London heroes to make waves again
THEY were three gold medallists who saved the day for Australia at the London Olympics and now, six years on, sailors Nathan Outteridge, Tom Slingsby and Iain Jensen could be about to do the same all over again.
The trio has made unexpected returns to Olympic sailing classes in the wake of last year’s America’s Cup and will all race for Australia at next week’s world sailing championships in Denmark.
But two of the three will be racing different classes and two will be sailing with completely different crews.
Multiple world Laser champion Slingsby, the first individual Australian gold medallist of the London Olympics, is now in a single-handed Finn dinghy. Outteridge, who sailed to gold with Jensen in London in the 49er skiff class, has jumped into a Nacra 17 mixed multihull with sister Haylee.
Jensen is in the same 49er skiff he won gold in at the London Olympics and a silver at the Rio Games, but will sail under a new skipper in Will Phillips as a stand-in for his injured regular crew.
Australian Sailing team boss Iain Murray, who competed alongside Outteridge and Slingsby at the Beijing Olympics, said while receiving some support, all three sailors “are putting their hands in the pockets” to compete in Olympic racing again.
“What happens next week [at the world titles in Denmark] will be a critical factor in what they do. It’s a work in progress to see if they will stay in the program, but just having them back in the team is great,” he said. “It has bol- stered the team. Even if they don’t go on, just having the experience rub on the young guys, seeing them talk, their methods, the use of their time and their professional approach is priceless.”
Australian crews have not won a world 49er medal since Outteridge and Jensen’s silver in 2015 and have not won a world championship medal of any colour in Finn racing since Glen Bourke’s silver in 1992.
The Outteridges, however, have formidable competition in the Nacra 17 class, with Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin silver medallist in Rio in 2016 and winners of a world bronze in 2014 and silver in 2015.
Sailing was the top performed sport for Australia in London in 2012 with three gold and a silver medal from a team of just 18. Australia won just eight gold medals in London, the lowest at a summer Olympics since the Barcelona Games in 1992.