Sailors go from tears to cheers and on to Tokyo

THEY went from tears to cheers in two days to win a silver medal but cousins Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin have already started plotting their course to gold medal glory in Tokyo.

Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin celebrate winning the silver medal in the Nacra 17 mixed class.

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THEY went from tears to cheers in two days to win a silver medal but cousins Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin have already started plotting their course to gold medal glory in Tokyo.

Darmanin said the pair privately agreed three months ago to “go again’’ regardless of the result in Rio

The Sydney sailor also said she had come perilously close emotionally to not being able to pick herself back up from a glitch on the second last day of racing which saw them plummets from first to fourth and almost cost them a medal of any colour.

“I was a mess,’’ admitted Darmanin, who with skipper Waterhouse finished with silver behind the oldest sailor to win in Rio, 54-year-old cancer survivor Santiago Lange who lost a lung to the disease last year, and his Argentine crew of Cecilia Carranza Saroli.

“I was really devastated. I felt like everything had been taken away from me.

“I knew I had to pick myself back emotionally and get the fight back on. But it was hard.

“I guess that’s why we’re so proud of what we have done here.’’

Australia’s Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin pose for a portrait in front of Sugarloaf Mountain after winning the silver medal in the Nacra 17 mixed class. Picture: Brett Costello

The close-knit crew have been sailing together since they were eight, winning a world youth catamaran title together before eyeing the Rio Olympics in the Olympics newest mixed class.

But to earn their position they had to beat a former mentor in two-time Olympic silver medallist Darren Bundock and London match-racing silver medallist Nina Curtis.

“The whole thing is just insane,’’ said Darmanin, only the eighth Australian woman to win an Olympic sailing medal for Australia and the first to do it in a mixed crew.

“It feels surreal, so very cool.

“We’ve already agreed we want to go again and the silver makes Tokyo even more important for us.’’

Waterhouse hailed from Pittwater’s Royal Prince Alfred yacht club, a well-known breeding ground for top level sailors, including Beijing 470 gold medallist Nathan Wilmot and two-time America’s Cup winning skipper James Spithill.

Darmanin sails regularly from the Manly skiff club on Sydney Harbour with the pair coached in Rio by former Olympic Tornado silver medallist Andrew Landenberger.