Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries named Australian Female Sailors of the Year

West Australian sailors Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries were named Female Sailors of the Year at the Australian Sailing Awards in Sydney.

Jerwood and de Vries have gone from strength to strength over the last year, with their 2019 season their best to date. The pair successfully qualified Australia a place in the Women’s 470 for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

The young pair finished inside the top 10 at both the World and European Championships including an impressive ninth at the 2019 470 World Championships in Enoshima, Japan in August.

Jerwood and de Vries backed up their World Championship result with a silver medal at the opening round of the Hempel World Cup Series, also held in Enoshima for their first medal on the world stage.

With Enoshima hosting the sailing competition at next year’s Olympic Games the pair have proven their ability to manage the strong winds that were a feature of both championships.

“We’ve been working really hard, and the year we’ve had shows that,” said de Vries. “But we are looking to keep improving and keep working towards our goals for next year.”

Photo courtesy of Gregg Porteous / Sailing Australia