4th for Liddell & Brown Leads Australian Top-10s & Personal Bests at 49er, 49erFX & Nacra 17 Euros
by Lisa Darmanin / Australian Sailing Team 13 Jul 06:45 BST
7-12 July 2026
Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown © Niklas Mattes
The 2026 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 European Championships proved to be a regatta of two distinct halves, with survival conditions testing the fleet over the opening two days before light, shifty breezes created an entirely different challenge through the second half of the week.
Racing in Eckernförde, Germany, Australian Sailing Team, Australian Sailing Squad and Australian Sailing Futures athletes produced a number of encouraging performances across all three classes, highlighted by two top-10 finishes in the Nacra 17 fleet and a career-best result in the 49erFX.
Unfortunately, Finals racing was unable to take place, denying the Australian Nacra 17 teams one last opportunity to push for the podium. Regardless, the squad once again demonstrated its depth on the international stage, with Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown finishing fourth overall and Archie Gargett and Sarah Hoffman securing eighth.
"Fourth place is an equal best result for us," said Liddell. "We're pretty happy with it. At the start of the week it was pretty windy and we had good speed. Previously we'd struggled in the light airs, but it felt like this regatta things were starting to come together. We just had a few bad races which dropped us back from the podium, but we were still in the hunt. Shame we didn't get to race today, but that happens."
Brooke Wilson and Paris 2024 Olympian Evie Haseldine delivered a personal-best result in the 49erFX, finishing 20th overall. The result marks another step forward for the developing partnership as they continue to build experience against the world's best.
"It's our best result so far as a team, so it feels nice to have our work from the last year and a half come together," said Haseldine. "We teamed up just after the Paris Olympic Games. We've been working pretty hard and not really seeing the results, so it was nice to make Gold Fleet at this event and come away with a good result."
In the 49er fleet, Harry Price and Max Paul remained Australia's leading team, finishing 18th overall. While it was the first regatta this season where the pair finished outside the top 10, it was a great opportunity for them to take away some key learnings in top end and super light conditions in one of the most competitive fleets in Olympic sailing.
An impressive performance also came from NSW Institute of Sport athletes Benedict and Spencer McKay. Racing as part of the State Sailing Performance Program, the brothers produced several standout races to finish 32nd overall. Australian Sailing Squad athletes Jack Ferguson and Jack Hildebrand followed closely behind in 36th.
Attention now turns to the Los Angeles Olympic sailing venue, with National Squad athletes set to race at the San Pedro Olympic Classes Regatta from 3-7 August. The event will provide these classes with their first racing opportunity of the LA 2028 cycle on the future Olympic waters.
Full results can be found here
Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Squad (AS Squad), Australian Sailing Futures (ASF), State Sailing Performance Program (SSPP) and other Australian (AUS) results at the 49er,49erFX and Nacra 17 European Championships
Nacra 17 (42 entries)
4th - Brin Liddell / Rhiannan Brown (AST)
8th - Archie Gargett / Sarah Hoffman (AST)
14th - Ruben Booth / Rita Booth (AS Squad)
19th - Jake Liddell / Niamh Meehan (AS Squad)
49er (97 entries)
18th - Harry Price / Max Paul (AST)
32nd - Spencer McKay / Benedict McKay (SSPP)
36th - Jack Ferguson / Jack Hilderbrand (AS Squad)
44th - Daniel Links / Keizo Tomishima (ASF)
46th - Kurt Hansen / Charlie Zeeman (ASF)
65th - Luke Rogers / Kristian Bilston (SSPP)
49erFX (55 entries)
20th - Brooke Wilson (ASF) / Evie Haseldine (AS Squad)
51st - Darcy Robbins / Eva Atwood (ASF)