Giles Scott claims British Sailing’s Athlete of the Year prize

(October 20, 2014) – Giles Scott claimed top honours at the British Sailing Team’s annual awards, winning the Athlete of the Year prize after his unbeaten run in the Finn class this season.

The 27-year-old paid tribute to his coach Matt Howard, his Finn class training partners and the team’s support staff as he collected the award following his dominance since returning to the heavyweight dinghy just over a year ago after an America’s Cup sabbatical.

During an entirely golden season, Scott claimed his second World Championship title at the ISAF Worlds last month in Santander, and hit winning ways on the 2016 Olympic waters in Rio and at the European Championships in La Rochelle – amassing enough of a lead to win the latter two events a day early.

Victories also came at the ISAF Sailing World Cup events in Miami and Palma, and on home waters at the Sail for Gold EUROSAF series event in Weymouth and Portland, where the team’s awards evening took place on Friday (17 October), with the Huntingdon-born sailor also earning a spot on the shortlist for next month’s ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year.

Megan Pascoe was named the Paralympic Classes Athlete of the Year after a consistent season in the 2.4mR class, which saw her win the European Championships and claim podium finishes in all five of the World Cup and EUROSAF events she contested.

Scott’s coach Matt Howard picked up the British Sailing Team’s ‘Golden Funnel’ award for coaching excellence, with his name now appearing on the trophy for a third time in the nine year history of the prize, while Lorenzo Chiavarini was the runaway winner of the Podium Potential Sailor of the Year Award following his victories at the Laser u21 World and European Championships, and his 11th place at the senior World Championships in Santander.

British Sailing Team members were also invited to vote for the colleagues they felt best displayed some of the team’s core values of ‘Collaboration’, ‘Passion’, ‘Committed to Excellence’ and ‘Gold Driven’, with Head of Sports Science and Medicine Paul Mullan and Finn sailor Ben Cornish both emerging as double award winners.

The full list of award recipients is below…

British Sailing Team Athlete of the Year & Olympic Classes Sailor of the Year
(additional prize generously donated by Garmin)
Giles Scott

Paralympic Classes Sailor of the Year
(additional prize generously donated by Harken UK)
Megan Pascoe

Golden Funnel Award for Coaching Excellence
(additional prize generously donated by Healthspan Elite)
Matt Howard – Finn class

Podium Potential Sailor of the Year
(additional prize generously donated by Volvo Car UK)
Lorenzo Chiavarini

British Sailing Team Values Awards

Collaboration
Winner: Paul Mullan – Head of Sports Science and Medicine
Podium Potential winner: Tom Squires – RS:X Men

Passion
Winner: Paul Mullan – Head of Sports Science and Medicine
Podium Potential winner: Ben Cornish – Finn

Committed to Excellence
Winner: Nick Thompson – Laser
Podium Potential winner: Ben Cornish – Finn

Gold Driven
Winner: Giles Scott
Podium Potential winner: Lorenzo Chiavarini – Laser

Report by RYA. Photo of Giles at the 2014 World Championships, credit Ocean Images/British Sailing Team.