Scott seals gold as Santander Worlds draws to a close

Giles Scott is crowned Finn champion at the ISAF Sailing World Championships © Ocean Images / British Sailing Team

Giles Scott is crowned Finn champion at the ISAF Sailing World Championships © Ocean Images / British Sailing Team

Giles Scott's overriding emotion at winning his second world title was one of 'relief' as he closed off a dominant performance at the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Santander on Sunday (21 September).

His was the only gold for the British Sailing Team, with bronze medals also going to Scott's Finn class stablemate Ed Wright in a nail-biting final day medal race, as well as 470 Women's pairing Hannah Mills-Saskia Clark and Nick Thompson in the Laser to hit the British medal target of four in Santander.

The British team also secured country qualification in each of the ten events for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at this first opportunity.

Scott went into the Finn finale with a near unassailable margin of 20 points, and needed to just sail a clean race to add 2014 Worlds gold to his crown from Perth 2011, and extend his winning run to nine regattas since his return to the Olympic campaign trail in September last year.

Scott finished fourth in the 10-boat medal race to cap off his victory, celebrating with a swim in the Santander harbour in front of the packed spectator stands.

"I'm very happy with the way this week has gone and this season has gone. I feel as if I am on track and just really relieved and happy to have come away with a victory here," Scott explained.

"The fleet racing went really well. I was able to put together a consistent series which is very good to give yourself a good buffer going into the medal race, and the final race for me was very relaxed because I had a very good margin. I just had to get round the course. It gave me a lot of time to reflect and enjoy the race."

"I don't really see myself as being unstoppable," said the modest 27-year-old when questioned by journalists about his unbeaten streak.

"I think there are still a lot of areas I can work on which is kind of what I try and focus on. I have had a great season and I have managed to win a lot of regattas this year so I hope it continues.

"It is something I have put a lot of emphasis on since I came back from the America's Cup. I have watched the likes of the Percys and the Ainslies being dominant in the fleet. It is important to being able to go into the Games as a favourite – it is kind of what everybody out here is trying to do. Ultimately, that is the goal going forward."

"I am really, really happy with where I am at."

Ed Wright went into the medal race expecting a close battle for bronze with France's Jonathan Lobert, with just one point separating the Brit from his third-placed rival, but pulled through after a difficult start to overtake Lobert in the final standings.

Wright finished third in the shifty, light wind medal race to claim the third step of the podium, with silver going to Croatia's Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic.

"It's been a hard week. I had an OCS earlier in the week and was struggling a little bit because of that," admitted Wright, who, like Scott, has now also secured medals at the three major events of the European Championships, the Rio Test Event and the World Championships this season.

"It was all to play for today – it was a really fun race to be a part of and I really enjoyed sailing it. I was really happy to get the medal.

"I can't complain about that. I just need to wind it up a little bit more to try and catch Giles. I've got a big winter planned, so it should be fun."

Elsewhere in final day medal race action, John Pink and Stuart Bithell finished third to improve their overall finishing position to sixth, while in the women's 49erFX event, Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth consolidated their seventh place overall.

"I'd sum it up as a week of learning," said Ainsworth of their World Championship regatta.

"We feel like we've got more potential – but there's a long way to go with two years now until the Games so the fact that we're in the top ten and often in a place where we can medal just means that we need to learn how to close out the regatta."

The 25-year-old continued: "It seems to be when the boat handling and the fleet get quite close together that we don't quite get the best from our performance. That's definitely something that we have to go away and work on.

"It is a bit disappointing, but it's a whole lot better than last year's Worlds where we didn't even make the gold fleet!

For Pink and Bithell, their sixth place at the World Championship marked a solid first season together – but Bithell says they're both hungry for more.

"We're competitive folk – we had a little bit to gain today and quite a bit to lose so we went out and attacked the race and we're happy to have come away with the best outcome we could have today," the Olympic 470 class silver medallist explained.

"It's our first World Championship together – it's my first 49er World Championship ever – so coming away sixth you can't be too disappointed, but we had our eyes on medals. Between us we had a lot of experience.

"We came here to get a medal and we haven't got one, so we're a little bit disappointed."

In the Nacra 17 event, France's Billy Besson and Marie Riou had the world title already sewn up heading into the final day, but the points and remaining podium positions were incredibly tight with seven of the ten boats mathematically capable of making the podium – including Britain's Pippa Wilson-John Gimson, who went into the day in fourth, and Lucy Macgregor-Andy Walsh.

But a first lap crash put an end to Wilson and Gimson's medal hopes, as Wilson explained.

"We had a good start in middle of the fleet going upwind. We were on the starboard layline about fifth and a boat tried to cross us and couldn't, so hit us basically and that meant we were going backwards on the layline while everyone else sailed around us so we ended up last in the race.

"It cost us quite a lot, so it's painful – but that's sport isn't it?"

"We had a really good early part of the event – the bigger fleet racing went well for us," reflected the 2008 Olympic champion, who ended the event in eighth.

"We gave ourselves a bit too much to do today anyway and on the last two days we made some mistakes that we can definitely improve. It's about trying to be better at the end of the day – lots to work on.

Lucy Macgregor and Andy Walsh finished their medal race in sixth to end their first World Championship together in seventh place.

"It's been an interesting event and fairly challenging from a racing perspective over the last ten days or so," said RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park as the Championships drew to a close.

"However, it's been pleasing to have managed to qualify the country for the Olympic Games at the first opportunity in each of the ten events, and to come away with four medals which was in line with our target coming here.

"That said, we were disappointed not to win a medal in the Nacra, the 470 Men and arguably we could have won one in the 49erFX as well halfway through the week."

Park continued: "The event's definitely highlighted some areas that need some work over the winter time and a number of sailors will be going home disappointed, particularly bearing in mind the progress we made in Rio Test Event earlier in the year and the performances that we had there.

"The competition at this event yet again provides further evidence, if any was needed, of the increasing level of competition internationally and the small differences between each of the positions. There were some fantastic individual performances from various countries in certain events, but outside of those the competition for the remaining positions is really tight.

"We've had a good showing across the classes and we've been in the running for medals in nine out of the ten classes, but ultimately it's about winning medals and our sailors will be disappointed that we've not won more and we've let some opportunities slip away in Santander."

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