Mathilda Nicholls finishes as fastest British women at the ILCA Senior European Championships in Athens.

FORMER Royal Lymington Yacht Club sailor Matilda Nicholls was the highest-finishing British woman at the ILCA Senior European Championships in Athens.

Nicholls – who earned a 16th-place finish at the world championships in January – responded well from opening finishes of 32nd and 25th to finish fifth in the third and sixth races, crossing the line in 26th in the ILCA 6 women’s gold fleet.

The 2019 Laser Radial Youth World Champion Nicholls said: “It has been a tricky event for me. Two bad races cost me a top-10 finish, which is a shame, but I was happy just coming into this competition and approaching it as a learning experience.

“We have a lot of big competitions, given it is an Olympic year, and this was one to focus more on the process and small goals I wanted to work on. I feel like I’ve progressed a lot this week, so I am happy in that respect.

“I haven’t really had a competition in a while where we have had such light winds for racing, so it is a great thing to get more experience in. Realistically, there is normally at least one day over a regatta that is tricky, so having a whole regatta is just more learning in the bag.”

The second-placed British woman was Daisy Collingridge, who topped the silver fleet. Collingridge won her final race, while teammates Samantha Edwards finished 44th, Charlotte Videlo 46th, Iris Singleton 51st, and Lucy Davis 55th in the silver fleet.

Finally, Finley Dickinson was the pick of the British sailors who narrowly missed out on a medal in the ILCA 7 class, ending the week fourth overall.