Australian sailors rounded out their Olympic competition on the waters of Marseille with the final medals decided in the light winds that characterised the Mediterranean Sea all week long.
With one of the youngest teams in recent times sent to compete, the Australian sailors come away with a gold and silver medal and three top 10 finishes from the eight events entered.
Breiana Whitehead fought valiantly in her semi-final round, but was knocked out by multiple World Champion Daniela Moroz of the USA.
Breiana ultimately finished ninth overall in the new Kite Foiling event.
“Definitely a mix of emotions,” she said.
“I’m so happy to be in the top 10 but a little bit gutted by the race. It happens, and in sudden death, you're either in it or you're not.
“I’ve been not letting it all soak in until I finished, but now I’m going to soak it in and enjoy it.”
In the Mixed Dinghy event, Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas finished ninth overall in their event debut at these Games.
The pair from Western Australia finished sixth in their medal race, which wasn’t enough to move up in the rankings.
Despite this, the two best friends took a moment to reflect on their hard work and achievements.
“Mixed emotions really,” said Conor, the first indigenous sailor to represent Australia at the Olympics.
“We’re really proud of how we sailed all week. We've had our little ups and downs, but there have been more ups than downs.
“It makes us hungry now—we've seen what it's like watching others win medals, and we want that. I think we might be back fighting soon.”
While things didn’t always go to plan the crew were never defeated and were proud of their performance.
“That medal race probably showed what our campaign has been like,” Nia added.
“It hasn't always been perfect, but when things do go wrong, we fight back really hard and make it work. I'm really proud of that.”
The future looks bright, with much of the team inspired by each other and ready to rest, reset, and come back harder for LA 2028.
Lisa Darmanin
