Matt Wearn

In his mid-teens, Olympic sailing gold medallist Matt Wearn faced a predicament. Drafted into the West Perth AFL Development Squad, he was on the classic pathway to playing top level Aussie Rules.

The youngest of three children, Matt was raised in a Perth sailing family, a sport he was introduced to at age four, but as his talent in both sports grew, it became apparent that playing both top-tier AFL and pursuing an elite sailing career wasn’t possible.

The naturally gifted sportsman had a choice to make.

“Having to choose between a promising career in two sports is a blessing but it’s also challenging, especially when you’re in your mid-teens, which is about the age these sorts of dilemmas tend to come up,” said Matt.

But now, a world champion and gold medallist at the Tokyo Olympics, Matt is confident he made the right choice, calling it “a decision I’ve never regretted”.

Although he maintains a passion for several sports. “I enjoy kicking the footy with mates, mountain and road cycling (and) watching and being around motorsport,” he said.

Matt’s sailing journey started as a toddler, when he would spend time with his family at the Royal Perth Yacht Club. Wanting to follow in the footsteps of his older sister Kate, Matt asked his parents if he could do a sailing course.

A few years later, the young sailor started out in the Optimist class boat, sailed for a while in the 420 boat and then found his niche in the Laser class.

In 2010 Matt competed at his first major competition, the Laser Radial Youth World Championships, placing 14th and in less than two years he was on the podium at the senior Laser Radial World Championships in Brisbane and considered his performance first year out of school as his career turning point.

“It was when I cracked the top-10 at the Worlds in Oman in 2013 that I realized that I might be able to compete for the World Championship crown,” Matt said.

As he progressed from junior to senior, Matt graduated to the Olympic class Laser Standard sailboat and his growing skill didn’t go unnoticed. Matt began working with a leading Australian sailing coach and Sydney 2000 bronze medallist, Michael Blackburn, who would also guide Tom Burton to gold at Rio 2016.

But it was not plain sailing for Matt, who missed national team selection in 2014.

“That mentally set me back a lot,” he said of missing out.

“I had to regroup and come with a new approach, but it helped my sailing in the long run.”

Back in the national team, Matt was making progress and claimed his first Laser class world championship medal in 2017, winning bronze behind Australia’s Olympic champion Tom Burton.

The following year he upped the ante, winning silver and was later named the Sailing Australia Male Sailor of The Year.

Matt has enjoyed a momentous 2019 collecting the Laser European Championship title and silver at the world championships.

Ahead of the selections for Tokyo, Australia had strong prospects to select from, including defending Olympic champion Tom Burton and Matt, who had been on the podium at all four of the world championships since. They would name Matt for his Olympic debut in Tokyo.

Entering the medal race, Matt led comfortably over Norway’s Hermann Tomasgaard, with Croatian Tonči Stipanović in third. Although he finished second in the final race, it was enough for Matt to claim the gold medal.

It was the third consecutive win by an Australian following Tom Slingsby in 2012 and Burton in 2016. It matched a similar achievement by Great Britain, who took the 2000, 2004 and 2008 titles.

Matt was forced to miss much of the 2022 season because of a bad case of long Covid, which had him questioning whether he would be able to continue his Paris campaign.

But he recovered to lock in Australia’s quota place for the Ganes with victory at the 2023 World Sailing Championships at The Hague in the Netherlands, his first world title after three silver medals. The Australian had an unassailable lead going into the men’s ILCA7 medal race, leaving New Zealand’s George Gautrey and Britain’s Michael Beckett to duel for silver.

The victory made Matt the fifth-best performing sailor in ILCA men’s world championship history.

He confirmed his dominance by claiming a second consecutive title at the 2024 ILCA7 World Championships in Adelaide.

Matt took an eight-point lead into the medal race, where he found a clean lane off the start that catapulted him to a lead he held at every mark. The win makes him the first Australian to win back-to-back world titles since Tom Slingsby in 2012.

“To win a worlds is pretty incredible, and to go back-to-back just makes it that much more special. To do it in Australia with family and friends around is awesome,” Matt said.

“It’s obviously a really good step towards Paris. The progression I have been making with (coach) Rafa (Trujillo) has been good, and we’re happy with the way I’m sailing at the moment.”