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The 8th World University Championship Sailing saw the world’s best student-athlete sailors representing nine nations converge on Perth’s iconic Swan River to compete for the title of World University Champion.

Held from 25-30 September in Perth and for the first time in Australia, the 2016 World University Championship Sailing saw student-athletes from Australia, China, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Japan, Italy, France, the United Kingdom and Switzerland go bow to bow on Perth’s iconic Swan River.

Australian University Sport CEO Don Knapp said student experience can be greatly enhanced through participation in sporting activities while studying.

“Events such as the World University Championship Sailing provide student-athletes with the opportunity to pursue a dual career education and sport pathway, in turn contributing to better retention and completion rates for today’s student-athletes enrolled in tertiary education,” Mr Knapp said.

Vice-Chancellor of The University of Western Australia, Professor Paul Johnson said the University and wider community were looking forward to welcoming student-athletes to the University’s doorstep on the Swan River.

“The World University Championship Sailing provides student-athletes with an incredible opportunity to compete against some of the highest calibre athletes from around the world, connect with like-minded students and represent their country” said Professor Johnson.

“This year’s event marked the Championship’s debut in Australia and we are proud to welcome sailors and their teams to our beautiful campus and residential colleges which are only a stone’s throw away from Perth’s much-loved Swan River. On behalf of UWA, I wish every sailor a fair wind and following sea.”

Hosted previously in Italy, France, Greece, Poland, Spain and Turkey, the World University Championship Sailing is the most prestigious student sailing event in the world.

The Championship structure consisted of open crews racing in teams of five on Foundation 36 yachts and women’s teams of four or five to sail eight-metre Bakewell-Whites around the Matilda Bay course.

At the end of five long days of sailing, Australia has taken out both the Open and Women’s categories at the 2016 International University Sports Federation (FISU) World University Sailing Championship.

An all Australian final saw Will Dargaville’s crew claim gold over Will Boulden’s team.

“We had little experience on these boats and our crew haven’t all sailed together so we used the round robin stages to focus on improving.

I was confident that we could peak for the finals and stepped it up to claim victory even though our race with Boulden’s crew in the round robin was a tight one,” said Dargaville of his gold medal win.

With Boulden taking silver, it is the second time in a FISU World University Sailing Championship that Australia has taken first and second place, having accomplished this achievement back in 2012.

Media references

Originally Published on the Australian University Sport Website.

Mia Herriman

UWA Marketing Communications and Events Officer

6488 4309

[email protected]