Marco Gradoni
Marco Gradoni (born March 24th 2004 in Rome) is an Italian sailor. He became the first Optimist sailor in history to win three successive World Championship titles in Thailand 2017, Cyprus 2018 and Antiqua 2019. In doing so, Gradoni was awarded the Rolex World Sailor of The Year Award in 2019, being the youngest ever recipient.
Gradoni currently sails in the mixed 470 class as a skipper.
He won the 470 mixed world championship 2021 in Sanremo.
Serge M. Kats
Serge M. Kats (born September 9th 1971 in Rotterdam) is a sailor from the Netherlands, who won the IODA World Championship in 1984 and 1985, in Kingston and Helsinki accordingly.
He represented his country for the first time at the1996 Summer Olympics, in Savannah. There he took the 13th place in the Laser. Kats second and final Olympic appearance was during the 2000 Olympics, in Sydney where he finished in 4th place, in the Laser Class.
Serge won the IODA World Championship in 1984 and 1985, in Kingston and Helsinki accordingly.
Now a days Kats is Manager Topsport at the Koninklijk Nederlands Watersport Verbond.
Johan Peterson Aldergren
Johan Peterson Aldergren (born November 24th 1966) is a sailor from Sweden, who won the IODA World Championship in 1979 and 1980, in Pattaya and Cascais accordingly and finished 2nd at the IODA World Championship in 1981, in Howth Ireland.
He represented his country at the Europe Class and finished 4th at Open week in 1983, (worlds were cancelled)
5th at the World Championship in 1984 and 3rd in 1985. In 1986 and 1987, Johan finished 6th and 7th at the OK Dingy Worlds accordingly. He is also a Swedish Match Racing Champion.
Now a days Johan is a Chairman & CEO at JPA Investment AB, in Sweden. He is also the Founder & Chairman of the non profit organisation Safesport Sweden ( www.safesportsweden.org ) that prevents abuse in sport and support abused athletes.
Filip Matika
Filip Matika (born 16th of August ,1990 year) is a sailor from Pula Croatia, who won the IODA World Championship in 2002 and 2003, in Corpus Christy, USA and Las Palmas, Spain accordingly and finished 8th at the IODA World Championship in 2004.
He represented his country at Laser 4.7 Class and finished 1st at the World Championship, in Hermanus, S. Africa, in 2007.
In 2008 he finished 6th at Laser Radial European Championship and 8th at the Laser Standard European Championship, in 2011.
Filip, finished Civil Engineering at Zagreb University, in 2017 and now a days, he is running his own civil engineer company.
Peter Warrer
Peter Warrer (born October 10th 1952) is a sailor from Denmark was the first multiple optimist IODA World Champion IODA World Championship in 1967 and 1968, in Austria (Neusiedl) and France (Carantec) accordingly and finished 2nd at the IODA World Championship in 1965 and 1966, Finland (Turku) and USA (Miami).
During his whole life he has been a successful sailor in various dinghy and keelboat classes as the X79, Dragon and Melges 24. Today he sails the M32 carbon catamaran and the J70 in the liga format, where he was skippering for his Aarhus Sailing Club in the Champions League finals, in Porto Cervo at the age of 64. He started a J70 Liga project for his native Aarhus Sailing Club in 2016, which has developed into the largest Danish fleet of 7 J70s and 140 members. Peter was a member of the board of the Royal Danish Yacht Club 2008-12. His son Jonas Warrer sailed the opti worlds in Porto Rotondo Italy (19th) and became an Olympic gold medal winner in the 49er class at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, and he participated in the Rio (4th) and the Tokyo (5th) Olympics, as well. Peter has retired after a life long career as a director of the Danish eyewear brand LINDBERG.
Martin Jenkins
Martin Jenkins (born ...) is a sailor from Argentina and 2-time winner of the IODA Optimist World Championship in 1994 and 1995, in Italy (Sardinia) and Finnland (Mariehamn), accordingly. Martin was alo a 4th place winner at Laser Radial Worlds, in 2005.
He lives in Mar del Plata, Argentina. He has coached teams and individuals to a number of top 20 finishes at World and Continental Championships and has conducted clinics all over the world.
Mattia Pressich
Mattia Pressich (born ...) is a sailor from Italy and 2-time winner of the IODA Optimist World Championship in 1998 and 1999, in Portugal (Setubal) and Martinique, accordingly.
Sabrina Landi
Sabrina Landi (born ...) is a sailor from Italy and the 1st Ever Overall Girl IODA Optimist World Championship Winner, in 1987, in Netherland (Andijk). Currently lives in Australia.
Jason Panagopoulos
Jason Panagopoulos,, born in Athens Greece, 17th of February 2009 is a sailor from Greece and the 1st Ever to win 3 Consecutive European Championships, in 2022, in Denmark, 2023 in Thessaloniki and in 2024 in Italy. Currently lives in Athens Greece where he also won 3 Consecutive National Championships, representing the Kalamaki Nautical Club.
