Alison Young (sailor)
 during the Olympic Parade in 2012 in Weymouth & Portland | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Born | 29 April 1987 Worcestershire, England, UK |
Alison Young (born 29 May 1987 in Wolverhampton, England)[1][2] is a British sailor.[3] She was the first British woman to be world champion in a solo Olympic dinghy class.
Life[edit]
Young was born in Wolverhampton in 1987. She started sailing on a lake in the River Severn valley when she was nine at the Trimpley Sailing Club. She would be in the crew of a GP14 dinghy before she changed to an Optimist dinghy. Her parents gave her a lot of support and they would ferry her to different clubs in the midlands so she could sail every weekend. She was named as part of the national squad in her Optimist. When she was fourteen she moved on a Toppers boat for two years until she found her home on a Laser Radial.[4]
She competed in the Laser Radial class event at the 2012 Summer Olympics where she placed 5th.[5]
At the 2016 Laser World Championships, she won gold in the laser radial class[6] and in doing so became the first British woman to become world champion in a solo Olympic dinghy class.[7] Her best World Championship performance before this was 4th in 2012.[6]
Young was one of the favourites going into the Rio 2016 Olympics, finishing 8th overall. After the event Young revealed that she had suffered a broken ankle eight weeks prior to the Olympics but she refused to use this as an excuse for not finishing higher.[8]
She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the Women's Laser Radial class[9][10] and she finished tenth. This was where she decided to retire which she announced in 2021. She said she saw the British windsurfer Emma Wilson win her bronze medal in Tokyo and she decided she should retire as it was no longer something that was a strong ambition.[1]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Youll, Russell (14 December 2021). "Triple Olympian Alison Young announces retirement from sailing". www.expressandstar.com. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ "Alison Young profile". BBC Sport. 19 June 2012. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
- ^ "Alison Young". London 2012. Archived from the original on 26 August 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
- ^ Peake, Rob (8 April 2021). "Alison Young: Laser Radial veteran going to her third Games". Yachts and Yachting. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ "Women's Laser Radial: Event Standings". London 2012. Archived from the original on 6 April 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
- ^ a b "Laser World Championships: Alison Young wins Radial gold in Rio 2016 boost". BBC Sport. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
- ^ "Alison Young secures historic sailing gold medal at world championships". the Guardian. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
- ^ "Broken ankle no excuse, says Young after finishing eighth in Olympic sailing". Worcester News. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
- ^ "Worcestershire ace among first to get GB Tokyo 2020 Olympics call". Worcester News. 2 October 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
- ^ "Sailing YOUNG Alison - Tokyo 2020 Olympics". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
