Friends and Rivals: Differing days for Hannah Snellgrove and Marit Bouwmeester
by Mark Jardine & Andi Robertson 4 Aug 19:51 BST
4 August 2024
Hannah Snellgrove (GBR) Women's Dinghy on August 4 in Marseille at the Paris 2024 Olympic Regatta © World Sailing / Lloyd Images
Hannah Snellgrove may have won more races in the Women's Dinghy at the Paris 2024 Olympics, but it's Marit Bouwmeester, gold medallist at Rio 2016, who tops the table on 19 points, with her nearest rival 28 points behind. If she maintains that lead in the next two races, then the Medal Race will be a formality.
It was a hard day on the water for the fleet, with Bouwmeester picking up an 11th, which is amazingly her first result outside the top four. For Snellgrove it was even harder, with a 20th and 29th, which were hard to swallow after her back-to-back bullets in races four and five:
"Unfortunately, I could not replicate the two firsts today which is a shame, but today is today and tomorrow is a new day. And so, I am tenth, and tomorrow is the last day, and you have to send it. You have to give it everything. Getting a couple of bullets yesterday was a bit surreal, and there have been a few 'pinch me moments' it has been so awesome.
"I have lots of friends and family back home and I think I have 20 something friends who have just flown in, and so it is so special now to share it with those who have been with me on the whole journey.
"I have not really looked at the points too closely, but Marit has been on form this week. We had a good chat yesterday and she was joking about me being fast downwind and that was supposed to be her 'thing'. We have a good friendship, as there is all the way through this fleet, a very healthy rivalry but lots of friendship."
Marit Bouwmeester reinforced just how competitive this fleet has become:
"Today was a tough day. The fleet is tough, the level has grown, and this Olympics is quite the same as Rio when you are in the middle of a Bay and of course Weymouth and Tokyo are a bit more open sea. It is challenging and I love a challenge. I am just focusing on sailing the best I can and not doing any maths or anything. I need to focus on the execution. I was too careful at the start this last race, and so I hopefully will get back to my level tomorrow.
"I live by myself away from the team as with a kid there are all sorts of bugs around. I am getting lots of sleep and I discuss the day with my coach, we speak the same language and I think he is doing a great job with a lot of observations and so on. My daughter is usually asleep when I get in, she has a lot going on and doesn't always have time for me."
No matter where you are in the fleet it's incredibly demanding, but both Hannah and Marit focus on what's important to them at the time, so that they can then share time with family and friends afterwards, knowing that they're there for them.
Full results so far can be found at paris2024.sailing.org/racing/results-centre