SHANDON sailor Anna Burnet has added to her Tokyo Olympics silver medal by being crowned European champion in the Nacra 17 class in Greece.

Burnet and partner John Gimson picked up from where they left off at the summer games as they won European Championship gold in the discipline, finishing more than 30 points ahead of their nearest challengers.

Whilst most other Olympic competitors have decided to take a break out of the boat following the games, Gimson and Burnet opted for racing experience and secured the Euro title with a commanding cushion in Thessaloniki.

A string of first and second place race finishes to start their regatta showed they were the dominant force of the fleet, and the pair continued their excellent form to eventually claim top spot with a race to spare over second place duo Gianluigi Ugolini and Alice Cialfi from Italy.

This week’s result adds to the world title the duo claimed in Geelong, Australia, last year.

Burnet, 28, said: “We wanted to get more experience in light wind racing, and that’s exactly what Greece gave us.

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“The result is a bonus, and it’s pretty nice to add the European title to the 2020 world title.

“It’s great to be racing a number of younger teams who are all gunning for Paris 2024 and we had to fight hard in every race.”

Burnet and Gimson now plan to reduce their sailing schedule - but like their up-and-coming rivals, their thoughts are already turning to the Games in France in 2024.

“We will have some time off outside of doing this Europeans and the Worlds in November,” Burnet added.

“It’s important to be rested, because with less than three years to the next Olympics, it’s going to be full on. But equally there haven’t been many opportunities to race in the last 18 months and we’re keen to focus our time on racing at this stage.”

Their British teammates Rupert White and Kirstie Urwin, returning to competition after two years away due to injury and then the pandemic, narrowly missed out on a spot on the podium in Greece.

A brilliant mid-regatta comeback saw the duo jump from tenth to go into the medal race in third, but a ninth place in the double-points medal race saw them slip agonisingly to fourth place in the final standings, behind French bronze medallists Titouan Petard and Lou Berthomieu.