FINNS CLASS ACT IN 49ER MEDAL STRUGGLE.
by Ian Grant. on 23 Sep 2000
Rachel Nahum
The flying Finns Thomas Johanson and Jyrki Jarvi became the leader for the Gold Medal in the physically demanding 49er class on Sydney Harbour after the fourteen race of the series today.
They sailed a purposefully realising percentage tactics with limited risks would give them the placing they needed to overtake the overnight Gold Medal leader the American brothers Jonathan and Charlie McKee.
Interest also focused on the Australian crew of Chris Nicholson and Daniel Phillips who needed a miracle performance to climb back into medal contention.
Johanson and Jarvi constructed a safe race plan and never faulted while the Aussies who were well back early never recovered to finish 10th.
Spain's World champions Santigo Lopez-Vazquez and Javier de la plaza improved their chances to finish with a medal when they won the evenly contested race over Johanson and Jarvi with Alfonso Domingos and Diogo Cayolla (Portugal) third.
PROGRESS POINTS: FIN 43 1, USA 52 2, GBR 56 3, ESP 65 4, GER 69 5, AUS 70 6, NZL 76 7, POR 81 8, DEN 92 9, UKR 99 10.
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