After a run of three consecutive silver medals at the world titles, Olympic champion Matt Wearn has finally sailed his way to the top of the podium.
The 27-year-old West Australian had an insurmountable 20-point lead heading into Sunday's world championships medal race for the ILCA 7 class off The Hague in the Netherlands, but still had to sail cleanly to collect the crown.
“It feels fantastic, it’ll probably sink in a little bit later tonight when I can sit somewhere quiet and have a chat with (wife) Emma,” said Wearn, for whom the gold medal will sit neatly alongside the Olympic title he collected at the Tokyo Games.
The victory sets him on a path to continue Australia’s golden run in the class at Paris 2024.
"It’s just incredible, to be so close so many times and to come out with it now is great, especially with everything that has happened in the last 18 months,” he said.
Wearn transitioned from long-time coach Michael Blackburn to Rafa Trujillo after his Tokyo victory, and in the last two months the pair have won the Paris Olympic test event in Marseille and now a world title.
“It’s been a great change-up and it’s been great for the squad as well," said Wearn, who took silver in this event at the 2018, 2019 and 2020 world titles, to go with bronze in 2017.
"We still have a lot of work to do, Rafa and I, so we will work on that over the summer in Australia."
That work will include a defence of the title he won in the Netherlands on Sunday, when the 2024 ILCA 7 World Championships take place at the Adelaide Sailing Club in January.
Sunday's racing brought the 2023 worlds to a close, with Australia's high-performance director Iain Brambell delighted with the team's “very exciting performance”.
“With five classes qualified for the Paris Games and three medals, including Matt’s impressive gold, we are on a very positive trajectory into Paris,” Brambell said.
Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine collected a bronze medal for Australia in the 49erFX on Friday, to add to the third-place finish of Alison Weatherly in the Hansa 303 class on Wednesday.
