British Sailing Team at Aquece Rio

British Sailing Team at Aquece Rio - Overall

by Lindsey Bell, RYA 10 Aug 2014 09:07 BST 3-9 August 2014

Radial silver for Alison Young at the Aquece Rio - International Sailing Regatta 2014 © Richard Langdon / British Sailing Team

GBR double medal tally to eight on final day in Rio

Olympic sailing manager Stephen Park has hailed his team's 'substantial progress' since the 2012 Games, as British sailors rounded off the first Rio Olympic Test Event with eight medals across seven Olympic classes on Saturday (9 August).

Giles Scott's Finn class gold was the only victory for the British Sailing Team, but three silver and four bronze medals were also added to the overall British tally at this Aquece Rio International Regatta, which Park described as 'very pleasing'.

"It's been a fantastic end to the first Rio Test Event," Park explained.

"Winning eight medals in seven events of the ten that we compete in has been very pleasing. It's certainly a work in progress and of course we'd like to win more gold medals than we've won this week.

"But we were in there competing for gold medals certainly in four of the events and to be racing out for the podium in every single one of the ten events is a fantastic place to be."

With a gold and three bronze medals already in the bag heading into the final day of the regatta, it was the turn of the Laser, Laser Radial and the men's and women's 470 classes to fight it out for the podium spots heading into the final day.

British sailors were well placed in all four classes, but Nick Thompson's hopes of Laser gold had been dashed a day earlier when he was injured following a collision with another boat. The 28-year-old started the day in the silver medal position, but was unable to compete in the final medal race, which meant leaving his overall fate in the hands of his rivals who contested the medal race without him.

As it transpired, Thompson's closest competitors fared badly in the medal race and even in his absence on the final day the three-time World Championship medallist managed to walk away with a bronze medal as the medal race positions fell in his favour.

"I was in my room, feeling a little bit sorry for myself, watching online for results updates and seeing how the guys got on," said Thompson of his medal race experience, before describing the circumstances of his injury.

"It was one of those situations that you never really see – I was sailing downwind for the second race of the day on the first downwind leg and pretty much got taken out by a fellow competitor. Obviously they didn't so it on purpose, we've made up and everything's OK, but it was pretty much a bow contacting my arm quite brutally and took me out of the race and I couldn't sail today either."

The European bronze medallist took great confidence from his performance prior to his injury, and sees the race series that he put together at this venue as a huge confidence boost on the road to 2016.

"The biggest thing for me was that I was able to sail so well here," said Thompson. "Generally they're conditions that aren't usually my favourite, but I still managed to put together a really solid series and I certainly feel very comfortable in Rio now."

Laser bronze for Nick Thompson at the Aquece Rio - International Sailing Regatta 2014 - photo © Richard Langdon / British Sailing Team

Alison Young, sidelined from competition for the last ten months following illness, claimed a hard fought silver medal on her first competitive outing.

The 27-year old from Bewdley started the day in overall fourth, but sailed into the silver medal position with the help of a second place in the double-points medal race.

"I'm really chuffed with the result and a good performance in the medal race. I just sailed my own race and tried to put in the best performance possible and hope that the other girls didn't have such a good race.

"I've been out basically all year and this is my first regatta back. I started [my recovery] back on the 31 March with just 10 minutes' sailing a day so I'm really pleased to come here and medal now. Thanks to all of the British Sailing Team support staff and my coach Hugh for getting me back into the boat and back racing."

Radial silver for Alison Young at the Aquece Rio - International Sailing Regatta 2014 - photo © Richard Langdon / British Sailing Team

There was protest drama following the 470 men's medal race, in which Luke Patience and Elliot Willis did enough to secure the silver medal. But they were later protested for allegedly receiving outside assistance from their coach prior to the race start – a claim which was subsequently thrown out.

Sevenoaks's Willis explained: "We snapped a trapeze wire at about six minutes to the start. Our coach came in to help us repair it and there was a bit of confusion about whether we were inside the four minute [limit] but we were well outside out of it."

"It's a great feeling," said Patience of their podium performance at the 2016 venue.

"We're here two years out, we're on the podium having teamed up five months ago – that's a nice place to be. The medal's not the colour we're aiming for – we are moving to a place where we're looking to challenge in this class – but with the adversity that's been pushed our way this week we're really happy.

"We were the only boat going into the medal race that was able to take the win from the Aussies mathematically, so that's also a good thing."

Men's 470 silver for Luke Patience and Elliot Willis at the Aquece Rio - International Sailing Regatta 2014 - photo © Richard Langdon / British Sailing Team

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark rounded off the medal tally for the British team with a nail-biting 470 Women's medal race which started out with three boats all tied for points at the top of the table, but still not certain of finishing in the medals.

The Olympic silver medallists executed a good start to their medal race strategy, but the Sugarloaf medal race course proved once again that it's a tricky one, with places won and lost easily.

The British Sailing Team's Sophie Weguelin and Eilidh McIntyre won the final race, while Mills and Clark finished in sixth, which was not quite enough to overhaul the New Zealand duo of Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie for the top step of the podium. The British pair had to settle for silver.

"We're always happy to get a medal and to get one in the Olympic venue two years out is great. It's a huge deal," admitted Mills.

"To be racing in the medal race equal on points with the top three is really cool and it's a really great position to be in so on that front we're really happy. We've been sailing really well this week which has been nice.

"Just the medal race unfortunately didn't quite go to plan so we're a bit gutted about as we felt like we had a good strategy and executed that. It just goes to show that the medal race course is pretty tricky with lot of snakes and ladders so that's a good lesson to take forward."

Women's 470 silver for Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark at the Aquece Rio - International Sailing Regatta 2014 - photo © Richard Langdon / British Sailing Team

Team manager Park concluded: "We've still got two years to go to the Games itself and the progress we've made over the two years since 2012 has been substantial.

"We're really looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead to improve on those performances and try and make those medals a little bit shinier than perhaps some of them have been this time around."