WINDSURFING sensation Saskia Sills is this week sailing on the crest of a wave, with the news that she has been shortlisted for the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award.

If crowned the title, Tavistock College student Saskia, 17, would be following in the footsteps of Tom Daley, Wayne Rooney and Andy Murray, ending her year of extraordinary achievement perfectly.

She has made a huge impact in her first season in the Under 19 Youth RS: X windsurfing class, claiming the gold medal by an emphatic margin at the 2012 Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships in Dublin.

The windsurfer is also the Royal Yachting Association Volvo youth national champion, finishing third overall in the RS:X Youth European Windsurfing Champion-ships in Tallinn, Estonia, winning the under 17 category.

Saskia quickly followed that with another gold at the EUROSAF Youth Europeans and then went on to claim the under 17 world title in addition to overall silver at the RS:X Class Youth Worlds in October, earning her nomination for the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year awards alongside Olympic and Paralympic medallists.

She said she was really honoured to be shortlisted.

'I am so happy that both myself and the sport of windsurfing have been recognised for such a prestigious award,' she said.

'The windsurfing community has had a pretty tough year regarding ISAF's decision on whether windsurfing would be in or out of the future Olympics.

'Sometimes it was quite tough to carry on training when I knew my sport had been initially dropped and I didn't know which direction I was going to go in.

'I would just like to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who has helped me this year.'

Alongside Saskia on the ten-strong shortlist are paralympic medallists Jessica-Jane Applegate, Olivia Breen and Josef Craig, tennis player Kyle Edmund, golfer Georgia Hall, BMX champion Quillan Isidore, Olympic swimmer Siobhan-Marie O'Connor, gymnast Rebecca Tunney and canoeist Kimberley Woods.

Duncan Truswell, RYA Youth Racing manager, said: 'Saskia's results have been the icing on the cake for RYA Team GBR's windsurfing programmes and testament to the depth of talent in our programmes and the hard work of not just the young sailors but also coaches and volunteers working tirelessly within the sport.

'Saskia is an extremely capable young windsurfer and a great ambassador for the sport, with an easy going personality, but a reputation for delivering determined performances when it counts.

'She has been a real asset to our programmes this year and I wish her the very best of luck for the award.'

The shortlist was drawn up from nominations made by a panel of judges chaired by BBC Sport's John Inverdale. The panel also selected their top three and their winner by secret ballot.

The top three will be announced later this month and the winner revealed live at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, taking place at London's ExCel on December 16.