The squad will be part of the 400 competitor global event, and will represent the British Youth Sailing Team across the 29er, 420, Nacra 15, ILCA 6, iQFOiL and Formula Kite classes. Some athletes are making their Youth Worlds debuts while others are representing their nation for the third time at the event.
Here our region’s sailors share their thoughts on their selection and the build-up to the event:
Ella Geiger from Haywards Heath in West Sussex, Formula Kite
(see header photo)
“It’s a massive honour to be selected for the team and I am very happy. It’s my third worlds, I am feeling pretty good in the run up, but still have a bit of preparation to do, then I will be ready. I have been training as much as I can balancing time on the water with school and hitting the gym.
“I have been working quite a bit on my starts, so hopefully I will be fresh at the event. The Argentina girls are strong at the moment so it will be good to have some close battles with them.”
Mattia Maini from Herne Bay in Kent, Formula Kite
“Representing the British Youth Sailing team is already a significant achievement for me. As the event draws closer, I’m feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness. There’s a sense of anticipation knowing that I’ll be competing against some of the world’s best sailors.
“Training has been intense and focused. I’ve been spending countless hours on the water and in the gym, improving my skills, and working with my international training partners and coaches to ensure I’m in good shape for the comp. My expectations going into the event are to give it my absolute best, learn from every moment on the water, and aim for a top five performance.”
Charlie Gran from Funtington in West Sussex, 29er
“It is a great experience to get selected for the team and for the worlds. It’s a youth version of the Olympics which is my goal so it’s one step closer to preparing me to go there.
“We will be there to go for the win, we have been aiming for this with the worlds performance and will be all go go go! We learnt a lot from other events that we have put in place to tackle in our training plan, so are working on them to get better.”
Photo – Charlie and Sam Webb in the 29er
Madeline Bilborough from London, 29er
“Getting selected for the team is a really exciting opportunity and we are really excited to go to Brazil! We have been working on starts as well as wind and wave techniques.
“We are looking forward to competing against everyone, the Irish are pretty strong at the moment.”
Follow the event
Racing at the Youth Sailing World Championship races runs from 11 to 15 December. You can follow the event latest from @britishyouthsailing on Instagram and World Sailing at Youth World Championships 2023
