Dan gets SportingWales Rising Star Award
by Hamish Stuart, RYA Cymru-Wales 12 Apr 2016 16:07 BST
12 April 2016
Sailor Dan Whiteley receives SportingWales Rising Star monthly award from Cardiff Metropolitan University Dean of Sport Richard Tong © Hamish Stuart
North Wales sailor Dan Whiteley has been earmarked as one of the outstanding sporting talents emerging in Wales as the winner of a SportingWales Rising Star Award.
He was one of the next generation of Welsh sporting stars picked out for the monthly SportingWales Rising Stars Awards in a presentation ceremony at the Village Urban Hotel in Cardiff.
The SportingWales Rising Stars Awards are sponsored by Sport Wales, Cardiff Metropolitan University, the Village Hotel group and SportingWales magazine.
They follow the likes of Wales rugby star George North, footballer Ben Davies, Olympic gold medallist Jade Jones and world champion cyclists Becky James and Elinor Barker in winning a Rising Star Award.
North Wales sailor Dan Whiteley was a bronze medallist in the ISAF junior sailing world championships in Malaysia, winning the final day's race to move up the leaderboard into the medal positions.
"It's nice to get this award, especially with so many amazing athletes from other sports with such great achievements," said Dan Whitely.
"The World Championships in Malaysia were an exciting event, I enjoyed every minute of them. The team were out there for three weeks and it was such a great experience being out there with them.
"To come away with a bronze medal is something you aim for, but it was really amazing to pull it off.
"The conditions out there were a lot windier than we expected, I dropped a lot of weight to prepare, but it was something you just had to deal with – it came right at the end and I came good, so you could not ask for more.
"I think the situation helped take the pressure off me going into the last race, I knew it was my last day in Malaysia, I just wanted to enjoy the racing and focus on the processes which I did.
"It all came good for me at the end, I was extremely pleased. I thought I was going to win te race pretty close to the finish, but I did not look back to see where the Finnish and American boys were.
"Originally I thought I had come fourth when I crossed the line, so the first I knew that I had come third was when my coach dived in off the coach boat to come over to congratulate me.
"I have got a lot on my plate at the moment, sailing takes a back seat then to focus on my 'A' Levels, then big events this summer before I transfer into the standard rig to compete with the men.
"It is the same boat, just a larger rig so more power and I have to put on a bit more weight. It is a natural progression and I am looking forward to that.
"I will move down to Weymouth for a year while I postpone my university studies and hopefully I will be part of the British sailing team come next year."
Disability shot putter Sabrina Fortune finished fourth in the World Championships in Doha with a personal best of 12.27 m, beating her previous mark by almost a quarter of a metre. She was also fifth in the IPC Grand Final in London.
Emily Nelson is already part of the British cycling team, a junior world and European team pursuit champion who has moved into the senior ranks with World Cup series silver and bronze medals, finishing fifth in this year's World Championships points race in London.
The final monthly award went to West Wales jockey Sean Bowen won the Leading Conditional Jockey of the Season for 2014-15 and is around the top of the rankings to repeat the feat this year. He is the youngest ever winner of this title, following in the footsteps of the sport's greatest names.
All four winners are now in contention for the annual SportingWales Rising Star Award to be presented in June.