Draft:Matilda Nicholls

Matilda Nicholls is a sailor on the British Sailing Team. She competes in the Women's Olympic Dinghy, the ILCA 6 (formerly Laser Radial).

Early Years Born in Suffolk UK in 2001. First went sailing at Aldeburgh Yacht Club on the River Alde. Moved from Suffolk to Bermuda in January 2005. Started helming her own boat aged 6, an Optimist. She began racing Optimists at Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. Matilda enjoyed many successes racing the Optimist in Bermuda, Miami, Nova Scotia, Lake Garda, Dublin, North Wales, Weymouth and Aldeburgh. Matilda returned to the UK in 2014, which was to be her last summer in the Optimist.

Laser 4.7 / ILCA 4 Junior Sailing Matilda started sailing the ILCA 4 in 2015 aged 13. She regularly trained with Royal Lymington Yacht Club, the Andrew Simpson Sailing Academy, the UKLA and the RYA British Youth Sailing. She attended her first World Championship that summer where she was the youngest competitor to finish in the Gold Fleet. In 2016, aged 14 Matilda won her first European Championship Medal winning the Under 16 Championship in France, the same year she podiumed in the U16 category at the World Championships. The British Youth Sailing Coach Martin Boatman won Coach of the Year award after such a successful summer. Matilda then transitioned onto the larger ILCA 6.

Laser Radial / ILCA 6 Youth Sailing In the Autumn of 2016, after just a few months in the new boat, Matilda entered her first senior UKLA Qualifier and finished 2nd behind Olympian and World Champion Ali Young. In the summer of 2017 Matilda won her first World Title as the Under 17 Laser Radial World Champion aged 15. The following year, she won Silver at the Laser Radial Youth World Championships in Kiel, Germany, before going one better in 2019 to be crowned Laser Radial Youth World Champion at Kingston, Ontario.

ILCA 6 Senior Sailing After so many successes at Youth level, Matilda was invited to join the British Sailing Team once finishing school. Unfortunately the Covid Pandemic interrupted her plans to take a year off academics to focus on sailing, the same time she was encouraged to target Paris 2024 as a short-term goal, even though Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 were more realistic targets. With Tokyo 2020 being delayed one year, it meant the normal 4-year cycle was unusually short and the lead-up to Paris 2024 coincided with her Degree Studies at Exeter University. Matilda overcame these challenges and enjoyed some successes at the senior Olympic level, including finishing 4th at the 2023 European Championships. She competed well in the 2023 GB Olympic Trials, the results so close they extended the selection process into January 2024. She narrowly lost out on Olympic selection to Laser Radial veteran Hannah Snellgrove, her former coach at Royal Lymington YC. Matilda continued to compete at all the 2024 events in the lead up to the Paris Olympics, where she began to show she can consistently hit the top 10 of the fleet: 3rd Princess Sofia Regatta, 9th French Olympic Week, 8th Kiel Week. After being overlooked for Paris 2024, Matilda went on to win the UK National Championships.

Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Campaign After taking a month off in September, Matilda began planning for her LA28 Campaign. This started by winning the ILCA UK Autumn World Championship Qualifier at WPNSA, confirming her qualification for the 2025 ILCA 6 World Championships in China.

Other interests. When not sailing, Matilda enjoys cycling and going to the gym. She obtained a First Class Honours Degree in Psychology from Exeter University. She was awarded the Gold Medal Duke of Edinburgh Award.

References

www.matildanicholls.co.uk www.laserinternational.org www.eurilca.org www.ilca.uk www.sailing.org/sailor/matilda-nicholls www.yachtsandyachting.com www.yachtsandyachting.co.uk/articles/news-and-events/britains-matilda-nicholls-crowned-laser-radial-youth-world-champion/