Paris 2024 Olympic sailors Jim Colley, Shaun Connor hoping to surprise in 49er skiff

Few outside their sport know them but that could be about to change for these sailing mates who reckon they are in with a shot of a Paris Olympic medal in a very special skiff.

Our new Australian team members have shown a big improvement in the 49er skiff class in recent times.

They aren’t well known outside their sport and are unlikely to feature on any list of hot contenders ahead of the Paris Olympics but Australia’s newest team members believe they have the ability to pull off a major sting at the 2024 Games.

And if long term relationships and great mateship counts for anything, then Sydney northern beaches pair Jim Colley and Shaun Connor might just pull it off.

Colley, 26, who started sailing in a little wooden boat built by his father at age 5, has been racing against and with Connor, 25, since they were 11 and 10 respectively in everything from Manly Juniors and Optimists to 29er skiffs and now the 49er skiff they will race at Marseille.

The skiff is the only Australian designed craft raced at the Olympic level with former top 18-footer skipper Julian Bethwaite behind the skiff which debuted at the Sydney Olympics and delivered Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jenson gold at the London Games and silver four years later in Rio.

And in recent times the pair, named with the 49erFX crew of Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine to the Australian team on Friday, have given glimpses of the speed, skills and consistency needed to be mixing it with the best in Marseilles where the sailing program will be hosted.

Jim Colley and Shaun Connor competing in a European regatta.

A year ago the pair won silver in the famous Hyeres Olympic class regatta - the first time the pair have medalled at a major event.

A year earlier they finished in fifth place at the European championships in an other sign they could well pull out a surprise result at the Paris Games.

And this year the pair finished 11th at the world 49er skiff championships, a personal best performance for the Sydney duo in Lanzarote, Spain.

“We are solely here to win a medal and we have full belief in out ability to do that,’’ Colley said.

“We are not top dogs. We are underdogs, But it’s easier to be underdogs and that’s something we have in our favour.’’

The sailors are from Sydney’s northern beaches and have known each other since their were 10 and 11.

Colley, who lives at Newport, and Connor, from Fairlight, have been racing 49ers together since 2018, were chasing a spot at the Tokyo Olympics, but would beaten to the punch by brothers Sam and Will Phillips who finished 12th.

The pair have been racing 49e and believe one of their strengths is their refusal ever to give up along with hard work.

“There has been a huge amount of adversity but that’s where the people who are willing to look at themselves at the mirror and make the decision to improve are ultimately those that pop out at the top and I am proud that we have done that,’’ Colley said.

Price in the 49erFX and Matt Wearn in the Ilca 7 are the only sailors named to date who have raced at a previous Olympics.

Wearn won Laser gold at the Tokyo Games and Price a silver at the London Olympics in the women’s match-racing which has since been dropped form the program.

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Originally published as Paris 2024 Olympic sailors Jim Colley, Shaun Connor hoping to surprise in 49er skiff