Matt Wearn has extended his extraordinary winning streak in the ILCA 7, taking victory at the San Pedro Olympic Classes Regatta held at the future sailing venue for the LA 2028 Olympic Games. The win represents Wearn’s third consecutive Sailing Grand Slam triumph since returning to competition following his historic back-to-back Olympic gold medals at Paris 2024.
After six days of racing across a wide variety of conditions, the regatta came down to the final Medal Race, with Wearn battling it out against Cyprus’ Pavlos Kontides and Great Britain’s Micky Beckett. For the Australian, the result carried significance beyond another trophy, delivering invaluable early experience on the course where Olympic medals will be decided in 2028.
“The Olympic venue, two years out, it’s a nice way to kick things off here. Nice to get one up on the competition,” said Wearn after crossing the finish line. “It feels good to be winning at the Olympic venue, and hopefully we can keep doing that for the next two years.”
Fellow Western Australians and Australian Sailing Team athletes Ethan McAullay and Zac Littlewood also delivered strong performances on the Olympic waters, with McAullay finishing 10th and Littlewood 12th.
In the ILCA 6 fleet, the youngest member of the Australian squad, Evie Saunders, led the charge as the top-placed Australian in 20th, with Olympians Zoe Thomson and Mara Stransky close behind in 22nd and 23rd respectively.
The week provided crucial insight into the range of conditions athletes can expect at the venue. “We just spent five days racing with great wind conditions,” shared the 20-year-old from NSW. “We spent a bit of time on each different course out here, whether that’s outside the breakwater, further down, or actually just inside the breakwater.”
“So different conditions, depending on where we were, we learnt different things about which way you got to go, what you have to focus on.”
The ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 competition began with two days of qualifying before the fleet was split. The top 45 boats progressed to a three-day Elimination Series, with the top 10 advancing to the Final Series, where two single-point races determined the podium.
The Australian ILCA squad now turns its attention to the World Championships in Ireland, with the ILCA 7 World Championship to be held in Dublin from 25–30 August, followed by the ILCA 6 World Championship from 7–12 September.
Meanwhile, Australia’s 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 squads remain in LA, where they will contest the next round of the Sailing Grand Slam – San Pedro Olympic Classes Regatta from 3–7 August. With athletes now competing across all Olympic classes at the LA 2028 venue, the Australian Sailing Team continues to build a growing bank of knowledge and experience that will prove invaluable as preparations for the Olympic Games gather momentum over the next two years.
Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Squad (AS Squad), Australian Sailing Futures (ASF), State Sailing Performance Program (SSPP) and other Australian (AUS) results at the San Pedro Olympic Classes Regatta:
ILCA 7 (63 entries): 1st – Matt Wearn (AST), 10th – Ethan McAullay (AST), 12th – Zac Littlewood (AST), 24th – Michael Compton (AS Squad), 25th – Isaac Shotte (AS Squad), 32nd – Lawson McAullay (AS Squad).
ILCA 6 (63 entries): 20th – Evie Saunders (ASF), 22nd – Zoe Thomson (AST), 23rd – Mara Stransky (AST), 24th – Casey Imeneo (ASF), 28th – Elyse Ainsworth (AST), 36th – Francess Beebe (AUS), 41st – Sylvie Stannage (AUS).
