French World Cup test awaits British crews
by Lindsey Bell, RYA 26 Apr 2016 13:17 BST
27 April - 1 May 2016
Alison Young © onEdition
British sailors will be out in force in France this week as the Sailing World Cup series makes its next stop in Hyeres from 27 April-1 May.
Some 47 British Sailing Team athletes across eight Olympic and two Paralympic classes will descend on the Mediterranean venue, with the regatta kicking off just as the Rio 2016 countdown clock hits 100 days to go.
Newly-crowned Laser Radial World Champion Alison Young has hot-footed it to the French Riviera off the back of her history-making performance in Mexico last week, joining Laser World Champion Nick Thompson as he looks to fine-tune ahead of his own world title defence, also in Mexico, next month.
Young said of the competition: "We've got some good girls out here competing – a few of the girls who weren't at the Worlds are going to be here.
"It's Laser racing so it's going to be tight racing whatever happens, and looking at the forecast we're looking at a bit of a mix of conditions which will be a good opportunity to have to adapt to different scenarios.
"I'll be focussing on some processes just to move through following on from the Worlds, but getting a good outcome would also be pleasing."
Thompson, who won bronze at the 2015 edition of the Hyeres World Cup, is joined by Lorenzo Chiavarini and Elliot Hanson in the men's single-handed event, while Finn star Giles Scott has opted to skip the regatta in preparation for his World Championships in Gaeta, Italy, next month where he'll be pursuing a fourth crown.
Rio-bound Nick Dempsey and Bryony Shaw will spearhead the British windsurfing challenge, with Princess Sofia gold medallist Tom Squires and Kieran Martin joining Dempsey in the men's RS:X fleet, and Izzy Hamilton, Youth Worlds silver medallist Emma Wilson and Imogen Sills will line up in the women's event.
World number one Shaw explained: "This is one of the last major hits in terms of international competitions both of those going to the Games, and those not going to the Games. It's a huge focus and is one of the main events in the year that everyone can still say is extremely high quality and very competitive."
Five British crews will contest the 49er event including recent European bronze medallists John Pink and Stuart Bithell and 2016 World Championship bronze medallists Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign, while Ben Saxton and Nicola Groves will be back in regatta action in the Nacra 17 event after a capsize injury forced them to retire from the Princess Sofia Trophy in Palma earlier this month.
Tom Phipps-Nikki Boniface and Rupert White-Kirstie will complete the British Sailing Team line-up in the multihull event.
In the Men's 470, Luke Patience and Chris Grube will be looking to build on their partnership which has so far heralded top five placings at both the World Championships and the Princess Sofia Trophy, while Podium Potential duo Martin Wrigley and James Taylor will experience their first flavour of the small, World Cup quality fleets.
Hannah Mills-Saskia Clark, Sophie Weguelin-Eilidh McIntyre and Amy Seabright-Anna Carpenter comprise the British entries in the 470 Women's event.
Two of the three Paralympic classes will also be on the startline in Hyeres – Para Sailing World Champions John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas will be joined by fellow British crew Craig Wood, Steve Palmer and Liam Cattermole in the 12-boat Sonar fleet, while London 2012 gold medallist Helena Lucas, Megan Pascoe, Will Street and Carol Dugdale will be among the 20 2.4mR entries.
Racing gets underway on the French Riviera on Wednesday 27 April, with the final races for the Paralympic classes on Saturday 30 April and the medal races for the Olympic classes on Sunday 1 May.
Live medal race coverage will be available on Sunday 1 May – stay with us at www.britishsailingteam.com, on Facebook or Twitter for updates throughout the week.