London 2012 Olympic Sailing - Day 8 Preview
by ISAF 5 Aug 2012 11:57 BST
5 August 2012
Star racing on day five of the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition © Rick Tomlinson /
www.rick-tomlinson.com
Two Olympic sailing medals will be decided in Weymouth and Portland today, the Finn and the Star.
The Great Dane Jonas Hogh Christensen and Britain's Ben Ainslie go head to head for the Finn gold whilst Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson (GBR) take a good lead into the Star Medal Race.
If Ainslie were to win gold he would become the most successful Olympic sailor of all time, eclipsing Denmark's Paul Elvstrom and it is fitting that a Dane remains between Ainslie and his chance of engraving his name in the history books.
The Star has played second fiddle to the Finn in the media but the British duo have an eight point lead over Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA). If they were to win it would be their second gold medal together and a successful defence of their title won in Beijing 2008. Not only that, it would be Percy's third Olympic medal. An incredible achievement and not one to be overlooked.
It will be mainly dry and bright in Weymouth and Portland today with showers around midday however the south west breeze seen throughout the competition has changed to a south south easterly with 10-12 knots and gusts of 15-17 knots forecast.
The Nothe Course will make be tricky racing with a 30% chance of shifty winds.
Dorian Van Rijsselberge (NED) could take the Men's RS:X title with a day to spare today having dominated the fleet since the start of the competition. He is 15 points clear and another good performance could see him take an unassailable lead into the Medal Race.
The Women's RS:X Medal Race line up will be completed with just three points separating Marina Alabau (ESP) and Lee Korzits (ISR) at the top of the pile and the Women's 470 reach the half way point in the competition and the 49ers resume racing.
www.sailing.org/olympics/london2012