Yachting whizzkids Peter Burling and Carl Evans have been added to New Zealand's Olympic squad to prepare for the Beijing Games next year.
The 16-year-olds won the world 420 championships in the last two years before finishing sixth in the recent European 470 championships in Greece, their firstevent in the Olympic class. That brought praise from New Zealand Olympic operations manager Leslie Egnot, who said: "For such a young combination in their international debut to finish sixth in a star-studded fleet, including previous world champions and Olympic medallists, is fantastic. They obviously have the talent to reach great heights."
Being added to the Olympic squad increases their funding support, but does not necessarily guarantee selection for the Games.
Burling, of Tauranga, and Aucklander Evans will sail in the Kiel regatta in Germany next week, before the world champs in Portugal, on June 28. Then they go to Qingdao for the pre-Olympic regatta in August. Others in the squad include boardsailors Barbara Kendall and Tom Ashley; Andrew Murdoch in the Laser, Jo Aleh in the Laser Radial; Finn sailor Dan Slater, plus two Star-class crews - world champs Hamish Pepper and Carl Whiting, and Rohan Lord and Miles Addy.
