Russell Coutts (SUI) and Siren Sundby (NOR) have won the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards 2003. The pair received the awards at a ceremony in Barcelona last night in recognition of outstanding sailing achievement during the period September 2002 through to September 2003.

Record-breaking America’s Cup skipper Russell Coutts was honoured in respect of his victory as skipper of Alinghi in the 2003 America’s Cup. With the victory, Russell became the all time winning skipper in the America’s Cup Match. He won 14 races without a loss, adding the five wins of 2003 to the nine he earned with Team New Zealand in the 1995 and 2000 campaigns, surpassing Dennis Conner for total victories and Charlie Barr for most without a loss. His third consecutive America’s Cup victory ties him with Harold Vanderbilt and Charlie Barr. Alinghi also became the only syndicate to have won the America’s Cup on its first attempt.

Siren Sundby of Norway was awarded the female trophy for the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards 2003 in recognition of her successes in the Europe Class.

At just 20 years of age, Siren has reached the top of her discipline, surpassing the rest of the fleet to claim many championship titles over the past 12 months. The pinnacle being the 2003 ISAF World Championship in Cadiz, which she won with a race to spare having sat in a medal position from the outset.

The awards presentation was hosted by Paul Cayard (USA), and attended by more than four hundred guests, including international sailors and prominent personalities from the sailing world.

The other nominees for the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year awards were:

Male

Darren Bundock and John Forbes (AUS)

Russell Coutts (SUI)

Neville Crichton (NZL)

Augie Diaz (USA)

Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks (GBR)

Gal Fridman (ISR)

Torben Grael (BRA)

Gustavo Lima (POR)

Przemyslaw Miarczynski (POL)

Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau (FRA)

Gabrio Zandona and Andrea Trani (ITA)

Female

Betsy Alison, Suzy Leech and Lee Icyda (USA)

Adrienne Cahalan (AUS)

Lee Korsiz (ISR)

Malin Millbourn, Linda Yström, Åsa Aronsson and Kim Kulstad (SWE)

Siren Sundby (NOR)

Hannah Swett, Joan Touchette and Melissa Purdy (USA)