Female sailor Wang Yan was born in 1980 in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province. She was selected to Zhejiang provincial sailing team in 1995.

She retained the title of champion in women’s 470 class at the National Sailing Championships in 1999, 2000 and 2002, and won the runner-up in sailing women’s 470 class at the Ninth National Games in 2001.

In 2002, she won the championship in sailing women’s 420 class at the 14th Asian Games held in Busan.