Battle Royale

Two Australian Laser sailors will fight for the olympic spot this year

At the 2006 Laser World Championship two Australian sailors took first and second positions, cementing the country at the very top of the Olympic singlehanded class. Last week in Hyeres at the Semaine Olympique Francaise the two same sailors again took first and second places demonstrating what will certainly be one of the closest battles for an Olympic position.

At the age of 36 Michael Blackburn has been the big name in Australian Laser sailing for many years and still is. However, he is now being pushed closely by the younger Tom Slingsby who is very much the up and comer. 22 year old Slingsby has been making a big impression on the Laser fleet recently with very impressive results including second at both the Miami OCR and the recent Semaine Olympique Francaise as well as a fifth place at the Princess Sofia Trophy already so far this year. In many countries, in fact, you wouldn’t bet against him as the obvious choice for the Olympic spot. However thanks to the presence of Blackburn and his position and recent results, Slingsby’s future is far less likely.

Up until Hyeres these two sailors were even in their Olympic selection with both having beaten the other at a qualification event each. “So far we have had two events in the trials. In the first event I beat Michael by five points,” Slingsby explains. “In the second event he beat me by four points and we were a place either side of one another both times - so it is really close.” While this closeness, has its difficulties, it is also a good thing in many respects. In the past top countries in many classes are the ones to have had a good strength in depth with sailors pushing one another to achieve right up until the Olympics themselves. This approach, championed by Skandia Team GBR invariably generates a better result for the selected sailor.

Following the Semaine Olympique Francaise Blackburn has pulled ahead once more as on this occasion he beat Slingsby to the title.



Interestingly Blackburn and Slingsby are not in close competition throughout the entire wind range. Slingsby admits he enjoys the breezier conditions more than his Australian rival, but can struggle against him in the lighter weather. In part Slingsby attributes this to the gap in their respective ages: “I am a lot younger than Michael, but he has certainly got a lot of experience on me.” This difference seems likely to make what will already be an exciting tussle even more interesting particularly as the 2008 Olympic Games is set to be a particularly light venue the biggest event of this selection year will be the ISAF World Sailing Championships in Cascais, typically a breezy venue particularly in the summer months the Worlds will take place in.

The Australian Olympic selection process is not one purely based around results. Olympic representatives are selected on their merit as seen by the Australian Sailing Association. This means even if Slingsby were to beat Blackburn in the majority of events this year he would still not be guaranteed a place in Beijing 2008. ”The way our trials work is it is the best performance of the year with a preference on light wind regattas. We have both filled the performance criteria so it is just a decision to be made in October as to who goes,” Slingsby explains. This could be difficult for the young Australian as Blackburn has frequently proved himself the stronger sailor in light winds, as he demonstrated last week in Hyeres where he won the event beating Slingsby by 12 points.

Speaking to Slingsby in the boat park immediately before the start of the Semaine Olympique Francaise he was an interesting mix of modesty and confidence. Although returning as reining champion it was clear he still had some doubts as to his success. “Obviously I will probably be trying to win. I have won it the last two years, but I think I have been a little bit lucky and have perhaps sailed a little bit above myself. But I would like to win,” he admitted.

Although Slingsby and Blackburn are still in direct competition there have been some dramatic changes to the way in which the Australian Sailing Team functions which means the two sailors spend more time training together. Following the success of Skandia Team GBR over the last two Olympic cycles, the team are now beginning to follow a similar style. Recently they have begun training much more as a group, including dates set up for the entire Australian Sailing Team to attend training and fitness camps together. Recently for example the team spent a week in Hamilton Island together.



Not only has this time out on the water aided with their training but the new team approach to Olympic competition has helped with the age old issue of raising sponsorship money. Primarily this has come from a more corporate approach to sponsorship, again echoing the set-up of Skandia Team GBR. “That has improved the situation a lot and I am now able to do all the events without having to worry about money. I think this new approach has been evident in our recent results: we all seem to do a lot better when we have a bit more money,” Slingsby states

Like so many aspiring Olympic champions Slingsby’s sailing is not simply limited to Olympic dinghy regattas.He also does some keelboat racing back in Australia. “I do a lot of Farr 40 and Sydney 38 sailing at home and am trying to do a bit of yacht sailing around Sydney, trying to get a bit of a name for myself in that as well,” he explains. This is a reasonably typical situation to be in as keelboat racing tends to be where the big money lies and is also used by many to fill the current gap between Olympic cycles. Slingsby adds that keelboat sailing also allows him to increase his skill base in small boats by getting a different perspective on the sport.

Being relatively young Slingsby is still unsure of what the future holds for him and it is clear qualification for the 2008 Olympic Games is a big factor in his future. “The [Laser] Worlds in 2008 in February are at my home club and after that I am not sure what I will be doing,” he comments. “I will have to see whether I qualify for the Olympics and maybe see if I will do another campaign or another campaign in a different class. I am not sure yet, it is still along way away off at the moment so we will have to wait and see.”

Clearly if he were to attend the Olympic Games in 2008 Slingsby would be a good bet for a medal. However, simply getting to the Olympics is a daunting challenge for the young Australian. With selection not only being based on results but also on the decisions of the Australian selection committee and Blackburn’s long history of success coupled with his light wind ability the odds do seem to be stacked against him. He does stand a fair chance of selection though and the battle between the two Australian Laser sailors is certain to be one of the highlights of the build-up to this next Olympiad.