Olympic Champions vs World Champions - not-so-fierce FX rivalry

The best sporting stories are built on great rivalries: Borg vs McEnroe, Prost vs Senna, Ainslie vs Scheidt. Could we be seeing the beginning of a great rivalry between two of the best 49erFX teams?

In the nine-year history of the women’s skiff, no team has truly dominated the fleet, not like a Burling and Tuke in the 49er Men’s skiff for example. However, Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze have won the only two Olympic gold medals in the class. First in a Medal Race match race against New Zealanders on their home waters of Rio de Janeiro in 2016, and then again last August with a come-from-behind victory at Tokyo 2020. When the pressure really comes on at the Games, that’s when the Brazilians rise to the occasion.

No female sailors have yet won three gold medals, so will the Brazilians be the first to achieve such a feat? The rest of the international 49erFX fleet will be doing its best to topple Grael and Kunze, and top of the list of pretenders to the FX throne is the new Dutch duo of Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz. The 24-year-old van Aanholt is the rising star of the women’s skiff, not least after winning the World Championship at the end of last year in Oman crewed by Elise de Ruyter. However, with de Ruyter injured and the Dutch Federation always keen to test different pairings in the multi-crewed classes, van Aanholt is trying out with Duetz who won the Tokyo bronze medal as well as two world titles with her now retired skipper Annemiek Bekkering.

The Dutch team pose a formidable threat to the Brazilians, although like most athletes the sailors refuse to be drawn on any notion of rivalry. In a skiff as demanding as the 49erFX, often the biggest race is against yourself. Grael is back for a third Olympic campaign because she cannot resist the personal challenge. “I just love high performance sailing and like to be able to give it what it takes to be at the top. I enjoy the Olympic scene a lot and it’s really nice to have the funding and the opportunity because I haven’t always had that in the past. So it’s nice to do a campaign the way you’re supposed to do it. I’m also very passionate about competing. I really like the competition. I think it makes me want to learn more and give the best of me, so I think that’s what makes me come back.”

As to the Dutch: “They have a good skipper and a good crew. Although they’re new to sailing with each other, each of them is really experienced and that’s what makes them such a good team.”

Like Grael, van Aanholt doesn’t like being drawn into comparisons. “To be honest, I can’t compare. I can’t say anything about it. I think every team is so unique. Some teams really like to stay together a long time, and you have the benefit of really knowing each other very well and being very in sync. And then when you’re a new team, maybe a little bit of freshness comes in, but as well, you still want to find that experience together.”

While van Aanholt has competed very successfully with four different crews in the FX over the past couple of years, she is very happy to be racing with Duetz. “I feel very lucky to sail with Annette. She’s a super-experienced crew, maybe the best FX crew in the world. What’s difficult is that we just don’t know each other yet. So sometimes some things still are a little bit unexpected. And we’re like, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’. But we’re both very keen and making it work. We’re having a lot of fun together.”

Van Aanholt is often talked about as a naturally talented sailor. When asked what she considers her greatest talent, she smiles: “Um, it’s a bit weird to say about yourself, but I would say one of my biggest talents is the ability to grow. Because I think it doesn’t matter where you start, but where you want to go and how much you’re willing to invest in that. It’s about putting your ego aside sometimes because you’re not perfect all the time.”

Van Aanholt, Duetz, Grael, Kunze. All works in progress. Continually striving to ask themselves how much better they can be, and how much faster they can make a 49erFX skiff go.