Sailing at Rio 2016 Day 9: Medals, medals and more medals!
by Mark Jardine 16 Aug 2016 22:27 BST
8-18 August 2016
It's tricky to know where to begin on a day where so much happened! Four medal races and two other fleets where the gold medallists have won with a day to spare.
Women's Laser Radial Medal Race
After an agonising 24 hour wait, the Women's Laser Radial Medal Race finally started. Everything was to play for with Marit Bouwmeester (NED) on 47 points Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) on 55 points and Annalise Murphy (IRL) on 57 points.
First round the windward mark was Josefin Olsson (SWE) with Annalise Murphy rounded 2nd. The fleet stayed remarkably tightly packed, continually swapping places, setting up for a medal-deciding rounding on the final leeward mark to the finish line.
Great Britain's Alison Young won the Medal Race ahead of Sweden's Josefin Olsson, but both these sailors weren't in the hunt for medals. Annalise Murphy finished 5th which was enough to secure the silver medal, while Marit Bouwmeester's 7th gave her the gold. Anne-Marie Rindom finished 8th to take bronze.
Men's Laser Medal Race
With no delay the Men's Laser Medal Race start sequence was underway. Tonci Stipanovic (CRO) & Tom Burton (AUS) went at it hammer and tongs in the pre-start with Stipanovic being penalised as windward boat, having to do turns and ending up a long way back from the fleet at the start. Julio Alsogaray (ARG), 9th going into the medal race, was called OCS. The right hand side paid on the beat with Juan Ignacio Maegli Aguero (GUA) rounding the windward mark first, closely followed by Robert Scheidt (BRA), who still had an outside chance of medalling at his sixth Olympics, but Sam Meech (NZL) rounded 3rd, which would be enough to guarantee the Kiwi a medal. Australia's Tom Burton rounded 8th with Stipanovic last.
Scheidt rounded the leeward mark 1st ahead of Jean Baptiste Bernaz (FRA) with Sam Meech holding 3rd. Up the final beat Burton, who rounded the leeward mark 8th, went hard left, trying something different to get back into the race. A change of course put the windward mark right under Sugarloaf mountain - could this race turn on its head in the shifty winds?
Scheidt opened up a 19 second lead on the final windward mark ahead of Bernaz with Meech in 3rd. Tom Burton pulled his way up to 5th - a great comeback which gave him a real chance of taking gold as Stipanovic was still in last place and picked up a penalty for pumping down the run.
Burton just got inside at the leeward mark to round 3rd. Scheidt won the race, Bernaz finished 2nd and Burton finished 3rd. It would all come down to Stipanovic... could he could claw his way back? Burton's leeward mark proved decisive and it was gold to the Australian. The Croatian will be rueing his aggressiveness in the pre-start, but it is still the first ever Olympic sailing medal for Croatia. Sam Meech secured bronze for New Zealand.
Tom Burton said after the racing, "It feels great to win gold. The percentage chance I thought that I could win the gold, was pretty slim. Halfway up the first beat I thought it's a possibility now. Obviously there's a lot of boats to pass, that was all going through my mind. Just one at a time.
"The amount of hours I have put into this, the sacrifices I have made; not going to my sister's wedding, skipping the Opening Ceremony to try and get a good result and it's all perfect now."
Finn Medal Race
With Giles Scott already have wrapped up gold with a day to spare, it was the battle for bronze that dominated the interest. USA's Caleb Paine sailed an awesome race to take the medal race win from Great Britain's Scott. This was enough to secure the bronze medal, with Vasilij Zbogar 6th confirming silver for Slovenia. Croatian Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic will be very disappointed after finishing the medal race in 10th place and dropping to 5th overall.
Caleb Paine commented after racing, "It's been a tough battle for me, and I feel fortunate to come up with a medal in the end. I saw quite a bit of breeze coming down the right side [on the first leg of the race], I hitched out there, and then was continuously playing the right. I just saw the wind, and sailed towards it."
Nacra 17 Medal Race
Points were so tight going into the Nacra 17 Medal Race. Any one of 8 teams could theoretically medal, with 4 in with a realistic chance of taking the gold.
New Zealand's Gemma Jones & Jason Saunders blasted round the course to take the race win ahead of Australia's Jason Waterhouse & Lisa Darmanin. At the final windward mark Argentina's Santiago Lange & Cecilia Carranza Saroli tried to squeeze inside the USA's Bora Gulari & Louisa Chafee at the windward mark, but didn't have room and were given a penalty by the jury. A very late penalty turn was done by them down the run.
Jones & Saunders went on to win the race from Waterhouse & Darmanin, but Lange & Saroli's 6th place gave Argentina gold, just 1 point ahead of the Australian team who took silver tied on points with Thomas Zajac & Tanja Frank in bronze. You can't get much closer than that!
49er races 10,11 & 12
A 3,5,4 score line from the day was enough to secure the gold medal for the awesome pairing of Peter Burling & Blair Tuke from New Zealand. Just like Giles Scott, they have finished the main series 24 points ahead of their nearest rivals, the Germany duo of Erik Heil & Thomas Ploessel.
Great Britain's Dylan Fletcher & Alain Sign had the best day of anyone with a 1st, 6th & 3rd to move up to 4th overall, just 10 points behind London 2012 gold medallists Nathan Outteridge & Iain Jensen. They'll need to beat the Australian's by 5 places in Thursday's medal race to take home the bronze.
49er FX races 10,11 & 12
Things really couldn't be tighter in this fleet. Spain's Tamara Echegoyen Dominguez & Berta Betanzos Moro, Brazil's Martine Soffiatti Grael & Kahena Kunze and Denmark's Jena Hansen & Katja Salskov-Iversen are all tied on 46 points going into Thursday's medal race. As if that's not enough, New Zealand's Alexandra Maloney & Molly Meech are a single point behind, which effectively puts them even as the medal race counts for double points.
It wasn't a great day for Great Britain's Charlotte Dobson & Sophie Ainsworth who go into the medal race in 7th place, but are out of reach of the medals. USA's Paris Henken & Helena Scutt are in 9th.
Women's 470 races 8,9 & 10
Great Britain's Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark go into Wednesday's Medal Race with a 20 point lead over New Zealand's London 2012 gold medallists Jo Aleh & Polly Powrie. The pair tussled at the top all day with the Brits posting a 3,2,3 scoreline and the Kiwis posting 1,1,4.
20 points means the British pair should have to just sail the course cleanly to guarantee the gold medal. The Kiwis are going to have to watch their backs with the Slovenian pair of Tina Mrak & Veronika Macarol just 2 points behind, USA's Anne Haeger & Briana Provancha a point further, France's Camille Lecointre & Hélène Defrance just 1 point behind them and Japan's Ai Kondo Yoshida & Miho Yoshioka just 2 points behind them - it's super tight!
Men's 470 races 8,9 & 10
The Croatian pair of Sime Fantela & Igor Marenic have an 11 point lead going into the Men's 470 Medal Race over Greece's Panagiotis Mantis & Pavlos Kagialis who posted an ultra-consistent 2,2,2 score line today. Australia's London 2012 gold medallists, Mathew Belcher & William Ryan are in 3rd and guaranteed a medal as they're now 27 points ahead of the USA's Stuart Mcnay & David Hughes in 4th.
Great Britain's Luke Patience & Chris Grube had an excellent day with a 4,3,4 score line, but are out of medal contention. Their two results in the 20's and the UFD penalty weigh heavily on an otherwise excellent scorecard.
Read all the Rio 2016 news, see the schedule and find useful links at www.yachtsandyachting.com/rio2016