Paris 2024 Olympics: Olivia Price, Evie Haseldine’s chasing medals in 49erFX in Marseilles

Comeback sailor Olivia Price incredibly won a medal at her first Olympics back in 2012 but it is a crazy moment earlier in the regatta people still remember.

Olivia Price, left, and Evie Haseldine, right, are on the Australian team heading to the Paris Olympics. Picture: Sailing Energy/Semaine Olympique Française

She is Australia’s youngest ever Olympic sailing medallist and preparing to launch a new medal bid after a 12 year absence from the Games fray with a new crew mate and in a completely different boat.

Groundbreaking Sydney skipper Olivia Price is also on a mission to rewrite history - and win the first gold medal by a female sailor since Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson in the 470 dinghy class back at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Separated by 11 years, Price and 49erFX crewmate Evie Haseldine are part of a 12-strong Australian sailing team racing off Marseilles in the south of France where ILCA 7 sailor Matt Wearn is a hot prospect for gold.

And while Wearn is best remembered for winning his gold medal with a day in hand at the Tokyo Games, Price knows many outside the sport remember her “as that girl who fell out of the boat” at the 2012 London Olympics.

Australian girls Nina Curtis, Lucinda Whitty and Olivia Price with their silver medals at the London Games.

“They still talk about it. I still get asked about it,’’ Price, 31, said of an incident in freezing waters off Weymouth which had no bearing on the match-racing crews result - a silver medal - but was beamed around the world.

“We were pushing a limit trying to overtake, trying to get the over lap (bow just ahead of a rivals stern) and I got sucked out. I grabbed something and it broke immediately.

“I remember being freezing cold. I swore and said I was sorry but the girls (Nina Curtis and Lucinda Whitty) said let’s just get back into it. That was that.”

Now 12 years on Price has teamed with Haseldine, 20, and will enter the Olympic arena as medal contenders in the women’s skiff class in which Australia has yet to medal.

The pair racing at the famous Hyeres regatta last year. Picture: Sailing Energy

Price has known Haseldine her entire life with their fathers, David Price and David Haseldine, racing together for years at Drummoyne Sailing Club in Sydney’s inner west.

Haseldine, likely to be Australia’s youngest sailor in Marseilles, was inspired to purse elite sailing after seeing Price’s silver medal at a meet and greet with junior sailors post the 2012 Olympics.

The pair reconnected on the water during Covid when allowed when Price decided to come out of Olympic campaigning retirement after missing the 2016 Rio Games and opting to finish her studies and concentrate on career in media and marketing prior to the Tokyo Games.

Olivia Price is also part of Australia’s campaign for the women’s America’s Cup in Barcelona later this year with her old crewmate Nina Curtis..

“We have a special relationship. I’ve literally known her for all her life. There’s 11 years between us and the first time we stepped into a boat together was when there were 1000 days ago (to Paris),’’ Price said.

“I remember the feeling, it was ‘wow, this feels special’.”

The crews best result to date is a bronze medal at last year’s world titles with Price then undergoing knee surgery.

Price, who is adamant she and Haseldine are among the medal contenders in Marseilles, said she was overwhelmed when told they had secured the Paris Olympic spot.

“Tears started welling up in my eyes,’’ she said.

“It’s nerve-racking. When you get the phone call there is just this big sigh. It’s been a long road and an anxious wait because the squad results were so good.’’

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Originally published as Paris 2024 Olympics: Olivia Price, Evie Haseldine’s chasing medals in 49erFX in Marseilles