NSWIS quintet off to London

Five NSWIS sailors have been selected to compete at the 2012 London Olympic Games, including four current world champions.

Headlining the selections is reigning Olympic and world 470 champion Malcolm Page, who will be joined by skipper Mat Belcher in the men’s 470 class. The duo won world championship gold in December 2011, Page’s fifth overall and second with Belcher, with Page heading into London looking to become the first Australian to win back to back sailing gold medals after his triumph with Nathan Wilmot in 2008.

Joining Page will be fellow NSWIS athletes Tom Slingsby, Nathan Outteridge, Iain Jensen and Jessica Crisp.

Outteridge and Jensen are the reigning world champions in the men’s 49er; Outteridge will be appearing at his second Olympic Games following a fifth place finish in Beijing, while Jensen makes his Olympic debut in London. The pair is undefeated at the venue hosting the Olympic sailing events, having won three world cup events and the official test event for the Olympic Games.

Four years ago Slingsby entered the Beijing Olympics as the raging favourite in the men’s laser, only to finish 22nd in unfavourable conditions. However, in 2012 Slingsby enters the fray as a four time world champion, the 2010 World Sailor of the Year and, like Outteridge and Jensen, an undefeated record in four events at the Olympic venue.

Crisp will enter as the most experienced of the NSWIS sailors at Olympic level, with London scheduled to be her fourth Olympic Games. Crisp finished fifth and sixth at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, respectively, in the mistral class, while in Beijing she finished fifth in the women’s RS:X, the same event she will contest in London.

Qualification continues for the sailors until the next athlete selections in May.