Nia Jerwood

Nia Jerwood grew up in Perth after her family emigrated to Australia from Wales when she was three years old.

Her parents, Nick and Janet, competed at a sailing regatta in Esperance in Western Australia and “fell in love with the country”, deciding to call it home.

Nia was born into a long line of sailing success – Nick is the 2018 Viper 640 world champion and world champion in the Flying Fifteen class and Janet the 2017 F15 national champion. Together, Nick and Janet also won the 2005 Flying Fifteen World Championships in New Zealand.

Nia’s brother, Matt is also an elite sailor, teaming up with Nick during their 2018 Viper 640 World Championship win.

From the time they were children, the Jerwood family would spend weekends out on their boats, but Nia grew tired of waiting around on the shore while her older siblings went out sailing.

After what seemed like a lifetime to the youngster, her parents gifted Nia her own boat, when she was five.

Nia joined Shelley Sailing Club and began her own sailing journey, and at just 11 years old won her first major title, the Australian Optimist Nationals in 2010.

The year after, she was taken on by coach, Olympic legend and gold medallist, Belinda Stowell, who Nia says is the most dedicated and determined person she knows.

Now, Nia is also coached by Ukrainian-born Olympian Ruslana Taran, a 1997 world champion and sailor of the year and Victor Kovalenko, who coached Taran to bronze at Atlanta 1996.

In 2015, as Nia was preparing for the 2016 Youth World Championships, she suffered a knee injury.

The teenager underwent a bilateral knee reconstruction during her final year at school. After surgery, she was unable to bend her legs and was in a lot of pain.

She underwent rigorous physiotherapy post-op, to regain her movement and muscle function. After spending time in a wheelchair, then crutches, she finally got back in the boat on May 1st, 2015.

The 2015 420 World Championships were in July in Japan, which was Nia's first big competition back from injury. Her crewmate Lisa Smith and Jerwood placed an impressive fourth, before going on to place second overall at the 2016 Youth World Championships.

The Western Australian Institute of Sport athlete continued to bounce back from her injury and in 2017, she claimed gold at Sail Sydney, silver at Sail Melbourne Regatta, 10th in the Sailing World Cup Series in Japan and third at the 420 National Championships.

2018 was a defining year for then 19-year-old, when she won gold at the 420 World Championships, she was also awarded a Sport Australia Hall of Fame scholarship, being mentored by Hockeyroos' great, Liane Tooth.

In 2019, Nia and her 470 partner, Monique de Vries, qualified Australia a place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, when they finished ninth overall at the 470 World Championships.

The pair then went on to win their first medal on the world stage, when they claimed silver at the opening round of the Hempel World Cup Series in Enoshima with their achievements recognised by being named Australian female sailors of the year for 2019 at the Australian Sailing Awards.

Selected for Tokyo, Nia Jerwood and Monique de Vries placed 16th in the women's two person dinghy - 470 Class with a top result of seventh in their first race.

After Tokyo, Nia teamed up with Conor Nicholas to compete in the mixed 470 category, with good results starting to come in 2023.

At the Mixed 470 European Championships in San Remo, Italy, they achieved their best result at a major international event, finishing 13th overall.

The pair got a taste of what to expect at the Paris Games when they finished second in their final race at the Olympic Test Event in Marseille in July 2023 to claim 6th overall.

Back in Australia, Nia and Conor won the mixed 470 class at the Sail Melbourne regatta by the narrowest of margins. It all came down to the final race and the Perth pair won on a countback from the Italian crew of Giacomo Ferrari and Allessandra Dubbini.

In December 2023, Nia and Conor secured a Paris Olympics quota spot at Sail Sydney, winning two races to pull 34 points clear of Oceania rivals New Zealand. Their form continued into 2024, finishing 15th at the 470 World Championships in Mallorca, Spain.