Anna Burnet and John Gimson have won the British Elite Athletes Association’s 2025 Athletes’ Athlete of the Year awards.
The British Sailing Team sailors, who compete in the Nacra 17 Class, topped a vote among elite British athletes in Olympic and Paralympic sports, with John winning the men’s prize and Anna the women’s honour.
Their recognition follows an outstanding season on the water, during which they secured world and European titles for the third time in their careers, alongside gold medals at both the prestigious Princess Sofia Regatta and French Olympic Week.
“It’s really nice to win this award,” said Anna.
"We were very surprised to be nominated and even more so to win. We’ve got so much respect for our fellow athletes across all the Olympic and Paralympic sports. We appreciate other people’s performance across all the different sports and it’s nice to know that’s reciprocated.”
John added: “We both felt very honoured just to be nominated for the award and it’s a nice feeling to be appreciated by our cohort of athletes.
“Reading the list of people and their achievements, I didn’t think we had much chance of winning it because everyone who was nominated more than deserves to win this award.”
Now in its third year, the Athletes’ Athlete of the Year award is an athlete-led prize which gives BEAA members – athletes who receive World Class Programme funding from UK Sport – the opportunity to put forward nominations for the shortlist and vote for the eventual winners.
John follows in the footsteps of para-rower Gregg Stevenson and para-triathlete Dave Ellis and his guide Luke Pollard, in winning the men’s award, while Anna joins para-cyclist Fran Brown and para-rower Lauren Rowles on the list of female winners.
They are the first teammates to win the award in the same year and it’s a year that proved to be among the highlights of their careers.
“I think 2025 is probably a career best for both of us outside of our Olympic medal,” explained John.
“We won every major regatta and it’s pretty special to have done that. The Olympics is obviously everything for us, but you have to appreciate everything along the way and being able to say we’re three-time World and European champions is definitely up there as one of our big achievements.”
The duo showcased their versatility to secure the major titles in a variety of circumstances, winning their European crown with a race to spare and edging a tactical battle for World Championship gold. These victories proved particularly sweet as they came on the back of the disappointment of missing out on a second Olympic medal in Paris.
“We never would have imagined we’d be able to win a World Championship or European Championship once, let alone three times,” she added.
“It’s easy to overlook those moments in the build-up to the Olympic Games, but I think we've taken much more of a time to reflect on it and appreciate that that's a big achievement. It's something I am incredibly proud of, and I appreciate even more having had the ups and downs that we have had in the last few years.”
Everyone at the British Elite Athletes Association sends their congratulations to Anna and John, and to all the athletes shortlisted for this year’s award.
