Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) sailors have collected three gold, a silver and a bronze in round six of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Sailing World Cup held 5–11 June in Weymouth, England.

Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen won gold in the 49er class, while AIS team-mate Tom Slingsby claimed gold in the Laser class on the final day of racing.

The crews continued their dominance winning their third consecutive gold medal in Weymouth, the official venue for the London Games.

Outteridge and Jensen headed into the final race in what has become a familiar position for them, with a handy 16 point lead over the second placed French team.

‘It’s great to win three in a row here, we love sailing here as it suits us really well,’ Outteridge said. ’We’re working out the conditions every time we come here so we’re in a good position heading into the Olympics next year and hopefully we can keep on coming back here and continue the way we’re going.’

Tom Slingsby’s win in the Laser class was not only his third straight in Weymouth but back-to-back World Cup wins, following taking gold two weeks ago in Holland, taking his run to nine straight World Cup medal placings on the podium.

The triple World Champion had plenty to do to win gold with New Zealand’s Andrew Murdoch and Great Britain’s Paul Goodison hot on his heels, just eight and nine points behind him respectively.
Slingsby sailed a great medal race on Weymouth harbour, crossing the line second to take the gold medal by 16 points.

‘I’m feeling really confident now, this is a new boat and I felt a bit uncomfortable at the start of the week but I’m just trying to adapt to different types of boats and I’m feeling great,’ said Slingsby.

‘Three wins from three starts here is pretty good and I’m looking forward to coming back for the Olympic Test Event in a few weeks.’

AIS Paralympic athletes Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch cruised to victory in the Skud 18 class on 10 June.

Fitzgibbon, who won silver at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, and Tesch, a three-time Paralympic Games medalist in wheelchair basketball, only teamed up at the start of this year and dominated the regatta in Weymouth from start to finish, winning by four points.

‘We had a really consistent regatta and were always up there and competitive in every race,’ said Fitzgibbon.

‘We’ve got our World Championships here in a couple of weeks and this win is a confidence booster before that where we’re going to have a fight on our hands against the other two Australian crews, we’re all very competitive out there.’

Reigning 470 World Champions Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page went into Saturday’s medal race second overall, five points behind the leading French team.

The pair had a tough medal race, crossing the line tenth, but had done enough earlier in the week to secure their silver medal.

In other strong results for AIS Paralympic sailors, Jamie Dunross and Rachael Cox won bronze in the Skud 18 class.