ALEXANDRA Rickham and Niki Birrell will aim to win a sixth straight world title when they line up at the IFDS Disabled Sailing Combined World Champ-ionships, which start tomorrow in Halifax, Canada.

The Paralympic bronze medallists, who train at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy, are among the 11-strong British Sailing Team contingent set to compete across all three Paralympic Classes – the three-person Sonar, the two-person SKUD and the one-person 2.4mR – over six days of competition at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron.

The Sonar trio of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Stephen Thomas enter their World Championships in fine form,having claimed podium positions at all five events they have competed at this year, including a bronze at last week’s Sonar North American Champ-ionships at Lunenburg Yacht Club.

The Sonar fleet will see 16 entries competing for event honours, with British Sailing Team Podium Potential sailors Craig Wood, Steve Palmer and Ed Suckling also joining their British counterparts in Canada.

Helena Lucas and Portland’s Megan Pascoe are expected to be among the front-runners in the race for silverware in the one-person 2.4mR event, and will also be joined by up-and-coming Podium Potential squad sailor Will Street.

The three British boats enter the regatta off the back of a clean sweep at the 2.4mR Pre-Worlds Regatta with Lucas taking gold, Pascoe silver and the bronze going to Street.

For 27-year-old Pascoe, her European victory in the Netherlands in July capped off a consistent year and provided a timely boost to her World Championship campaign.

“It has been a pretty awesome summer,” she said.

“Identical to what I had last year but I feel I have made some really big gains since then.

“Being crowned European champion last month was great and a lot of fun. I had to work quite hard for it but it was nice to come away with the title before heading over to Canada.

“I am happy with the way I am sailing and hopefully I can carry my momentum from Sail for Gold in Weymouth and from the Europeans into the Worlds.”