After a stunning year on the water that has included the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, sailing’s highest achievers were honoured at the World Sailing Awards ceremony at Singapore’s historic CHIJMES Hall.
The 2024 Rolex World Sailor of the Year awards – the 30th year of the awards – were presented to Paris 2024 Olympic gold medallist Marit Bouwmeester, the most successful female sailor at the Olympics in the sport, and the Spanish duo of Diego Botin and Florian Trittel, gold medallists in the men’s skiff at Paris 2024 and winners of SailGP season 4.
The awards were decided by the combined verdicts of a record 49,964 public votes and an expert panel of judges.
The new Young World Sailor of the Year awards were won by Poland’s Ewa Lewandowska and Max Maeder of Singapore.
‘9pm bedtime for six months’
Marit Bouwmeester, of the Netherlands, was named 2024 Rolex World Sailor of the Year for the second time, following her win in 2017.
Double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson, who co-hosted the event, praised the achievement, saying: “In an Olympic year we were not short of impressive athletes.”
This year, Bouwmeester, 36, became the most successful female Olympic sailor of all time when she won gold in the women’s dinghy at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. That took her career tally at four Olympic medals – gold from Paris 2024 and Rio 2016, silver at London 2012 and bronze at Tokyo 2020.
Bouwmeester’s success was all the more impressive as she returned to competition following the birth of her daughter Jessie in time to begin preparations for the Paris 2024 Games.
Winner of the female World Sailor of the Year award 2024 Marit Bouwmeester. Credit: World Sailing
Bouwmeester said: “This was my fourth Olympics in Paris. After the Tokyo Olympics I had some sort of dilemma because I had a strong wish to become a mother, but I also really appreciate our sport and being a top athlete.
“Of course, the [Tokyo] Olympics got delayed by a year [held in the summer of 2021] and I thought ‘ Well that ruins my plans a little bit’, but I got pregnant straight after the Olympics and I thought ‘This is great, now I’m going to do both.’
‘So the whole of the pregnancy I tried to stay as fit as possible, even researching what is the best way for delivery, and then 10 months later I was European Champion again.”
Marit Bouwmeester with event co-host Alec Wilkinson Credit: World Sailing
Prompted by co-host Alec Wilkinson, Bouwmeester gave insight into the challenge of juggling motherhood with Olympic training.
She added: “This time around, I think one decision by myself affects eight people on the other side.
“It started off really easy because there were no expectations and then of course the baby sleeps a lot, which is nice.
“But then I started to get into trouble a little bit because Jessie sleeps less and she moves around. I found it really hard, I struggled to get the balance right.
‘I only just qualified because at the Worlds in Argentina I was 11th, in January 2024, so I thought ‘things need to change.’
“We all have setbacks, but it’s more about how you deal with those setbacks. So I sat the whole team together and I was like ‘How do we go from 11th to first in six months?’
“We made some very clear decisions: ‘it’s only going to be family, it’s only going to be sport’.
“I went to bed every night at 9pm, only training, only family, just to increase the chance to win a gold medal and I’m very, very proud to stand here today.”
‘It hasn’t been easy’
Spanish sailor Diego Botin, who together with his sailing partner Florian Trittel, won the male World Sailor of the Year award 2024. Credit: World Sailing
The male trophy winners, the Spanish pair of Diego Botin and Florian Trittel, had an exceptional year with success at both the Paris 2024 Olympics and in SailGP – racing high-performance F50 foiling catamarans.
Botin and Trittel won Olympic gold in the men’s skiff less than a month after taking the Spain SailGP Team from 10th to first to win the Season 4 SailGP championship.
After breaking the Australian hold on the SailGP title, Botin and Trittel claimed gold in Marseille after a 49er season which also saw them win at the Semaine Olympique Francaise and the Princess Sofia Regatta.
Botin, 30, said as they collected their award: “Everything came together in July for us but it’s been a tough year, it hasn’t been easy.
“We had many ups and downs and the challenge was a big one.
“The moment we decided to go for SailGP and the Olympics at the same time, winning was going to be hard.
“We knew that both competitions could nurture each other and make us better sailors in both of them, and it happened, it somehow happened, and we’re really happy.”
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Young World Sailors of the Year
Ewa Lewandowska claimed gold in the mixed category of the 29er at the Youth Sailing World Championships. That success came in partnership with Krzysztof Królik, with whom she started sailing in February and with whom she also won the European title and finished second at the 29er worlds.
Lewandowska also won Youth Worlds gold in December last year in partnership with Julia Maria Zmudzinska.
Meanwhile, Max Maeder of Singapore, aged 17, is the reigning Formula Kite World, Asian Games, Asian and European champion, as well as the Paris 2024 Olympic bronze-medallist.
Maeder is one of the most consistent athletes in the Formula Kite class with a podium finish at every event. He is the youngest world champion of an Olympic class and Singapore’s youngest Olympic medallist.
Other accolades
Winds of Change won the 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award. Credit: World Sailing
Also at the prestigious event, Winds of Change won the 11th Hour Racing Sustainability Award.
Founded by Olympian and International Olympic Committee (IOC) young leader from Cyprus, Sophia Papamichalopoulos, Winds of Change aims to bridge divides and promote peace by bringing together young people from both sides of Cyprus through the unifying power of the sport of sailing. Its achievements include completing the first circumnavigation of Cyprus in 50 years, inspiring youth-led sports-for-peace activities, hosting the inaugural “Olympism for Peace” event in Cyprus, and being referenced in the UN Secretary General’s report on Cyprus.
Northern Lights Composites (NLcomp), which has pioneered sustainable solutions in boat construction, was named the inagural winner of the new World Sailing Technology Award. NLcomp tackles one of the biggest environmental challenges in the sailing industry – fibreglass boat waste. Their recyclable composite material offers a solution to boat disposal problems, pushing the industry toward more sustainable practices.
Meanwhile, the Olympic champion pair of Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti won the Team of the Year, adding to the World Sailor of the Year award they both won in 2022; and Tunisian Olympian and President of the Tunisian Sailing Federation, Hedi Gharbi won the President’s Development Award.
Aiko Saito was presented with the Beppe Croce Trophy in celebration of a career devoted to sailing: Saito represented Japan at the Seoul 1988 and Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games, and since retiring from competition has led the Japanese Olympic sailing team at the 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games.
For the past eight years, Saito has volunteered her time for free to work on World Sailing commissions, committees and working parties – ensuring the needs and interests of coaches and athletes are considered at the highest levels of the sport.
She has also volunteered her time for free to support committees and commissions of the Japanese Sailing Federation since 2001.
World Sailing awards history
The coveted Rolex World Sailor of the Year trophy. Credit: World Sailing
World Sailing launched the World Sailor of the Year Awards in 1994 to reward individual sailors for outstanding achievements in the sport. Rolex has sponsored the award since 2001.
World Sailing and 11th Hour Racing joined forces in 2018 to celebrate the delivery of high-impact and replicable sustainability within the maritime industry aligned to World Sailing’s Sustainability Agenda 2030. The winner receives a 10,000 USD prize to fund their continued sustainability efforts, and the trophy made from recycled carbon fibre from an America’s Cup boat infused with bio resin.
The World Sailing Annual Conference is supported by the Singapore Tourism Board and the Singapore Sailing Federation. The awards were supported by Rolex, 11th Hour Racing and Tiger Beer.