Tom Slingsby in Australian Sailing Hall of Fame with Iain Murray, Elise Rechichi, Tessa Parkinson

He’s not far off 40 but yet to reach his prime as an athlete. Now this former tennis player who trains in a boxing ring and loves UFC has just been declared a legend of his sport.

Tom Slingsby after winning his gold in the Laser at the 2012 London Olympics. Picture: Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Tom Slingsby is one of Australia’s most successful cross class athletes, winning world titles in numerous arenas, in different crafts, in different decades and with different teams.

Now he’s secured another major honour.

Just two years shy of 40 but still to reach his prime, former tennis player Slingsby, who trains in a boxing ring and loves UFC, has just been declared a legend of his sport with his induction into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame.

Like famous football cross coders of the ilk of Sonny Bill Williams, Ray Price, Dally Messenger, Mat Rogers and Israel Folau, Slingsby has excelled as an athlete at the highest level in completely different arenas.

In his case this cross-class mastery has seen him leap from the single-handed, one-design Laser in which he won multiple world championships and an Olympic medal, to a foiling Moth, three-man Etchell and now a super-fast foiling catamaran he races with four other crew in the SailGP world series with ease and enormous success.

That’s gold! Tom Slingsby with his London Olympic gold medal.

Add in line honours wins in the Sydney to Hobart and Middle Sea race in Europe on 100 foot supermaxis and a couple of wins at the America’s Cup on yet another completely different craft and you get the drift that Slingsby has done more than enough, at age 38, to be inducted into Australian Sailing’s Hall of Fame with potentially hundreds of regattas still to sail.

Tom Slingsby is congratulated by his sisters Alana and Jess after winning the World Laser Championship at Terrigal in 2008.

When the now Barcelona based Slingsby won his first world title within cooee of his family home on the NSW Central Coast and his local Gosford Sailing Club, there were only his peers, some mates and family to cheer him on.

Now when he wins his victories are witnessed by millions watching coverage of the SailGP series, Sydney to Hobart race and America’s Cup.

Tom Slingsby after winning his third Laser title.

Slingsby is skipper of the Australia SailGP team.

The first Australian to be awarded a World Sailor of the Year honour, he has now has two to his name and is up for a third as a nominee in the individual and team category of the 2023 awards thanks to his feat with the Australian SailGP team.

“The thing that made me want to sail was sitting on the rocks at the Olympics,’’ Slingsby said.

“I used to sit on Bradley’s Head for five or six hours and just watch the sailors come right in, tacking close to the rocks and I remember that was the sign that was what I really wanted to do.’’

On Friday night Slingsby will be formally inducted into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame with Beijing Olympic 470 gold medallists Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson from Perth and famous skiff, Sydney to Hobart and America’s Cup sailor and race director Iain Murray from Sydney’s northern beaches.

Originally published as Tom Slingsby in Australian Sailing Hall of Fame with Iain Murray, Elise Rechichi, Tessa Parkinson