Cape Town - It was a stellar weekend for South African athletics. While SA teams lit up headlines at the London 2017 IAAF World Championships young sailing duo Benji Daniel and Alex Burger topped the podium in the World 29er Championships in California.
The duo sailed in style and secured the world championship as they had the best possible build-up. With only six months of preparation, their achievement was described as phenomenal by SA Sailing chairman Peter Hall.
Burger, 21, is a third-year student at UCT and comes from a sailing family while Daniel, 17, is from Durban and grew up loving the sea. They both described the competition as exciting and fun but challenging.
“While we were standing at the podium it was a moment of pure bliss. I still cannot believe we won as it was tough. The teamwork, hard work paid off and we're extremely proud of ourselves. I really appreciate the messages of support from family, friends and fans that we got before participating,” Burger said.
The 129 teams from 17 countries competed in the 29er World Championships over six days of competition at the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, California.
They finished ahead of Theo Revil and Gautier Guevel from France, who came second, and Benjamin Jaffrezic and Leo Chauvel also from France, who came third.
Burger is also from the RaceAhead Foundation, an organisation for sailing which focuses on underprivileged children and youth and teaches them to sail.
“We are extremely proud of our boys. It is a major achievement,” Hall said.