Olympic champions were in high demand at the Rolex World Sailor of the Year awards. Holland's outstanding Ilca 6 helmswoman Marit Bouwmeester won the 30th award in the women's category after winning her fourth Olympic medal and second gold. The Warten-born top athlete prevailed in the voting for the second time since 2017.
The best female Olympic sailor in sporting history
Her impressive Olympic medal collection includes silver from 2012, gold from 2016 and bronze from 2021. The second gold was won by the most successful Olympic sailor in sporting history this summer as a young mother in Marseille. After her second Olympic victory, the athlete said in France: "It feels incredibly good. When I was young, I was once told that I wasn't good enough. That was when I said: 'I'm going to be the best ever'."
Diego Botin and Florian Trittel were named World Sailors of the Year. They not only won the Olympic heat battle in Marseille in the 49er. This year, the Spanish duo and their team also prevailed in the fierce battle for the SailGP season championship. They relegated the favourites from Australia and New Zealand to second and third place. Diego Botin and Flo Trittel were the Olympic training partners of two-time German Olympic bronze medallists Erik Heil and Thomas Plößel for a long time.
49,964 public votes and a jury of experts decided the election, in which Italy's Nacra 17 dominators Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti were crowned Team of the Year. They had shone with Olympic gold in Marseille for the second time in a row. Ruggero Tita has also been a member of the Italian America's Cup team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli for many years. Alongside young star Marco Gradoni, he is regarded as the next helmsman in Patrizio Bertelli's racing team.
The best have been honoured since 1994
In 2022, the voting was similar but different: Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti won the individual titles in the men's and women's competitions despite their team performance. Now they were honoured as a team. The nomination of Ruggero Tita not only with Caterina Banti in the team category but also in the individual category had caused some surprise in advance, while Banti was not on the list individually in the women's category.
World Sailors of the Year have been honoured since 1994. At the premiere, New Zealand's national sailing idol Sir Peter Blake and the Spanish 470 Olympic champion Theresa Zabell were the celebrated winners. Britain's Sir Ben Ainslie, who is the most successful Olympic sailor in sporting history with four Olympic gold medals and one silver, won the most individual titles (4). In the 37th America's Cup match, he has just had to bow to New Zealand's successful defenders.
Jochen Schümann was the only German to win the Rolex World Sailor of the Year award to date. The two-time America's Cup winner with Team Alinghi in 1996 was honoured after his third and final Olympic victory in the Soling. Last year, SailGP dominator Tom Slingsby (Australia) and circumnavigator Kirsten Neuschäfer (South Africa) won the award.
Prizes in other categories
There were new trophies for "Young World Sailor of the Year". The winners here were Ewa Lewandowska from Poland and Max Maeder from Singapore. Ewa Lewandowska won an impressive gold medal in the mixed category of the 29er at the Youth Sailing World Championships. 17-year-old Max Maeder is the reigning world, Asian and European champion in the new Olympic discipline of Formula Kite. In Marseille, the clever, modest and very likeable kitesurfing star won bronze in the light wind event. He is the youngest world champion in an Olympic class and Singapore's youngest Olympic medallist.
During the festive evening in Singapore, further prizes were awarded in the categories of sustainability (Winds of Change) and technology (Northern Lights Composites) as well as the President's Development Award (Hedi Garbi) and the Beppe Croce Trophy (Aiko Salto).
The Spanish coup in the SailGP - a look back at an outstanding season for Diego Botin, Florian Trittel and their team:
