ISAF World Sailing Championships - Day 9

Shirley Robertson, Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton announced as the first members of the British Olympic Team for Athens 2004 © Peter Bentley

Shirley Robertson, Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton announced as the first members of the British Olympic Team for Athens 2004 © Peter Bentley

British Olympic Association name first members of Olympic team for Athens

Simon Clegg, Chief Executive of the British Olympic Association (BOA), today (Saturday) announced British sailors Shirley Robertson, Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton as the first members of the British Olympic Team 2004 at their world championships in Cadiz.

Robertson, the gold medal winning Europe class sailor at the 2000 Games in Sydney, has changed boat for the 2004 Olympics and teamed up with Webb and Ayton in her bid for successive medals. This team recently took gold at the Pre-Olympic event in Athens and secured their spot in the team following a week of mixed results to finish seventh overall in the forty-one boat fleet. This result was just good enough to meet the qualification criteria set by the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) and the BOA.

Commenting on their selection, Robertson said, "This week was all about qualification and getting to Athens. We know we can perform well there having taken gold and bronze medals in the last two Pre-Olympic events. The conditions this week were tough but we've done what we set out to do and now we can concentrate on the Olympics next year."

Elsewhere, the British sailing team has been fighting hard for podium positions. Iain Percy and Steve Mitchell, in the two-man Star class, have been holding off their rivals all week but a disappointing result today put the gold medal out of reach for the defending world champions and has left them, going into the final race tomorrow, fighting it out with the 2000 Olympic Finn silver medallist Fredrick Loof and Anders Ekstrom of Sweden for the silver medal. Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau of France won the world championship with a race to spare.

In the two-man 49er class Chris Draper and Sydney Olympic silver medallist Simon Hiscocks continue to head up the 49er class. Two second places for the British pairing has seen them pull out an eight-point lead over nearest rivals Andre Fonseca and Rodrigo Duarte of Brazil. The other British teams of Alister Richardson and Pete Greenhalgh and Paul Brotherton and crew Mark Asquith are also making good ground, with Richardson and Greenhalgh moving up into ninth place overall and Brotherton and Asquith are currently placed eleventh.

The next generation of talent is also coming through to compliment the known performers with the young crew of Leigh McMillan and Mark Bulkeley maintaining their second place overall after four races and young female 470 sailors Christina Bassadone and Katherine Hopson are emerging as a major force lying second overall.

Tomorrow sees the final day of racing in the Mistral and Star fleets whilst many of the classes will catch up on races missed due to the light winds today.

Results:

Laser (day three)
1, Gustavo Lima, POR (1,1,(3),2,1,1) 6 pts
2, Robert Scheidt, BRA ((4),1,4,1,1,2) 9 pts
3, Michael Blackburn, AUS (5,1,5,1,1,(11)) 13 pts
GBR
15, Ed Wright (1,7,5,7,(11),7) 27 pts
22, Paul Goodison (15,11,5,3,2,(21)) 36 pts
27, Mark James Howard (11,6,7,(12),10,8) 42 pts
42, Andrew Commander (17,6,(24),4,18,7) 52 pts
44, Jim Taylor (2,(20),14,14,5,20) 55 pts
50, Tim Hulse (3,18,13,10,15,(31)) 59 pts
57, Mark Powell (19,13,8,(23),22,3) 65 pts
86, Dan Holman (14,7,23,20,(29),28) 92 pts
93, James Green (12,23,(24),18,20,24) 97 pts

Tornado (day three)
1, Darren Bundock/John Forbes, AUS (2,1,2,14) 19 pts
2, Leigh McMillan/Mark Bulkeley, GBR (1,7,1,12) 21 pts
3, Mitch Booth/Herbert Dercksen, NED (7,11,4,4) 26 pts
other GBR
7, Hugh Styles/Adam May (9,5,12,11) 37 pts
21, Ian Barker/Dan Newman (43,29,5,27) 104 pts
22, Rob Wilson/Martin Sellars (29,36,15,29) 109 pts
57, Andrew Walsh/Edward Barney (59,64,45,52) 220 pts

470 Women (day three)
1, Sofia Bekatorou/Emilia Tsoulfa, GRE (1,1,(2),1,1,2) 6 pts
2, Christina Bassadone/Katherine Hopson (4,4,3,(OCS),2,4) 17 pts
3, Vlada Ilienko/Natalia Gaponovich, RUS (2,4,(6),3,3,6) 18 pts
GBR
11, Josie Gibson/Sue Parkin (5,8,12,2,9,13) 36 pts
18, Helena Lucas/Jenny Heeley (7,10,(17),5,8,15) 44 pts

470 Men (day three)
1, Gabrio Zandona/Andrea Trani, ITA (1,1,2,2) 6 pts
2, Alvaro Marinho/Miguel Nunes, POR (8,4,1,3) 16 pts
3, Mathew Belcher/Daniel Belcher, AUS (5,1,5,6) 17 pts
GBR
20, Nick Rogers/Joe Glandfield (10,10,9,7) 36 pts
38, Mark Plummer/Oliver Hawkley (14,11,17,15) 57 pts
45, Graham Vials/Bevis Field (20,20,6,16) 62 pts
50, Nic Asher/Elliot Willis (18,13,16,17) 64 pts
62, John Pink/John Gimson (29,18,21,11) 79 pts
90, Neil Marsden/Graham Nelson (29,29,28,27) 113 pts

49er (day three)
1, Chris Draper/Simon Hiscocks, GBR (3,2,2,1,(4),2,2,2) 14 pts
2, Andre Fonseca/Rodrigo Duarte, BRA (1,3,3,(DSQ),5,3,6,1) 22 pts
3, Marcus Baur/Max Groy, GER (3,2,7,2,1,5,(16),3) 23 pts
GBR
9, Alister Richardson/Peter Greenhalgh (1,14, (DNC),7,4,4,2,1) 32 pts
11, Paul Brotherton/Mark Asquith ((9),7,7,5,4,8,1,4) 36 pts
16, Stephen Morrison/Ben Rhodes (1,8,(11),6,6,11,6,4) 42 pts
53, Alex Hopson/John Garth (18,(24),18,15,19,21,12,17) 120 pts
55, Andrew Rice/Nicholas Murphy ((DNC),16,DNC,10,14,19,16,16) 122 pts
60, Ben Mcgrane/Jonathan Clegg (20,16,22,19,(DNF),18,18,15) 128 pts
72, Brian Wilson/Philip Kennard ((DNC),DNC,OCS,20,17,24,21,23) 167 pts

Finn (day three)
1, Jonas Hoegh-Christensen, DEN (4,3,6,2,8,(23)) 23 pts
2, Ben Ainslie, GBR (3,5,7,8,(19),4) 27 pts
3, Andrew Simpson, GBR (32,14,9,1,1,3) 28 pts
GBR
18, Charlie Cumbley (7,12,24,(47),29,20) 92 pts
21, Dave Mellor ((51),16,21,6,17,35) 95 pts
39, Matt Howard (44,38,(63),40,36,19) 177 pts
46, Edward Greig ((57),36,42,38,39,32) 187 pts

Star - Gold fleet (after day five)
1, Xavier Rohart/Pascal Rambeau, FRA (1,2,(5),2,3,1,4,1,2) 16 pts
2, Fredrik Loof/Anders Ekstrom, SWE (3,6,2,3,2,3,1,(DNF),1) 21 pts
3, Iain Percy/Steve Mitchell, GBR (13,1,1,2,1,1,2,2,(19)) 23 pts

Mistral Men - Gold fleet (after day five)
1, Przemek Miarczynski, POL (1,1,1,(8),1,1,1,1,1,6) 14 pts
2, Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, GRE (4,3,2,(OCS),1,21,5,4,3,3) 46 pts
3, Gal Fridman, ISR (3,4,1,(DSQ),7,10,4,12,5,2) 48 pts
GBR
8, Nick Dempsey ((14),7,4,6,4,3,11,6,19,9) 64 pts
28, Dominic Tidey (16,12,7,19,3,6,(51),44,23,34) 164 pts
55, Leo McCallin (20,24,22,33,(50),27,34,48,42,45) 295 pts

Mistral Women (after day five)
1, Lee Korsitz, ISR (1,4,3,6,1,(32),2,2,14,5) 38 pts
2, Barbara Kendall, NZL (2,1,(12),5,11,9,4,1,10,1) 44 pts
3, Lai Mingshuang, CHN (9,3,9,8,(17),8,7,8,3,3) 58 pts
GBR
11, Natasha Sturges (18,(21),18,15,10,7,10,16,1,20) 115 pts
30, Bryony Shaw (23,44,28,34,(46),42,22,13,8,32) 246 pts

Yngling - Final results
1, Hannah Swett/Joan Touchette/Melissa Purdy, USA ((16),12,2,7,1,10,4,1,1,12,4) 54 pts
2, Ulrike Schuemann/Wibke Buelle/Winnie Lippert, GER (15,(27),1,1,13,2,2,10,4,1,12) 61 pts
3, Dorte O Jensen/Helle Jespersen/Rachel Kiel, DEN (1,5,7,17,(32),6,5,15,7,2,2) 67 pts
GBR
7, Shirley Robertson/Sarah Webb/Sarah Ayton ((37),18,5,10,2,3,1,18,3,21,17) 98 pts
12, Cathy Foster/Jane Norris/Annie Lush (22,23,10,5,10,(28),3,7,20,11,21) 132 pts
39, Dominica Lyndsey/Lucy Burn/Vicky Symmers (40,39,29,34,OCS,41,(DNC),DNC,40,27,27) 361 pts

Europe - Gold fleet, final results
1, Siren Sundby, NOR (1,1,3,5,2,3,14,1,23,1,(DNC)) 54 pts
2, Sari Multala, FIN (1,1,2,1,33,(53),1,15,1,6,1) 62 pts
3, Mary Gaillard, USA (9,4,3,7,5,8,21,(33),5,9,10) 81 pts
GBR
26, Laura Baldwin (29,30,23,25,29,10,20,(43),22,12,13) 213 pts
55, Nicky Muller (9,31,20,18,54,47,34,55,34,44,(54)) 345 pts