Erica Dawson (born 24 July 1994) is a New Zealand

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...

. She competed in the

2020 Olympic Games The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in Tokyo, as crew for Micah Wilkinson in the Nacra 17 class. She competed in the Nacra 17 event at the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

, where she won a bronze medal with Wilkinson.

Career

Born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, Dawson started sailing in her youth. She started sailing in Murrays Bay Sailing Club. She became the first girl to win the national championship in the Starling class. Dawson competed in the 2012 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships together with Ellie Copeland, finishing fifth in the girls' 420 event. Dawson continued her sailing career in the 49er FX class, with her first 49er FX competition being the 2014 49er & 49er FX European Championships in Helsinki where she placed 28th together with Copeland. In 2019, Dawson switched to Nacra 17, first as helmsman but then switched roles with crew Micah Wilkinson. They finished 7th in the 2020 Nacra 17 World Championship in Melbourne. In March 2020, the duo was selected for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the Nacra 17 event. The sailing duo, coached by Jo Aleh, practised with Australian duo Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin for the event. In June 2021, during the preparations for the Olympics, Dawson broke her

fibula The fibula (: fibulae or fibulas) or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. ...

while practising. In the 2020 Olympics, they finished 12th in their Nacra 17 event. In 2021, Dawson and Liv Mackay were selected for the

New Zealand SailGP Team The Black Foils, New Zealand SailGP Team, is a professional sailing team led by Peter Burling (sailor), Peter Burling and Blair Tuke competing in the global Rolex SailGP championship. History New Zealand SailGP Team was established in 2020 ...

team in the

SailGP The Rolex SailGP Championship is an international sailing (sport), sailing competition that features high-performance F50 (catamaran), F50 Sailing hydrofoil, foiling catamarans, where teams compete across a season of multiple grands prix (GP) a ...

series. Dawson sailed as a strategist for

. During 2022, Wilkinson and Dawson continued to sail in the Nacra 17 and finished second in the Nacra 17 European Championship in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

. The duo was coached by former

Tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

sailor Antón Paz. In the following Nacra 17 World Championship in Halifax, they finished 9th.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Erica 1994 births Living people New Zealand female sailors (sport) Olympic sailors for New Zealand Sailors at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Nacra 17 49er FX class sailors 420 class sailors Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics 21st-century New Zealand sportswomen Sailors at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Nacra 17 New Zealand SailGP Team sailors