British Sailing Team at Aquece Rio - Day 6
by Lindsey Bell, RYA 9 Aug 2014 09:57 BST
3-9 August 2014
Brits claim four Rio medals on penultimate day
Giles Scott rounded off his Finn class victory in style in Rio on Friday, winning the final race to cap off a golden week, with British sailors also claiming three bronze medals on the penultimate day of the Aquece Rio International Regatta.
Scott was joined on the Finn podium by Ed Wright, who claimed bronze, while Nacra 17 duo Pippa Wilson-John Gimson and 49er pairing Dylan Fletcher-Alain Sign also improved their standings to secure medal-winning finishes having started their final races outside of the medal spots.
For Scott, his medal race victory proved the icing on the cake at this first Olympic Test Event, although he admitted they'd been greeted with surprise wind conditions for their final 10-boat showdown.
"It was a very pleasing day. It was very windy actually – I wasn't really expecting it to be quite so windy. We launched in our light [wind] sails and then suddenly 20 knots came in and it was a very different day to what we expected!
"I'm very happy to have won not only today but overall."
Wright was a little frustrated to have missed out on the silver, losing the second podium spot to Frenchman Jonathan Lobert on countback, but was satisfied to have performed well at the 2016 Olympic venue.
It's been an up and down week – I had a few little problems with gear failure and a scoring penalty, but it's a Test Event and I managed to come away with bronze so I'm pretty happy with that.
"It's a bit of a shame on the last downwind I was actually in the silver position and sat in a hole for a little bit, so that was a bit disappointing. But it was great racing out there today and nice breeze."
The Nacra 17 multihull fleet was the next up on the Sugarloaf medal race course and with the points all close heading into the last day, the medal race provided plenty of drama.
Wilson and Gimson – who were last-minute call-ups to the British team for this regatta following an injury to Lucy Macgregor's crew Andrew Walsh – finished the medal race in second place and then had a nervous wait to see where their closest rivals finished behind them before their podium spot could be confirmed.
"It was a mental race – I guess we expected that coming into today," Wilson explained.
"We were basically joint points with everyone around us and so we just had to try and sail the best race we could. Right in under the mountain was really shifty off the shore and really gusty. We feel like we've been through a bit of a washing machine!"
Gimson expressed the pair's delight at their performance: "Two weeks ago we weren't even due to be here, and we're unbelievably delighted to have won a bronze.
"It's been a hard week for us and a really good week to learn all the courses here. To do the best we could with that race, we're really happy with it, and especially on the medal race course when we're going to be racing here in a few years' time hopefully. It's good to get experience there."
The British Sailing Team's Ben Saxton and Hannah Diamond were also in action in the Nacra 17 medal race, finishing tenth to end their regatta in fifth place.
The 49er duo Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign concluded the British Sailing Team's podium run on this penultimate day of the regatta, breaking into the medal positions following the three short 'theatre style' races after starting the day in fourth place.
The duo won the final race by a comfortable margin to secure their spot on the podium – and it was so nearly one step higher, as the Australian pairing of Nathan Outteridge-Iain Jensen edged into eighth in the final race with the Brits needing them to be ninth or tenth to claim silver.
It wasn't to be, but the pair were happy to have shown form after some difficulties at the start of their regatta.
"We're really chuffed actually – we didn't have a great run-in," Fletcher explained.
"Al had a bit of an injury which prevented us from sailing the week before, and we've been trialling some new equipment, so all in all to come out with a bronze medal and nipping at the heels of the other guys where it just came down to that last race – we're really chuffed."
"It was frustrating to have not got the silver but with the week we've had and everything we've gone through we're really happy."
Sign added that the conditions had made for a tense finale for the men's skiff fleet.
"We went out and it was gusting anywhere between 8-20 knots so we went really too sure with what rig setting to go on. We had to just go out there with the intention of keeping both heads up and looking out to see what's coming down.
"Gradually throughout the day the wind started to decay so it got a lot trickier with some big holes on course so you had to keep your eyes about you and it kept the day pretty tricky with both of us trying to help each other out as best we could."
John Pink and Stuart Bithell improved their final regatta position to fifth with two fourth places and a second on their final day.
With the wind disappearing in Guanabara Bay as the afternoon drew on, the 49erFX fleet only managed two of their scheduled three races. Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth end their event in fifth, with a second and a fifth from their final two races, while Frances Peters and Nicola Groves were eighth overall.
Saturday (9 August) sees the final medal races for the 470 Men, 470 Women, Laser and Laser Radial classes, with British sailors well placed in the medal hunt in all four events.
With a three-way tie at the top of the table heading into the final day, the 470 Women's medal race looks set to be a nail-biting affair. Hannah Mills-Saskia Clark go into the day level with the American and New Zealand crews, with Sophie Weguelin-Eilidh McIntyre also qualifying for the ten-boat final.
In the 470 Men's event, Luke Patience and Elliot Willis will start the day in the silver medal position, while Alison Young is poised just outside of the medal spot, currently in fourth in the Laser Radial event.
Nick Thompson suffered an arm injury after being hit by a fellow competitor's boat in the Laser fleet today. The 28-year-old was awarded points redress which means he makes the medal race cut in second place, just four points from the leading Australian, but with medical checks underway it's not yet clear whether he will be in a position to race in Saturday's final.
The medal race programme is set to get underway at 1200 (local) with the Laser fleet up first, followed by the Laser Radials at 1240, the 470 Men at 1320 and the 470 Women at 1400.
Stay with us for all the news from inside the British camp throughout the Rio International Regatta at www.britishsailingteam.com, on Facebook or on Twitter.
Full results can be found at www.aquecerio.com/en/competitions/international-sailing-regatta-2014