World Sailor of the Year Awards

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The World Sailor of the Year Awards were launched in 1994 by World Sailing (formerly the International Sailing Federation) to reward individual sailors for outstanding achievements in the sport. The awards have been sponsored by Rolex since 2001.

List of winners

YearMale winner(s)Female winner(s)
1994 Flag of New Zealand.svg Peter Blake
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Robin Knox-Johnston
Flag of Spain.svg Theresa Zabell
1995 Flag of New Zealand.svg Russell Coutts Flag of France.svg Isabelle Autissier
1996 Flag of Germany.svg Jochen Schümann Flag of Hong Kong.svg Lee Lai Shan
1997 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Pete Goss Flag of Ukraine.svg Ruslana Taran
Flag of Ukraine.svg Elena Pakholchik
1998 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ben Ainslie Flag of the Netherlands.svg Carolijn Brouwer
1999 Flag of Poland.svg Mateusz Kusznierewicz Flag of the Netherlands.svg Margriet Matthijsse
2000 Flag of the United States.svg Mark Reynolds
Flag of the United States.svg Magnus Liljedahl
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Shirley Robertson
2001 Flag of Brazil.svg Robert Scheidt Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ellen MacArthur
2002 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ben Ainslie Flag of Greece.svg Sofia Bekatorou
Flag of Greece.svg Emilia Tsoulfa
2003 Flag of New Zealand.svg Russell Coutts Flag of Norway.svg Siren Sundby
2004 Flag of Brazil.svg Robert Scheidt Flag of Greece.svg Sofia Bekatorou
Flag of Greece.svg Emilia Tsoulfa
2005 Flag of Spain.svg Fernando Echavarri
Flag of Spain.svg Anton Paz
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ellen MacArthur
2006 Flag of New Zealand.svg Mike Sanderson Flag of the United States.svg Paige Railey
2007 Flag of the United States.svg Ed Baird Flag of France.svg Claire Leroy
2008 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ben Ainslie Flag of Italy.svg Alessandra Sensini
2009 Flag of Brazil.svg Torben Grael Flag of the United States.svg Anna Tunnicliffe
2010 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Tom Slingsby Flag of Spain.svg Blanca Manchon
2011 Flag of Spain.svg Iker Martínez
Flag of Spain.svg Xabier Fernández
Flag of the United States.svg Anna Tunnicliffe
2012 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Ben Ainslie Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Xu Lijia
2013 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Mathew Belcher Flag of New Zealand.svg Jo Aleh
Flag of New Zealand.svg Polly Powrie
2014 Flag of Australia (converted).svg James Spithill Flag of Brazil.svg Martine Grael
Flag of Brazil.svg Kahena Kunze
2015 Flag of New Zealand.svg Peter Burling
Flag of New Zealand.svg Blair Tuke
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Sarah Ayton
2016 Flag of Argentina.svg Santiago Lange Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Hannah Mills
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Saskia Clark
2017 Flag of New Zealand.svg Peter Burling Flag of the Netherlands.svg Marit Bouwmeester
2018 Flag of Cyprus.svg Pavlos Kontides Flag of the Netherlands.svg Carolijn Brouwer
Flag of France.svg Marie Riou
2019 Flag of Italy.svg Marco Gradoni Flag of Denmark.svg Anne-Marie Rindom
2020not assigned
2021 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Tom Slingsby Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Hannah Mills
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Eilidh McIntyre
2022 Flag of Italy.svg Ruggero Tita Flag of Italy.svg Caterina Banti

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