Three South London sailors flew to Brazil this week to represent Great Britain at the 2009 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships in Brazil, writes Karenza Morton.

Oscar McVeigh, of Wimbledon Sailing Club, will represent RYA Volvo Team GBR in the boys’ laser radial single-handed class.

Meanwhile, Wimbledon’s Rebecca Kalderon will team up with Rosie Sibthorp, from Thames Ditton, in the girls’ 420 two-person dinghy event.

About 280 of the world’s top Olympic hopefuls will converge on Buzios, 100 miles north of Rio, for the 10-day regattas.

Multiple Olympic gold medallists Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy, Sarah Ayton and Sarah Webb are among the Brits who have represented their country at the U19s event.

McVeigh, 18, who attends Elliott School in Putney, said: “It’s amazing to think that you’re representing your country at a really huge international event and that we will be going to Brazil and given all this amazing help to try to perform to the best of our abilities.

“It should be really good competitive racing and it will be great to see what other countries do as well as having some fun.”

Kalderon and Sibthorp warmed up for the event with an impressive performance at the international Kiel Week regatta in Germany last week, finishing second.