Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown have claimed their first international podium in the Nacra 17 class, securing bronze at Kieler Woche, the third Sailing Grand Slam event of the season.
The pair delivered a commanding performance in the medal race, taking the win in challenging, gusty conditions on Germany’s Baltic Sea. After a week of tough racing marked by strong winds and big shifts, their final push sealed a breakthrough result.
“Well, it’s our first podium in the Nacra 17 fleet,” said Liddell. “Although it was a small fleet here this week, the top-end boats included many of the same from the Medal Race at the European Championships. So, I guess it’s another step on our track toward hopefully winning a medal in LA. First, you’ve got to get on the podium, then hopefully we can continue that.”
Despite the size of the fleet, Kiel proved to be a valuable test for the up-and-coming Australian team.
“It was super shifty here in Kiel with a lot of cloud-based action,” explained Liddell. “It’s been a head-out-of-the-boat kind of week. A lot of upwind foiling and we were able to use our speed, but we still had to go the right way and we still have a lot of work to do to catch up to the front too.”
For Brown, the medal race itself was a moment to savour. “It’s probably our first medal race that we haven’t gone backwards, which was a nice feeling!” she laughed. “We couldn’t quite creep up to second, but I’m really happy to come away with third in our first podium event.”
With this success in the bank, the duo are now shifting focus toward their biggest goal of the season.
“After this trip we’re going to head home and do some domestic training and then we come back overseas to Cagliari (Itay) to then get ready for our Worlds,” Brown said. “So we’re going to go home do a bit of tweaking and then hopefully we can get a podium there as well and we’ll be trying our hardest to get that.”
The Australian Nacra 17 squad has shown consistent progress this season, with regular appearances in medal races across the board. National Coach and Olympic silver medallist Darren Bundock noted how important moments like these are for developing depth and confidence across the team.
“These racing opportunities, even in smaller fleets are critical. Medal race practice, learning to handle pressure, and working as a squad are what lift performance,” he said.
Australia was represented in the medal races across six of the Olympic classes at Kieler Woche, with the previous fleets racing earlier this week. The next Sailing Grand Slam will be held on Olympic waters in Los Angeles, giving the team a valuable first taste of the conditions they’ll face in 2028.
Kiel Week Results can be found here: https://www.manage2sail.com/en-US/event/kiwo2025#!/results
Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Pathway Team (ASPT), Australian Sailing Futures (ASF) and other Australian results (AUS) at the Kiel Week:
Nacra 17 – 13 Entries
3rd – Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown (ASPT)
4th – Ruben Booth and Rita Booth (ASPT)
7th – Archie Gargett and Sarah Hoffman (ASPT)
8th – Jake Liddell (ASPT) and Niamh Meehan (ASF)
ILCA6 – 88 Entries
6th – Casey Imeneo (ASPT)
9th – Elyse Ainsworth (AST)
10th – Mara Stransky (AST)
12th – Zoe Thomson (AST)
15th – Sylvie Stannage (ASF)
60th – Lili McAullay (ASF)
ILCA7 – 148 Entries
9th – Michael Compton (ASF)
10th – Ethan McAullay (ASPT)
16th – Zac Littlewood (AST)
17th – Lawson McAullay (ASF)
42nd – Isaac Schotte (ASF)
102nd – Alexander Bijkerk (AUS)
116th – Hamish Gilsenan (AUS)
147th – Charles Allen Toyn (AUS)
49er – 74 Entries
8th – Otto Henry and Shaun Connor (ASPT)
49erFX – 48 Entries
9th – Laura Harding and Annie Wilmot (AST)
iQFOiL Women –21 Entries
7th – Samantha Costin (ASF)
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Australian Sailing is the governing body for the sport of Sailing in Australia. We are responsible for the administration, promotion and development of sailing. We are a member-based organisation that represent the interests and provides services and support to over 360 clubs across Australia as well as more than 160 accredited Discover Sailing Centres.
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