Josh Junior earns Olympic Finn selection

The 31-year-old was selected ahead of close friend and training partner Andy Maloney for the one position available to New Zealand in the heavyweight dinghy on the back of his consistently high results at pinnacle events.

“It’s incredibly special to be a part of the team and I can’t wait to get there and try to win a gold medal for New Zealand.”

— Josh Junior

In 2019 he became the first Kiwi to win the Finn Gold Cup (world championships) since its introduction in 1956 and he followed that with bronze at this month's Finn Gold Cup in Portugal.

Maloney won the world title in Portugal, not only illustrating the depth of Finn sailing in this country but also emphasising the success of the pair's shared campaign approach, and he will now take over as Junior's coach for the Olympics.

The selection of Junior rounds out the New Zealand sailing team to compete at Enishoma, the sailing venue for the Tokyo Olympics. He joins Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (49er), Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (49erFX), Sam Meech (Laser), Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox (men's 470) and Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson (Nacra 17).

New Zealand qualified for all 10 sailing events for Tokyo but the sailors in the women's 470, Laser Radial and men's and women's RS:X didn't meet New Zealand's tough selection criteria.

Yachting New Zealand high-performance director Ian Stewart said Junior's selection represented another milestone for the sailing team with the Games due to start in less than two months.

The selection of Junior brings the total number of athletes selected to the New Zealand team to 49.