd and dropped. into 14^th.

The points are close heading into the final day for the remaining six events with plenty up and downs shaking up the leader boards.

The race for gold will go down to the wire in the Boy’s Laser Radial fleet on Friday with Western Australia Zac Littlewood in the lead going into the final day.

The Western Australian, who won bronze at last year’s world championships, claimed two seconds on Thursday to remove local hopeful Tytus Butowski (POL) from top spot but just one point splits the pair.

Their discards are not comfortable enough for them to match race on the water but fireworks are expected with Butowski looking to draw upon his experience of his home waters and with Littlewood ready to battle it out.

Also still in medal contention are Australia’s 29er-boys with Archi Cropley and Max Paul going into the final day ranked third. The pair posted a seventh and 13^th and are five points behind Finland in second place. Leaders Norway are ahead by 33 points.

In the 29er-girls three races were sailed on Thursday with a 19-26 RET-12 scorecard for Tasmanians Alice Buchanan and Dervla Duggan, who dropped from ninth into 13^th place. Two races will follow on Friday.

In other Australian results, Maddie O’Shea had a challenging day posting a 42^nd and 41^st in the Laser Radial Girls and sits in 25^th.

In the RS:X (Boys) Hamish Swain finished the penultimate day in 22^nd. In the RS:X Girls’ Amelia Quinlan was back on the board after she had to retire following a collision and a damaged board the day before. She posted a 17^th and 20^th and sits in 19^th overall.

Racing is scheduled to commence at the earlier time of 10:40 on Friday 19 July as the 2019 Youth Sailing World Championships concludes.

EVENT WEBSITE
Click here for the event website - http://worldsailingywc.org/
 

RESULTS
Click here for result from Gdynia.

AUSTRALIAN TEAM RESULTS

Nacra 15 (Mixed team) Will Cooley and Rebecca Hancock (NSW): 2, 3, 2, 5, 5, 4, 7, (8), 4, 2, 8, 5 – 1^st

29er (Boys) Max Paul and Archie Cropley: 5, 8, (13), 4, 8, 7, 4, 1, 3, 7, 13 – 3^rd

29er (Girls) Alice Buchanan and Dervla Duggan (TAS): 19, (26 UFD), 20, 11, 3, 3, 3, 3, 19, 26 RET, 12 – 13^th

420 (Boys) Ryan Littlechild and Jack Ferguson (NSW): 21, 16, 7, 18, 2, 4, 12, (24) – 12^th  

420 (Girls) Lily and Matilda Richardson (VIC): 12, 16, 18, 3, 13, 6, 18, (23) – 14^th

Laser Radial (Boys) Zac Littlewood (WA): 26, 6, 1, (58 RET), 2, 1, 2, 2 – 1^st

Laser Radial (Girls) Maddie O’Shea (NSW): 40, 31, 29, 2, 2, 9, (42), 41 – 25^th

RS:X (Boys) Hamish Swain (QLD): 11, 12, 21, 23, (24), 24, 22, 19, 18, 18 – 22^nd

RS:X (Girls) Amelia Quinlan (NSW): 17, 20, 18, 15, (21 DNS), (21 DNC), (21 DNC), 17, 20 – 19^th

HOW TO FOLLOW

Australian Sailing Youth Website

Daily Updates will be posted on the Australian Youth Sailing Website here: https://www.sailingyouth.org.au/home/

See the full team line-up here: https://www.sailingyouth.org.au/youth-worlds/2019-australian-youth-team/

EVENT WEBSITE

Find updates and results on the event website - http://worldsailingywc.org/

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