Considered among the world's top young sailing talents, it was of little surprise that Peter Burling and Blair Tuke were snapped up by Team New Zealand this year.
The Olympic silver medallists signed with Emirates Team New Zealand in January as the team sought fresh, young talent to rejuvenate thesyndicate following last year's painful America's Cup loss. Burling and Tuke's decision to link up with the Kiwi syndicate midway through another Olympic campaign raised some concerns that their America's Cup commitments may distract them from their quest for gold in 2016.
But their impressive run of results this year suggests Burling and Tuke aren't in any danger of taking their eye off the Olympic prize.
The talented pair were a class above in the 49er this year, winning every major event they entered including two World Cup regattas, the European Championships and an Olympic test event in Rio.
Their most impressive win came in their pinnacle event for the year - the ISAF World Championships in Santander, Spain - where they claimed back-to-back world titles with ruthless efficiency. Burling and Tuke finished an incredible 46 points clear of the rest of the fleet, which included their Australian rivals and 2012 Olympic gold medallists Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen.
Tuke said looking back on the season he and Burling have had, their win in Spain stands out as their most satisfying performance.
"We go into every event wanting to win, but we also have a lot of other things we're looking to tick off as well. [The World Champs] was our peak event for the year and our only goal there was to win. So to go out there and perform as well as we did was really pleasing," he said.
The pair's brilliant winning run saw them named as finalists for the ISAF world sailor of the year prize, missing out to Oracle Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill. They were the clear choice however for Yachting New Zealand's sailor of the year award, scooping the honour for the second straight year.
