West Mersea sailor Hannah Stodel says winning gold in the Sonar class at the Para World Sailing Championships has made all of their hard work worthwhile.

Stodel, along with John Robertson and Steve Thomas, claimed a hard-fought victory on the final day of the event in Australia.

The three-time Paralympians had had a long wait for their World Championship hat-trick, having last claimed Worlds golds in 2005 and 2006.

But on the final day of the six-day regatta, they did enough to edge victory by a single point over Australia’s erstwhile series leaders Colin Harrison, Jonathan Harris and Russell Boaden.

Stodel said: “It was a stressful (final) race but we pulled it out the bag and we’re really happy.

“We’re not mad keen on the light winds but we were steady away, just took it as it was.

“We had a big discussion pre-start about what we were going to do, we went out and stuck to it and just sailed away.”

Stodel and her crew-mates faced an anxious wait after racing for final confirmation of their result, with the Australians seeking to overturn a jury decision from earlier in the week.

But it ultimately proved unsuccessful and the British team was able to finally celebrate their success.

Stodel concluded: “It’s been an amazing year with a lot of hard work with some not so good results, so to get this now is just the right time to be peaking.

“Everything we’ve worked on over the past few months has been worth it.

“It’s really, really good and we go towards the Games with our heads held high.”