NICOSIA - A young Cypriot sailor, Pavlos Kontides, was named Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2018, the Cyprus Athletics Organisation said on Wednesday.

Kontides, a twice world champion in the Laser category, received the prestigious prize at a World Sailing Awards ceremony held in Florida, USA.

He was crowned for the first time in Croatia in 2017 and went to win his second world championship in Denmark earlier this year.

Kontides also became the first Cypriot athlete ever to win an Olympic medal after finishing second at the 2012 London Olympics.

"I managed to achieve this from a really small island in the middle of the Mediterranean, so I hope this achievement will inspire a lot of other young sailors to dream big and not be too scared to chase their dreams", Kontides said in his award receiving speech.