Athletes Story — Jonas Høgh-Christensen

Meet Jonas Høgh-Christensen. Sailing has always been an essential part of Jonas Høgh-Christensens life. His father is the former Olympic sailor Jens Christensen and a co-founder of the world's leading sailmakers, North Sails.

At a very young age Jonas takes his steps towards an impressive sailing career, winning the Nordic Championship in 1993 alongside Athletes Collective's co-founder, Frederik Kolenda. Over the following years, Jonas wins the World Championships 2 times and qualifies for The Olympics in Athens, Beijing, London and Rio. In 2012, Jonas was among the favorites to bring home a medal. After holding the lead for the first 7 days of the Olympic race, Jonas was overhauled in the final race by his opponent, Ben Ainslie, who ultimately won on a countback. "I still haven't come to peace with being that close to gold and then losing the lead the final day." Jonas says, breaking out with a big smile. “I had unfinished business” so in 2015 Jonas decided to do a comeback. Jonas came 2nd in the World Championship a month before the Rio Olympics, and the dream of getting that gold medal felt within reach. At the Olympics in Brazil Jonas feels able to win another medal. Unfortunately, Jonas falls ill with an infection at the race and finishes among the last boats.

"Everything sailing has given me has brought me to a great life path, given me an amazing network and now an amazing career working for SAIL GP. I would imagine that almost all professional athletes look back at the experiences and life lessons they got from their sport with so much value. That is also even though the professional goal I aimed for was not always possible to reach. "In my free time now, I play golf. Golf has always been a part of my life since my grandfather co founded Rønne Golfklub and taught me to play when I was 9".

"Throughout my sailing career, the golf clubs followed me everywhere in the world. When we had wind, we went sailing. When the was no wind, we went golfing. Like Michael Jordan says, golf is the most competitive game, where you battle yourself constantly. I love competing against myself – that is what I am used to from sailing”.