Wilmot & Page Crowned 470 World Champions Again

Nathan Wilmot & Malcolm Page (both AIS/NSWIS) have been crowned World Champions in the 470 Olympic class.

After dominating the World Championship in San Francisco from day one, they had the fourteen race series wrapped up with two races to spare. Defending champions, Wilmot and Page showed their superiority in the strong wind and tidal conditions, winning six races.

AIS/National Head Coach Victor Kovalenko was overjoyed saying "they are so outstanding in strong winds, they have a lot of character and a lot of ability."

For Kovalenko this is the tenth world champion title he has produced as a coach, six for women and four for men. The master of 470s, he also has six Olympic Medals and eight European titles to his coaching credentials.

Wilmot & Page were ecstatic and relieved, having returned to form at their first 470 event after their disappointing 12th placing at the 2004 Olympics. They won the World Championship from Olympic Silver Medallists Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield from Great Britain by 16 points, even without contesting the final day.

Page said that they won with such ease they even surprised themselves. He attributed their dominance to "good speed, good tactics and always putting ourselves in a position to play the game, we were always at the front so we could work our options".

On comparing this victory to last year’s, Page said this was so much easier and commented "the wind played a part, we have always found the strong wind a lot easier, it takes out a lot of the people who can hang-in in the lighter conditions."

The rest of the Australian team also excelled. Mat Belcher (QLD) & Nick Behrens (TIS) were fourth in the 64 boat competition, their best result at a World Championship.

In the Women’s fleet, 2004 ISAF World Youth Champions, Elise Rechichi & Tessa Parkinson (both AIS/WAIS) were tenth and won the penultimate heat, while Lauren Jeffries & Rike Ziegelmayer (both QLD) were 12th.

Kovalenko was thrilled with the team’s performance and confirmed there would be at least three crews selected to the 2006 AIS program, Wilmot & Page, Belcher & Behrens and Rechichi & Parkinson, as they all finished in the top ten.