America's Cup winners Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have confirmed they will attempt to defend their Olympic title at Tokyo 2020.
The Olympic 49er champions dominated the class from 2012 to 2016, winning every major regatta after the London games, including four world championships.
In 2017 the duo were part of Team New Zealand's America's Cup triumph in Bermuda, and more recently competed in opposing boats in the Volvo Ocean race.
Speaking to yachting.org.nz, Tuke confirmed the pair will balance Olympic preparations with Team New Zealand responsibilities.
"It's not a decision we made lightly," said Tuke.
"Representing your country at Olympic level is the highest honour and we are both incredibly focused on defending the Cup for New Zealand as part of Emirates Team New Zealand.
"We wanted to ensure we could give both campaigns everything we’ve got."
Burling added, "We know the combination of Olympic and America's Cup sailing complement each other.
"It creates a really high-performance environment across all areas of sailing for us to push ourselves and be at the top of our game."
The duo has the support of Emirates Team New Zealand and Yachting New Zealand.
"We are happy to have Peter and Blair back as part of the team dedicated to the defence of the America’s Cup.
"Once again, we're fully supportive of them integrating the Olympic 49er campaign with America’s Cup commitments," said Team New Zealand chief operating officer Kevin Shoebridge.
"Collectively we are an incredibly strong and talented team that is focused on defending the America's Cup and that allows our core sailing team including Peter, Blair as well as Andy Maloney and Josh Junior to remain in peak sailing condition running parallel Olympic campaigns."
Newshub.