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10-15 June 2008
Gyeonggi, Korea
2008 World Championship Standings
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Nationality: British
Residence: Hamble, England
Date of Birth: April 26, 1977
Web site:Williams Sail Racing
Ian began competing on the World Tour in 2005. He is currently the ISAF Match Racing World Champion.
World Match Racing Tour Results
2006-'07 - 1st Overall
2006-’07
1st - Monsoon Cup '07
(Crew: Mark Nicholls, Simon Shaw, Andy Escourt, Mark Williams)
5th - Brasil Sailing Cup '07
(Crew: Mark Nicholls, Simon Shaw, Bill Hardesty, Mark Williams)
12th - Bermuda Gold Cup '07
(Crew: Bill Hardesty, Mark Nicholls, Simon Shaw)
6th - Latium Match Cup '07
(Crew:Bill Hardesty, Simon Shaw, Mark Nicholls, Mark Williams)
1st - St Moritz '07
(Crew: Mark Williams, Andrew Estcourt)
3rd - Danish Open '07
(Crew: Mark Nicholls, Simon Shaw, Bill Hardesty, Mark Williams)
2nd - Troia Portugal Match Cup '07
(Crew: Mark Nicholls, Simon Shaw, Bill Hardesty, Mark Williams)
11th - Match Race Germany '07
(Crew: Gerard Mitchell, Bill Hardesty, Simon Shaw, Marc Williams )
3rd – Monsoon Cup 06
(Crew: Simon Shaw, Mark Nicholls, Bill Hardesty, Mark Williams)
4th – Allianz Cup 06
(Crew: Chresten Plinius, Gerry Mitchell, Bill Hardesty, Mark Williams)
1st — Bermuda Gold Cup ’06
(Crew: Bill Hardesty, Gerry Mitchell, Mark Nicholls)
5th — Bermuda Gold Cup ’06
(Crew: Morten Henriksen, Mark Nichols, Simon Shaw, Mark Williams)
9th — Portugal Match Cup ’06
(Crew: Laurie Jury, Mark Nicholls, Richard Sydenham, Mark Williams)
10th — St. Moritz Match Race ’06
(Crew: Mark Nichols, Mark Williams)
2005-’06
3rd — Match Race Germany ’06
(Crew: William Hardesty, Mark Nicholls, Simon Shaw, Bill Williams)
4th — St. Moritz Match Race ’05
(Crew: Steve Mitchell, Mark Nichols)
6th — ACI Match Race Cup ’06
(Crew: Jesper Feldt, Wade Morgan, Mal Parker, Mark Williams)
8th — Brazil Sailing Cup ’06
(Crew: Bill Hardesty, Gerard Mitchell, Mal Parker, Mark Williams)
8th — PTPortugal Match Cup ’05
(Crew: Gerry Mitchell, Mark Nichols, Guy Salter, Mark Williams)
9th — PTPortugal Match Cup ’05
(Crew: Will Howden, Pontus Meijer, Simon Shaw, Mark Williams)
2004-’05
7th — Match Race Germany ’05
(Crew: Chris Gowers, Steve Mitchell, Mark Nichols, Mark Williams)
T9th — Swedish Match Cup ’05
(Crew: Steve Mitchell, Marc Nichols, Richard Sydenham, Mark Williams)
Additional Notable Results
1st – Marseille International Match Race 2007
1st — Sopot Match Race 2005
1st — Internationaux de France de Match Racing 2005
1st — Youth Match Racing Worlds, 1995, 1996
2nd — British Olympic Sailing Team Trials, Soling, 2000
Additional Information
Thirty year old Ian Williams of Great Britain is the reigning ISAF World Match Racing champion.
Williams took a sabbatical from his profession as a lawyer in 2005 to give match racing an honest try. After what he termed a successful summer, Williams quit his day job and made a commitment to professional sailing. Immediately he made an impact. In 2006 the solicitor became the first Britain to win a medal finishing second in his first full tour.
In 2007 Ian Williams again raised the bar. After winning two of the tour legs, he went into the last race, The Monsoon Cup, on the brink of winning the tour title. In the semi-finals the Englishman defeated Paolo Cian to confirm himself as the overall winner of the 2006-2007 ISAF World Match Racing Tour. He then proceeded to beat Peter Gilmour in the final and take the Monsoon Cup.
Williams first sailed aged just 6 weeks old when his parents took him on a crossing of the English Channel, but he doesn’t remember much of it. “They tell me I used to get seasick as a child,” he said.
He began racing actively when he was 9 years old, competing in youth classes. He began match racing as a youth sailor in 1994 and won back-to-back Youth Worlds in 1994 and 1995. Hooked on match racing, Williams began racing a Soling, which was the match racing boat for the Olympics. He missed the British team berth in 2000, placing second in the British trials. A favourite to win the berth on the 2004 team, Williams instead had a bout with disappointment when the match-racing discipline was voted out of the Olympics. His ultimate aim is to one day win the America’s Cup.
After his dramatic win in the 2007 World Match Racing Tour Ian Williams said, ‘The tour is the only place to test yourself against the best sailors in the world in identical boats. It has always been an ambition to become the first Briton to win the World Match Racing Tour and I am thrilled to have fulfilled this goal. In match racing, the team is everything, so I couldn’t have achieved this without my Team Pindar crew members Simon Shaw, Mark Nicholls, Bill Hardesty and Mark Williams. I hope we can defend the title in 2008.’
Ian Williams looks in good shape going into the 2008 Match Racing World Tour. In February he warmed up for the tour by winning the inaugural exhibition Casa De Campo Sponsor Challenge in the Dominican Republic.
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