Aussies dominate sailing world rankings

by Megan Seton on 16 Oct 2000 Australia's highly successful Olympic Sailing Team have today dominated the
World Sailing Rankings that were issued by the International Sailing
Federation. Of the ten classes published today, eight Aussies featured in
the top four in the World.

Hitting the number one spot for the first time today were Olympic Gold
Medallists, Jenny Armstrong and Belinda Stowell. The pair surged ahead of
the previous number ones, Ruslana Taran and Olena Pakholchyk of the Ukraine.

The Aussies have had a sensational year including the Silver Medal at the
World Championship in May and the Gold Medal at the European Championship in
June. Unfortunately, the men's 470 results were not available today,
although Australia's current World Champions and Olympic Gold Medallists,
Tom King and Mark Turnbull are expected to rank highly!

Mistral sailor Lars Kleppich has also held down his number one position.
Kleppich, who narrowly missed out on a medal at the Sydney 2000 Games,
managed to keep an outside edge on New Zealand's Aaron McIntosh, who's
currently number two.

Olympic Laser Class Bronze Medallist, Michael Blackburn has been rewarded
for his consistent performances, coming up second on the rankings behind
Brazil's Robert Scheidt. 49er sailors Chris Nicholson and Daniel Phillips
are also holding down the number two position. Nicholson and Phillips are
up from number seven, following some strong results in Europe in the leadup
to the Games.

Tornado Silver Medallists, Darren Bundock and John Forbes have also held
onto their number three position on the rankings, a position also held by
five-times Olympian Colin Beashel and crew David Giles in the Star Class.

Both Jessica Crisp (Mistral Women) and Melanie Dennison (Europe) are holding
onto the number four positions in their respective classes.

In other classes, Australia's Anthony Nossiter is in 13th place in the Finn
Class, whilst Neville Wittey, Joshua Grace and David Edwards are in 12th
place in the Soling.