Reigning Olympic ILCA 7 champion Matt Wearn has rocketed up the leaderboard to second after posting a bullet (race win) and a third in today’s racing at the Allianz Sailing World Championships in The Hague, The Netherlands.

It was a fine comeback after he misjudged the start.

“We had the tide going against the breeze, so it made it a bit tricky to judge where you were on the line and I just got it wrong and got spat out,” said Wearn.

“It turned out to be the right way though, and it’s nice when good fortune falls your way. I had good boat speed and was able to chip back and be in the top five around the top mark. I finished with a good last downwind to go from second or third to finish first. It was a good little comeback.”

Matt Wearn in action CREDIT Sailing Energy

Victorian Casey Imeneo also won a race in the ILCA 6, and just like Wearn she has jumped up the rankings and finds herself in third.

Alison Weatherly won Australia’s first medal at the event, winning Bronze in the Women’s Hansa 303 on the final day of the Para Sailing World Championships. It will sit alongside the Bronze she won last year and her Silver from 2019.

“This reinforces that I can do this, that I am doing the right thing and I do have the ability,” said Weatherly.

The Ballarat sailor is not done yet though, not by a longshot.

“Ballarat Yacht Club has some talented sailors and in the clubhouse they have an honour board for winners of State and National Championships. So far nobody has won a Worlds, so I want to be the first Ballarat sailor to win a World Championship. I want to train, get more people sailing and promote how inclusive sailing really is.”

Weatherly with her bronze medal

Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine have qualified for the 49erFX Medal Race in third place. They will enjoy a well-earned day off tomorrow before the double-points race on Friday.

Australia’s 49er and Mixed 470 classes finished their regattas today, with Tom Burton and Max Paul (21st in 49er) and Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas (36th in Mixed 470) the best placed teams in their respective squads. 

“Today sums up our week. We had a really bad day yesterday and today was much better which continues our yo-yo status,” said Burton. “We’re looking forward to the next couple of regattas to keep the upward trend.”

Australia had four teams in the Nacra 17 Gold fleet, but unfortunately no qualifiers for the Medal Race.

“Overall not a terrible result finishing 25th, but definitely not what we were looking for this week,” said Nacra Skipper Jake Liddell. “It has been a cool experience to be here with the whole team at the combined Worlds though, there have been some really great team vibes.”

Jake Liddell and Lucy Copeland CREDIT Beau Outteridge

There will be a live broadcast of tomorrow’s Mixed 470 and Nacra 17 Medal Races on World Sailing’s YouTube Channel and the Olympic Channel.

Visit the event website for more details on the event, see full results in the Results Centre and follow the racing via the trackers on at the SAP Sailing website each day.

Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Squad (ASS), Australian Sailing Futures (ASF) and other Australian results at the 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships: 

ILCA 7 – Gold fleet – 6 races (one drop) 
2nd - Matt Wearn (AST/WA) – (11), 11, 6, 5, 1, 3 (26 points)
15th - Luke Elliott (ASS/WA) – 7, 14, (41), 5, 7, 37 (70 points)
19th - Ethan McAullay (ASS/WA) – 6, (47), 8, 7, 18, 38 (77 points)
38th - Zac Littlewood (ASS/WA) – 13, 36, (50), 27, 39,5 (120 points)
48th - Finn Alexander (ASS/NSW) – 14, 14, 48, 40, (53), 12 (128 points)

49erFX – Gold fleet – 15 races (one drop)
3rd - Olivia Price & Evie Haseldine (ASS/NSW) – 1, 4, 2, 3, 2, 5, 3, 10, 9, 3, 12, (23), 4, 10, 20 (88 points)
20th - Laura Harding & Annie Wilmot (ASS/VIC & NSW) – 9, 19, 14, 5, 6, 18, 18, 4, 14, 5, (24), 3, 11, 22, 21 (169 points)

49erFX – Silver fleet – 15 races (one drop)
34th - Mina Ferguson & Dervla Duggan (ASF/NSW & ASS/VIC) – 12, 3, 20, 10, 14, 6, 24, (30 RET), 20, 17, 27, 6, 10, 24, 6 (199 points)
38th - Natasha Bryant & Madeleine McLeay (ASF/NSW) – (28), 22, 18, 19, 12, 23, 2, 12, 19, 3, 20, 24, 16, 20, 7 (217 points)

Women’s Hansa 303 (11 entries)
3rd - Alison Weatherly (VIC) (7), 5, 3, 3, 3, 6, 1, 4, 5, 4 (34 points)

ILCA 6 – Gold fleet – 6 races (one drop)
3rd - Casey Imeneo (ASS/VIC) – 16, 5, 8, (35), 3, 1 (33 points)
16th - Mara Stranksy (ASS/QLD) – (28), 2, 2, 22, 15, 26 (67 points)
23rd - Zoe Thomson (AST/WA) – 11, 23, 18, 16, 20, (34) (88 points)
28th - Elyse Ainsworth (ASS/WA) – 12, 7, (46), 27, 29, 27 (102 points)
48th - Sylvie Stannage (NSWIS) – 9, 26, 23, 38, 40, (45) (136 points)

ILCA 6 – Silver fleet – 6 races (one drop)
69th - Evie Saunders (ASF/NSW) – (35), 33, 5, 33, 26 (97 points)

Men’s iQFOiL (93 entries - No positions due to uneven number of races)
Grae Morris (ASS/NSW) – (23), 1, (51 DNF), 3, 5, 9, 11, 1, 4 (34 points)
Harry Joyner (ASS/WA) – (27), 11, 27, 5, 15, (37), 17, 21, 7 (103 points)
Jack Marquardt (VIS) – 31, 45, 23, (51 DNC), 39, 37, 35, (51 DNC) (210 points)

Men’s Hansa 303 (15 entries)
11th - Peter Coleman (VIC) 12, 14, 11, (16 RET), 11, 11, 10, 9, 9, 9 (96 points)

Women’s Formula Kite (53 entries)
16th - Breiana Whitehead (AST/QLD) – (10), 6, 4, 10, 7, 10, 10, 3, 5, (11), 4, (20) (59 points)

Nacra 17 – Gold fleet – 15 races (one drop) 
19th - Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown (ASF/NSW) 17, 13, 10, 7, 7, 10, 14, 12, 8, 16, 2, 20, 19, (21), 20 (175 points)
21st - Ruben Booth and Rita Booth (AUS) 6, 10, 12, 10, 9, 7, 12, 16, 10, 22, 25, 18, (26 UFD), 11, 23 (191 points)
24th - Archie Gargett & Sarah Hoffman (ASF/NSW) 8, 9, 14, 13, 14, 15, 16, 6, 11, 19, 21, 14, 20, (23), 22 (202 points)
25th - Jake Liddell & Lucy Copeland (ASS/NSW) 11, 11, 6, 11, 9, 12, 12, (26 RET), 7, 20, 23, 22, 26 UFD, 26 RET, 16 (212 points)

Nacra 17 – Silver fleet – 15 races (one drop)
27th - Lisa Darmanin & Darren Bundock (AST/NSW & NSW) 11, 15, 16, (17), 15, 17, 11, 7, 12, 2, 10, 2, 12, 1, 3 (134 points)

49er – Gold fleet – 15 races (one drop)
21st - Tom Burton & Max Paul (ASS/NSW) – 4, 6, 19, 13, 19, (29 DNS), 5, 2, 3, 16, 22, 19, 17, 10, 2 (157 points)

49er – Silver fleet – 15 races (one drop)
27th - Thomas Needham & Joel Turner (ASS/QLD) – 13, (16), 9, 10, 11, 10, 7, 11, 10, 10, 4, 10, 3, 12, 5 (125 points)
30th - Jim Colley & Shaun Connor (AST/NSW) – 18, 11, 15, 3, 9, 3, 10, 17, 20, (30 BFD), 8, 11, 1, 8, 2 (136 points)
49th - Thomas Cunich & Miles Davey (ASF/NSW) – 26, 12, 18, 14, 9, 12, 2, 17, 16, 20, 23, 25, 17, 20, 30 RET) (230 points)

49er – Bronze fleet – 14 races (one drop)
57th - Jack Ferguson & Jack Hildebrand (ASF/NSW) – (29 BFD), 12, 23, 13, 29 RET, 13, 18, 12, 14, 4, 14, 9, 4, 3 (168 points)

Mixed 470 – Silver fleet – 11 races (one drop)
36th - Nia Jerwood & Conor Nicholas (ASS/WA) – 13, 27, 19, 3, (33 UFD), 1, 8, 11, 10, 2, 8 (102 points)
50th - Sophie Jackson & Angus Higgins (ASF/VIC & ASF/SA) – (31), 25, 13, 15, 30, 19, 16, 29, 20, 8, 10 (185 points)

Men’s Formula Kite (84 entries)
47th - Scott Whitehead (ASS/QLD) – 21, (29 RET), 8, (24), 12, 14, 13, 12, (29 UFD), 10 (114 points)
57th - Oscar Timm (ASF/QLD) – (23), 14, (19), 18, 17, 19, 17, (24), 18, 15, 14 (132 points)

Women’s iQFOiL (88 entries)
62nd - Samantha Costin (ASS/QLD) – (36), 22, 24, 28, 31, (35), 27, 29, 23 (184 points)