Matt Wearn: Meet the Australian superstar primed for defence of his Olympic crown

The 28-year-old Australian claimed Olympic gold in the Laser class at Tokyo 2020 and has since continued to add to his trophy cabinet in the build-up to Paris, winning ILCA 7 gold at the 2023 World Championships and retaining his crown the following year.

Wearn is undoubtedly the favourite to take home gold at the Marseille Marina this summer – here is how he reached the peak of his powers.

 

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Charting a course

Wearn’s path to Paris 2024 is just the latest stop on a journey charted since a childhood spent with his family at the Royal Perth Yacht Club.

His sailing career began in the Optimist and 420 classes but it would be in the ILCA 7 that the Perth native would find his calling.

The 2010 Laser Radial Youth World Championships saw Wearn place 14th at his first major competition, but in less than two years he was on the podium at the senior World Laser Radial Championships in Brisbane.

But it was his performance at the 2013 Laser Standard Men’s World Championship in Oman which proved a turning point.

He told the Australian Olympic Committee: ‘‘It was when I cracked the top-10 at the Worlds in Oman in 2013 that I realised that I might be able to compete for the World Championship crown.”

As he made his way through the ranks and graduated to the Olympic class Laser Standard sailboat, it wasn’t long before Wearn’s talents were noticed, with renowned sailing coach and Sydney 2000 bronze medallist Michael Blackburn taking Wearn under his wing.

But despite a growing reputation on the water, Wearn suffered his first major setback, missing out on national team selection in 2014.

“That mentally set me back a lot,” he said. “I had to regroup and come with a new approach, but it helped my sailing in the long run.”

Making waves

Wearn bounced back strongly from his 2014 disappointment and soon found himself back in the national team fold.

In 2016, however, the Australian faced a second setback after missing out on representing his homeland in Rio that summer, with eventual gold medallist Tom Burton selected instead.

But these challenges only served to further motivate Wearn and in 2017, he won his first senior World Championship medal, taking home bronze behind Burton and gold medallist Pavlos Kontides in Split.

In 2018, he went one better, winning silver and being named the Sailing Australia Male Sailor of The Year and momentum began to gather.

In 2019, Wearn won the European Championship title and claimed another silver at the World Championships, cementing his reputation as one to watch ahead of the Tokyo Games.

And when it came to selection for Tokyo, the roles would be reversed this time, with Wearn getting the nod ahead of Burton and winning a superb gold after making his belated Olympic debut at those pushed back Games.

“For at least 15 years this is all I’ve wanted to do,” he said. “You come to an Olympic Games to primarily take home a gold medal, so I’m psyched that my dream has come true.”

 

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The world was now at Wearn’s feet after Tokyo but the Australian could not have imagined that choppier waters were on the horizon.

Troubled waters

Fresh from his Tokyo triumph, Wearn looked set to continue his ascendancy in ILCA 7.

A first World Championship title at the 2022 edition in Mexico beckoned but Wearn’s tournament hopes were dashed by illness.

A bout of gastro preceded a non-Covid virus contracted while travelling to Europe in the early months of 2022, before Covid and an inner-ear infection necessitated a withdrawal from the Mexican marina – and a long Covid diagnosis followed those ailments.

He told The Guardian: ‘‘As an athlete, if you had an injury or something, you’re given a timeframe of how long things might take to progress and get back out training.

‘‘Whereas this was just… no one could give me any answers. So I was starting to doubt whether I’d ever get back to where I was before.

‘‘You read all this stuff, and you see all this stuff about people with long Covid, sort of never being the same. And I guess I just started to wonder whether that was a possibility for me as well.”

Accustomed to the rigour of training and competition since his world championship debut in 2011, Wearn was now forced to withdraw from the waters in what was initially a difficult adjustment.

But after consulting with a physiologist, the Australian embraced the opportunity for rest and relaxation, eventually recovering in time to win the test event for the Paris Olympics in July 2023.

After the storm

Victory at the 2023 World Sailing Championships in the Netherlands locked in Australia’s quote place for Paris 2024.

Australia’s Matt Wearn, Men’s Dinghy World Champion 🥇#GetReadyForTheBest | #AllianzSWC23TheHague pic.twitter.com/RYxMRE6Lq8

— World Sailing 🌎⛵️ (@worldsailing) August 20, 2023

Another world title would follow a year later in Adelaide, making Wearn the first Australian to win back-to-back world titles since Tom Slingsby in 2012.

And since emerging triumphant on home water, Wearn has turned his attention to the defence of his Olympic gold.

He said to the Australian Olympic Committee: ‘‘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.

‘‘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.”