Zoe Thomson

Fremantle Laser sailor Zoe Thomson first took to the water as an eight-year-old and quickly fell in love with the sport.

"My passion resulted in my sailing more than one class simultaneously from a very early age," she said.
However, after progressing through the junior classes with Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club and Fremantle Sailing Club, she settled on the singlehanded laser radial.

Zoe got her first taste of international success in 2016, when she won the ILCA Youth World Championships in Ireland. "I'll never forget my teammates hoisting my boat out of the water with me on it, chanting Aussie Aussie Aussie," she said.

In 2018, competing in 30-degree heat and summer storms at the Laser nationals in Brisbane, Zoe became the radial women's Australian national champion.

The following year she was the highest-placed Australian at the Laser Radial World Championships and finished second at a World Cup Series Regatta in Enoshima, Japan, which was an Olympic test event.
After another strong performance at the Australian Laser Radial Championships, she was named West Australian Female Sailor of the Year.

After two years of restricted international competition due to COVID-19, Zoe announced herself of the world stage in 2023.

She started with an 18th placing at the ILCA 6 World Championships before a run of top finishes at the 2022 European Championship, Sail Melbourne (second) and the 2023 European Championships (11th).

But her personal best performance came at the prestigious Princess Sofia Trophy regatta in Palma de Majorca, Spain, where she won a silver medal.

Zoe got off the line in second place in the medal race and held that until the end to finish behind only the Netherlands' multi-Olympic medal winner Marit Bouuwmeester.

"It feels good. It has been a lot of hard work with the whole squad to start getting some results all together," Zoe said. "It feels like validation of all that effort to be on the podium."

These performances led to Zoe being named among the finalists for the Australian female sailor of the year.
In early 2024, Zoe pushed herself into the mix for the Paris Olympics when she again won silver at the Palma regatta, considered a crucial lead-up event.

Whenever her schedule allows, Zoe works with young sailors as a coach and mentor. She is involved in the Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club "Girls Who Sail" program and has acted as a sailing ambassador at West Australian schools.