4 September 2009
Nick Dempsey and Bryony Shaw, the Be Number 1 windsurfers and Olympic medallists, will be chasing gold at the RS:X World Championships, which begin in Weymouth today.

A total of 163 windsurfers from 39 different countries will be competing at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy in their mission to claim gold. The Championships will also, of course, represent a gilt-edged opportunity for participants to gain what they hope will be crucial experience at the venue that will host the Olympic regatta three years hence.

“Apart from the Olympic Games, this is the most important event of my life,” said 2004 Olympic bronze medallist Dempsey, who is intent on performing well in his home waters.

“To win an Olympic medal is great and to win an Olympic gold would be amazing. But to win a World Championship, and on my home waters at the site of the next Olympic Games, would be almost as amazing.

“Everything since Beijing has been geared towards this. Since the disappointment of finishing fourth in China, I have been looking at this event and trying to do everything I can to win here.

“I know I’m sailing really, really well. I know I’ve trained really hard – including doing the Be Number 1 LEJOG cycling project from Land’s End to John O’Groats in early summer - and I’ve done everything right. Sometimes you just need a little bit of luck. So we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes.”

Among Dempsey’s rivals for the world title in the 105-boat men’s fleet include Julien Bontemps, the French Olympic silver medallist who sponsored Dempsey in his cycling escapade, and Israel’s bronze medallist Shahar Zubari.

In the 58-strong women’s fleet, the Spanish duo of Marina Alabau and Blanca Manchon could well prove to be the major threats to Shaw, who became the first British woman to win an Olympic windsurfing medal when she claimed bronze in Beijing last year.