Chris Nicholson / Daniel Phillips

Christopher John Nicholson, born in Newcastle, New South Wales on 18 June 1969, is the 49er's first world champion and the only sailor to win the class's first three world titles.

He sails out of Lake Macquarie Yacht Club and the Belmont 16ft Sailing Club, started sailing at seven and won the Australian VJ championship in 1984. He won the inaugural 49er World Championship in Perth in 1997 and again in Bandol in 1998, both with Daniel Phillips, then took a third title in Melbourne in 1999 with Ed Smyth. He and Phillips finished sixth at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games as gold-medal favourites, and he returned for Athens 2004 with Gary Boyd, finishing seventh.

Nicholson has six world titles in all, the other three in the 505, in 1992, 1994 and 2002, the last of them with his brother Darren. He went on to sail six Volvo Ocean Race campaigns, skippering Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand to second overall in 2011-12, and later Team Vestas Wind and Team AkzoNobel. He has since coached the Australian 49er squad, and argues that young sailors are better served learning to coach themselves than leaning on heavy support structures.

Daniel Phillips crewed for Chris Nicholson in the 49er's earliest years, winning the inaugural World Championship in Perth in 1997 and retaining the title in Bandol in 1998.

The pair went to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games as favourites for gold and finished sixth.