Team GB’s history-making athlete Ellie Aldridge has been shortlisted for the prestigious World Sailor of the Year award.

Ellie became the first ever Formula Kite gold medallist in Marseille this summer as the class made its Olympic debut. The Poole sailor, 27, was also part of the British Athena Pathway team that came second in the inaugural Women’s America’s Cup earlier this month.

She faces competition from Dutch 49erFX Olympic gold medallists Odile van Aanholt and Annette Duetz, Belgium’s three-time gold medallist dinghy racer Marit Bouwmeester and South African Maiden Factor crew member Vuy Jaca.

Voting closes at 11pm GMT on 27 October, and the awards ceremony will be held in Singapore as part of the World Sailing Annual Conference on 5 November.

This year the awards will be decided by a 50/50 split between a public vote and an expert panel of judges from World Sailing. To cast your vote, click here.

British sailors have won the award 12 times since its inception in 1994: six times by women and six times by men. Sir Ben Ainslie holds the most amount of World Sailor of the Year titles, having taken the top spot in 1998, 2002, 2008 and 2012.

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