Sailing cousins Jason Waterhouse, Lisa Darmanin race ahead in battle for Olympic spot
It’s one of the most interesting battles ahead of the Tokyo Olympics between a set of northern beaches cousins and a brother and sister who honed their skills on Lake Macquarie.
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Sailing cousins have beaten sailing siblings to put themselves on course for a second Olympic medal in Tokyo next year.
Northern beaches pair Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin had the chance to win the world crown but a disappointing last place in the double points medal race saw them leave the water with a bronze medal in the foiling Nacra 17 world championships in New Zealand.
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The result has left Lake Macquarie brother and sister Nathan and Haylee Outteridge in their wake in the battle for the sole Australian position in the class in Japan next year, with the pair finishing 13th.
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But with selection discretionary, the Outteridge siblings still have a shot at being Australia’s first brother and sister team to sail together at an Olympics with another world championship regatta at Geelong in the new year.
Waterhouse, who races on the Australian team in the Sail GP series, and Darmanin won silver at their first Olympics together in Rio.
Nathan Outteridge is a former multiple world champions and London Olympic champion in the 49er skiff class.
“We went into the medal race with an opportunity to win which was what we set as our goal at the beginning of this week,’’ Waterhouse said.
“We had nothing to lose – couldn’t lose the bronze - so we thought we’d go high risk and unfortunately it didn’t pay off.
“It wasn’t the result we wanted but in another way it’s exactly the result we needed this week so we’re very happy with a bronze medal and looking forward to Geelong.”
The 2020 Nacra 17 world championships will be raced from Royal Geelong Yacht Club in February.
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