Volvo Ocean Race: After Olympic gold and Cup triumph: Tuke wants the triple

After winning Olympic gold and the America's Cup triumph, Blair Tuke wants to take off in the Volvo Ocean Race. The 27-year-old told the New Zealand television station TVNZ: "I feel drawn to it." Tuke will start the 13th edition of the team race around the world with the co-favourite Spanish team Mapfre and will arrive at the training camp in Sanxenxo next week. "The way I see it, there are three peaks in international sailing: the America's Cup, the Olympic Games and the Volvo," said Tuke about the sport's top three. He is now aiming for this triple. No-one before him has ever managed to win all three challenges.

Welcome to the team: Spanish team Mapfre released this short clip after announcing the signing of Olympic and Cup winner Blair Tuke

Whether his 49er and America's Cup helmsman Peter Burling, with whom Tuke has been in the same boat for nine years and has spent most of his time, will also answer the call of the Volvo Ocean Race remains to be seen. Tuke did not want to deny this for Peter Burling, saying that he could not speak for him. Burling, meanwhile, wished his "buddy" the best for the time being, saying of the joint Olympic winner picture with the gold medals: "I'm very happy for my buddy Blair Tuke, who announced today that he will be taking part in the Volvo Ocean Race 2017/2018 with Desafío Mapfre. So long, Tukey! I'll see you in twelve months for our next challenge." Which will undoubtedly be the Kiwi project of defending the America's Cup, the details of which Emirates Team New Zealand will reveal in the coming days.

Two years ago, Peter Burling went their separate ways for a very short time when Blair Tuke contested the harbour race in the 2014/2015 Volvo Ocean Race in Auckland with Mapfre and Peter Burling with Charles Caudrelier's Dongfeng Race Team

As the New Zealanders are likely to schedule the Cup final for 2021, the stars will have time for commitments in other sailing disciplines. "I've been dreaming of the Volvo Ocean Race since I was a little kid. I've wanted to do it for longer than the Olympics or the America's Cup. I'm so happy that I'm finally getting the opportunity," says Tuke. Mapfree's skipper Xabi Fernandez knows Tuke well, as they were rivals and companions in the Olympic 49er class for many years. Tuke was already on board Mapfre during the harbour race in Auckland in the last edition of the Volvo Ocean Race and has seen the team in action.

Nevertheless, this will be super sailor Tuke's first intensive offshore assignment - he has a steep learning curve ahead of him. But that's exactly his thing: "I like challenges like this." Blair Tuke will sail for Mapfre as helmsman and trimmer. In 2018, the Volvo Ocean Race will once again make a stopover in Auckland. After the victory parade following the triumph in the America's Cup, one can expect that the New Zealanders will also celebrate the ocean marathon and its heroes. The 13th edition kicks off on 22 October in Alicante. The race ends in The Hague in the Netherlands in the last week of June.