49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 World Championships: Seb Menzies and George Lee Rush open campaign as New Zealand crews eye Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games

Five New Zealand sailing crews will take another significant step on the road to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games when the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 world championships begin in Quiberon, France, tomorrow night (9pm NZ time), while a sixth team gets its first chance this season to stake an early claim in one of the country’s most fiercely contested Olympic classes.

The regatta shapes as one of the biggest tests of the current Olympic cycle, with New Zealand fielding four crews in the highly competitive 49er fleet, one in the 49erFX and a developing Nacra 17 combination led by Olympic medallist Micah Wilkinson.

Much of the spotlight will fall on the battle emerging in the men’s skiff class, where the race to succeed Paris 2024 silver medallists Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie is already intensifying.

Seb Menzies and George Lee Rush arrive in France for their first international regatta of the season after a breakthrough 2025 campaign that elevated them into genuine contenders for selection in Los Angeles. The pair dominated the 49er fleet at Oceanbridge Sail Auckland earlier this year, defending their title by more than 30 points against a field that included several Paris Olympians.

Their rise began with a European Championship triumph in light conditions in Thessaloniki last June, where they wrapped up gold with a day to spare, before backing it up with a gold fleet appearance at the world championships in Cagliari.

Seb Menzies and George Lee Rush had a breakthrough season in 2025. Photo / World Sailing

Menzies, who has impressed as co-helm with Emirates Team New Zealand since being called into the America’s Cup squad in October last year, returns to the 49er in Quiberon alongside Lee Rush, his long-time sailing partner with whom he has previously enjoyed considerable international success in both youth classes and the 49erFX.

"We are working on sailing in stronger breeze, which is definitely still a weakness for us. If we can get quicker in those conditions, hopefully we can improve even more over the next year or so," Menzies said after the duo's runaway Oceanbridge Sail Auckland victory in February.

Quiberon is also an opportunity for them to improve on the slightly disappointing result at the previous world champs in Cagliari, where they finished 22nd in a fleet of more than 80 boats.

"Last year was a pretty good one for us in our very first full year in the senior fleet," said Lee Rush. "The world champs didn't quite go as well as we had hoped, but we're happy with our progression. The Olympics are coming around pretty quickly, and that's the goal for us, so there's plenty more work to do."

Menzies and Lee Rush are one of four strong young teams in the class, alongside Mattias Coutts and Oscar Gunn, Sam Bacon and Blake McGlashan, and Francesco Kayrouz and Hamish McLaren. 

Their success over the past 12 months has them among the favourites to secure the New Zealand spot for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, recently vacated by McHardie and McKenzie.

The "McKiwis" announced in January that they would be stepping back from campaigning for the next Olympics in the class which has seen the country medal at the last four Games, stretching back to London 2012.

"It is a bit of a double-edged sword for us with Isaac and Will stepping aside, because on the one hand, they're obviously incredibly good, so it was going to be pretty tough for us to beat them," Lee Rush said in February. "But equally, over in Cagliari, we had a really good training camp with them, and we get along very well with both of them. So yes, it's one less boat we need to beat, but it was really good training against them, and they've got a lot of knowledge."

While all eyes will be on Menzies and Lee Rush's debut international regatta of 2026, Coutts and Gunn will hit the water in good form, having produced one of New Zealand’s standout performances at the French Olympic Week. The pair finished ninth overall after winning the final medal series race in Hyeres — their best result together on the world stage.

Mattias Coutts and Oscar Gunn enjoyed their best result as a team at the French Olympic Week. Photo / Sailing Energy

They had earlier finished 21st overall at the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma, where they qualified for the gold fleet alongside Kayrouz and McLaren, who ended the regatta 24th - the same result they achieved in Palma.

Bacon and McGlashan also showed encouraging signs throughout the European season so far. They sat among the podium places midway through the Hyères regatta before eventually placing 19th, having earlier recovered strongly through the silver fleet in Palma to finish 37th overall.

In the 49erFX class, sisters Nicola and Rebecca Hume will look to continue their development after placing 20th in Hyères. The pair remain New Zealand’s leading female skiff combination as they gain valuable experience against the world’s best.

The Nacra 17 campaign of Wilkinson and Kate Stewart also continues to gather momentum.

Wilkinson, who won Olympic bronze in Marseille alongside Erica Dawson in 2024, has teamed up with decorated youth sailor Stewart for the new Olympic cycle. The pair impressed in their first major regatta together at Palma, finishing 14th overall and showing flashes of pace with a sixth in qualifying and an eighth in gold fleet racing.

They also made a promising start at Hyères before a planned withdrawal after two days to allow Wilkinson to fulfil commitments in the E1 powerboat series.

Click here to follow live tracking of every race at the 2026 49er, 49er FX, and Nacra 17 World Championships.

Click here for the latest results and standings.