The Siren

Andy Rice talks to Norway's Gold medal favourite for the Europe class - Siren Sundby

All three singlehanded Olympic dinghies have a red-hot favourite for Gold in Athens. It would be a great shock if Ben Ainslie doesn’t win Gold in the Finn, the same goes for Robert Scheidt in the Laser, and the same also for Siren Sundby.

Sundby is the 21-year-old Norwegian who has dominated the Europe women’s singlehanded class for the past two seasons. Most recently she won the World Championships in Sardinia with a race to spare. Behind her was her consistently closest rival for Olympic Gold, Finland’s Sari Multala with Petra Niemann of Germany in third. These top three Worlds finishers represent a pretty accurate form guide for the big one in Athens.

Sundby displays a lightness and sense of fun about everything she is doing. The pressure of entering the Games as the firm favourite seems to sit easily on her shoulders, as though she hardly knows what the fuss is about. The reality could be very different, but if it is, she does a good job of disguising it.

Her brother Christoffer, who represents Norway in the 49er class, is a much more intense character. He doesn’t hold the status of firm favourite quite like his younger sister, but having won the Pre-Olympic Regatta two years ago and finished runner-up in the Cadiz World Championships last September, he is right in the medal zone.

With two such highly qualified siblings, you might have thought they hailed from a long line of Norwegian sailing champions, but not so according to Siren. “I grew up in a strong sailing family,” she says, “but my parents have never competed. They like cruising on their yacht.” Christoffer was the first to display competitive instincts, and was a top Europe sailor in the men’s circuit before switching to the 49er. Siren credits her own meteoric rise through the Europe hierarchy to her brother. “He has been my mentor, he has really inspired and helped me since I started sailing the Europe in 1998.”

Finishing 51st in the Worlds that year at Travemunde wasn’t the most auspicious of starts to her Europe career, but she was only 16 and just graduated from the Optimist class where she had spent the first ten years of her sailing life. Her performances in the little Optimist offered much promise for the future, with European Championship wins in 1996 and 97, and 10th in the Worlds in 97 as well as top girl in the fleet. She also won the Easter Regatta in Italy against a 400-boat fleet of boys and girls. It was a great way to prepare for the rigours of Olympic competition, and Sundby wonders if the Optimist is harder in some ways. “It teaches you a lot about getting the best from your boat, and is very good practice for big fleets,” she says.

Since her debut in the Europe six years ago, her finishes at World Championships have been:

1998 51st
1999 31st
2000 10th
2001 7th
2002 2nd
2003 1st
2004 1st

The year 2000 was a landmark year for Sundby, when she became ISAF Youth World Champion sailing the Byte singlehander, and when she competed at her first Olympic Games in Sydney as a teenager. She finished a wayward 19th, a disappointing result considering her 10th at the Worlds that year. “It was not a good Olympics for me. It was very overwhelming, I couldn’t concentrate at all. But I enjoyed it, and I am so glad to have experienced the Olympics before going to Athens.”

As the new Olympic cycle built up towards Athens, Sundby soon made her mark with three top three places at ISAF Grade 1 events, and by 2002 she was snapping at the heels of the then dominant Sari Multala. Last year was the real breakthrough, with wins at Spa, Hyeres, the Danish Springs, Europeans, Pre-Olympics and then the Worlds in Cadiz. “All the pieces finally came together. I was training really hard on any weaknesses, and it worked.”

After Cadiz, Sundby returned to the venue for frequent bouts of warm-weather training interspersed with weeks off back in Norway. Like the Williams sisters in women’s tennis, Sundby spends much of her time training with the top male Europe sailors, notably Norwegian Kristoffer Gunderson who was third in the men’s Worlds last year. Her focus on technical development has been with Spanish sailmaker Toni Tio, focusing on creating a sail that suits her diminutive frame.

“I weigh 63kg, and I’m only 165cm, so that’s a lot shorter than the others. I need to stay focused on keeping my strength. I put in a lot of hours in the gym. It’s not much fun, but when I get results it is worth it.” Having reached the top of her game, the challenge is to keep moving forward without getting stale. “My coach Thomas Guttornsen has been my coach for many years. He makes sure that when we’re training we have as much fun as we can. It’s not always sailing. Sometimes we are walking in the mountains, cycling, surfing. We have a great time.” Her greatest time is yet to come, and it could be very soon.