World Sailing Emerging Nations Sailors follow World-Beating Blueprint ahead of Olympics
by Road To Gold 5 Jul 2024 23:40 NZST
Closing Ceremony of the 2015 Youth Sailing World Championships, Langkawi, Malaysia © Christophe Launay
With just three weeks remaining until the start of Paris 2024, sailors from 65 nations are making final preparations before travelling to Marseille. Among the sailors are athletes from countries who have never competed on the Olympic stage before.
This broader range of participation comes down in part to the Emerging Nations Program (ENP), an initiative set up by World Sailing to close the performance gap between countries competing at the international level, and increase Olympic participation from nations that cannot typically send sailors due to coaching or budgetary constraints. The ENP has already proved a success, with an increase in the number of Emerging Nations sailors qualifying for the Olympics to 21, almost triple the figure from the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
Alongside regular in-person training camps, World Sailing has incorporated the Road To Gold program for the past two years, with sailors and coaches following the online blueprint devised by medal-making coach Hamish Willcox. Battle-tested over four decades of high-level campaigns, Willcox has coached such sailing stars as Pete Burling and Blair Tuke to multiple Olympic medals as well as victory in the last America's Cup.
Structured over 12 sequential steps, Road To Gold starts with basics like boat handling and fitness, and builds on this foundation with more complex topics such as tactics, strategy and the mental game. Overall, the program is designed to get participants thinking systematically about the many elements that go into a high-level sailing campaign.
Catherine Duncan, Development Manager at World Sailing, had a hand in first introducing Road To Gold to the Emerging Nations Program, and says it has helped the sailors set clear campaign priorities in the lead up to the Games. "Road To Gold is all about making the most of the resources available to you, so it was a perfect fit for the Emerging Nations Program. We're really proud to see the growth of teams participating in the ENP, and wish all the sailors competing in Marseille the best of success."
Launched in 2020, Road To Gold is now a World Sailing Endorsed Training Resource, and has received praise from all levels of the sport. Notable endorsements come from Sir Russell Coutts, who described the tool as previously "missing from sailing", as well as 7x Olympic medal-winning coach Victor Kovalenko and 5x Olympian Robert Scheidt who praised the program for spreading elite-level knowledge to a wider audience.
Creator Hamish Willcox, who is currently coaching Spain's Olympic representatives Diego Botín and Florian Trittel in the 49er, says he's been thrilled to see the impact of the program which he built in partnership with British sailing journalist and commentator Andy Rice. "It's always been our mission to level the playing field, to get top-level campaign materials in the hands of sailors from all backgrounds, so this collaboration with World Sailing and the Emerging Nations Program is exactly what we set out to achieve."
Road To Gold licensed the program to World Sailing at no cost, with access restricted to in-house ENP sessions. In a gesture of support for the Olympic hopefuls, the Road To Gold team is offering free access to their complete program for any Emerging Nations teams until the end of the Games. Interested parties can get in contact at .
The Road To Gold program is currently closed to new members, but you can sign up for their free Training Kit at RoadToGold.net and be notified when membership becomes available.
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Robert Scheidt, 5x Olympic Medallist: "Congratulations for the great tool that you've developed. It's such a wide sport, there's so many classes, so many ways of doing the sport. Because it's such a complex sport, it's very nice to share information and experiences. Especially for Emerging Nations that don't have so much actual access to information, I think it's a great opportunity to learn from a range of people."
Victor Kovalenko, 7x Olympic gold medal-winning coach: "Thank you very much for running this program, it's amazing. Hamish, you're guiding the future of sailing. You are still working, still learning, and moving the sailing world in the right direction with your program. It opens many horizons for young sailors, and I'm sure that many will benefit from your program. You're doing a great job, guys. Thank you very much on behalf of the sailing world."