Olympians and world champions are set to be welcomed into Team New Zealand’s base as the search for their women’s and youth America’s Cup teams moves into the next stage.

A field of 121 applicants across both new additions has been narrowed down to just 16 sailors invited to trial for a spot in Barcelona next year, with some familiar names among them.

Liv Mackay, Jo Aleh, Alex Maloney, Molly Meech, Erica Dawson and Gemma Jones make up the shortlist for the women’s team, a list that had initially been expected to feature eight sailors.

Instead, 10 sailors have been named to the prospective youth team. Serena Woodall, Celia Willison, Veerle ten Have and Annabelle Rennie-Younger are all eligible for both teams, and the best-performing sailors in the group during the youth trial are also expected to be invited to trial for the women’s team.

The six male sailors invited to the youth trial are Jacob Pye, Joshua Armit, Seb Menzies, Leo Takahashi, Oscar Gunn and Sam Street.

“We were hugely impressed by the large number of experienced sailors who applied which has made our job very challenging to select the sailors to progress to the next stage,” Team New Zealand performance and simulator engineer Elise Beavis said.

Liv Mackay was one of six women invited to trial for a spot in Team New Zealand's women's America's Cup team. Photo / ETNZ

“Just going through the application process has been an encouraging insight into the depth and strength of New Zealand’s sailing future across all sailing disciplines.”

The groups will now join Team New Zealand at their Auckland base for a string of trials which will include working four at a time in the AC40 simulator, which the team expects will be telling of the sailors as sailing a vessel with buttons and toggles rather than ropes for trimming will take some adjusting.

Trials will also involve helping shore crew members with their daily tasks, and reviewing sailing data will also give the shortlisted sailors more insight into the team and its culture. The youth teams will be the first of the two to go through the trial process.

Both teams will be cut down to five sailors following that process.

Next year’s event in Barcelona will be the first time women have the opportunity to showcase their talents on the America’s Cup stage in an exclusively female regatta, while the return of youth racing provides a vital platform for young athletes to immerse themselves in a high-performance environment adjacent to one of the sport’s biggest events.

Team New Zealand has a strong history in the Youth America’s Cup, which features sailors between the ages of 18 and 25, finishing first and second in the regatta in 2013 and 2017. It has proven to be a pathway to the America’s Cup - several members of the Team New Zealand crew have been a part of the youth event during their careers, including Peter Burling, Blair Tuke and Andy Maloney.