Sailing: Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot win world 29er youth title

SYDNEY teenagers Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot could well end up being Australia’s last sports world champions of 2016.

Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot have won the world 29er youth title in New Zealand.

IF you are going to wait two-and-a-half years for your first really big win then there’s really no better place to record it than at a world championship.

Sydney teenagers Natasha Bryant and Annie Wilmot could well end up being Australia’s last sports world champions of 2016, along with compatriot Finn Alexander.

Skipper Bryant and crewmate Wilmot have won the world 29er youth title in New Zealand, while Alexander claimed the Laser Radial crown.

The success of the youth trio is an encouraging sign for Australia’s bid to keep its mantle as top Olympic sailing national at future Games.

“We are still pretty shocked actually,” said Wilmot of the 29er world crown she and Bryant secured with a race in hand.

It was the first win for Bryant and Wilmot together.

“We haven’t ever had a regatta win in the two-and-a-half years we have been sailing together.”

While this might be her first taste of international success, Wilmot comes from impressive sailing stock.

The Northern Beaches teenager’s father Bobby is a multiple world sailboarding champion and Sydney to Hobart winner, her uncle Jamie is a former Olympian and well know big boat racer, while aunt Amanda won a world cherub crown and contested 10 Sydney to Hobart races.

Another uncle, Hugh Treharne, was tactician aboard the America’s Cup winner Australia II and cousin Nathan won gold in the 470 class at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 with crewmate Mal Page, along with multiple world titles.