Please select your home edition
Edition
Craftinsure 2023 LEADERBOARD

Six Miami medals for Britain as first 2017 World Cup concludes

by Lindsey Bell, RYA 30 Jan 2017 07:22 GMT 22-29 January 2016

Britain's sailors concluded their first World Cup regatta of the 2020 cycle with a six-medal haul as the Sailing World Cup Miami drew to a close on Biscayne Bay on Sunday (29 January).

Gold for Dylan Fletcher-Stuart Bithell (49er) and a British 1-2 in the Nacra 17 event from Ben Saxton-Nicola Groves and Tom Phipps-Nikki Boniface on Saturday were topped up with two further silver medals and a bronze from Sunday's second day of medal racing.

Lorenzo Chiavarini captured the first British medal of the final day in the Laser class, leapfrogging compatriot and two-time World Champion Nick Thompson to the third step of the podium.

Thompson had started the day in the bronze medal position – but as the only sailor who could realistically challenge Cypriot Pavlos Kontides for silver, a match race ensued as Kontides looked to protect his position and the British Rio representative was squeezed to the back of the fleet.

Chiavarini sailed to fifth place in the race, edging Thompson, who finished ninth in the medal race, out of the podium spots by just one point.

"It was a pretty challenging event – shifty all the time," Chiavarini explained. "To have average scores and come third in the whole event was fantastic. It was a high scoring event, but my downwind speed always took me back to where I needed to be and kept me in contention.

"The medal race was quite a challenging one," continued the 23-year-old. "I got myself to third and then had a small error, not knowing that there had been a change of course. I thought it was all over, but again my downwind speed got me the places I needed at the very end to get the last point on Nick. To come home with a medal is a pretty fantastic feeling!"

"It was a very high-scoring event, but I enjoyed my first event back," said Thompson, who'd not sailed his Laser since the Rio Games.

"It was a really interesting medal race. I was in that awkward position of being one those guys who could almost beat second place so I ended up having a match race with Pavlos. I did a reasonable job in the pre-start and the first beat, and then just couldn't quite get away for the second lap. So I slipped down, but it's good to see Lorenzo take the third."

Michael Beckett also contested the medal race, finishing sixth in the race and ninth overall.

Ben Cornish started the Finn medal race in silver medal position, and had his work cut out defending it during a testing medal race in shifty wind conditions.

Cornish was tenth after the first lap and looking out of the medal positions altogether before a second lap comeback saw him reel in and then overtake key rival Anders Pedersen of Norway to reclaim his silver medal position.

Cornish finished seventh in the medal race to Pedersen's eighth, with fellow British contender Henry Wetherell crossing sixth to end his event in sixth place overall.

"It's been a good week. I finished up second and had a reasonably consistent series and not a bad medal race to end the week," Cornish reflected.

"There's been a real mix of conditions with not really any straightforward days. There's been some difficult positioning, tactical racing and quite a small fleet which always makes it important to be fast."

In a nail-biting 470 Women's medal race – the final race of the regatta – Sophie Weguelin-Eilidh McIntyre so nearly made it a third gold for the British Sailing Team, but were edged out by Dutch duo Afrodite Zegers-Annaloes van Veen just before the finish.

The two teams had been effectively level heading into the final race, but with the points close between four boats they could also have ended up out of the medal spots altogether.

The British pairing had a good start and first leg, but the Dutch crew just got in front at the windward mark. Weguelin-McIntyre clawed back on the second upwind leg and had gold within their sights on the final downwind but for a small error which allowed the Dutch pair back through in the shifty conditions, and the British duo had to settle for silver.

"It was a tough race," said 22-year-old McIntyre. "We just made a small error at the leeward mark and meant we got silver, which is still really good, and we've learnt loads this week to take forward."

"We let the one boat that we needed to control get a little bit of leverage over us into the first mark, which ultimately put us on the back foot," Weguelin explained. "We gained back from there with quite a nice downwind and a good upwind to get back in control again, but we missed a gybe at the leeward gate and ultimately ended up second.

"We should have gybed away and come back to get an overlap at the leeward gate. So it was a big learning opportunity for us and something to take forward for our future racing."

Fellow British Sailing Team crews Amy Seabright-Anna Carpenter and Jess Lavery-Flora Stewart also qualified for the medal race. They finished eighth and ninth in the race, and sixth and ninth overall.

"Miami has provided a challenging first international World Cup regatta of 2017," said RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park.

"The race committees have done a good job to get the full series of races in, despite some light and changeable conditions through the course of the week. Other than the final medal race day on Sunday where the rain and fog came in and made it a little bit less Miami-like, Miami itself has put on a fantastic show and has been a great venue for some great racing.

"From a British perspective, it's been great to see sailors fighting it out at the front of the fleet – particularly some of our up and coming sailors who've been doing especially well and have challenged for the podium through the course of this regatta.

"Hopefully that bodes well as we move into this new Tokyo 2020 cycle."

2017 Sailing World Cup Miami:

Gold
Dylan Fletcher-Stuart Bithell (49er)
Ben Saxton-Nicola Groves (Nacra 17)

Silver
Tom Phipps-Nikki Boniface (Nacra 17)
Ben Cornish (Finn)
Sophie Weguelin-Eilidh McIntyre (470 Women)

Bronze
Lorenzo Chiavarini (Laser)

Full Sailing World Cup Miami results here

Follow the British Sailing Team's latest news and updates at www.britishsailingteam.com, on Facebook or on Twitter.

Related Articles

iQFOiL Euros kickstart LA cycle for Brits
GBR windfoilers will be out in force in Cagliari The British Sailing Team's windfoilers will be out in force in Cagliari, with six female athletes and five male athletes competing. Posted on 3 Oct
The making of Ellie Aldridge
A promising British Sailing Team dinghy racer when kite foiling was brought into the Olympics Ellie Aldridge was a promising dinghy racer with the British Sailing Team when kite foiling was brought into the Olympics... and she knew she had to give it a go. Posted on 30 Jul
The making of Vita Heathcote
Discover the extraordinary story of the youngest member of the Team GB sailing team The youngest member of the Team GB sailing team at just 22 years old, Vita Heathcote will be making her Olympic debut at Paris 2024. Posted on 29 Jul
The making of Fynn Sterritt
Two decades ago he told his school mates he was going to the Olympics one day.. Fynn Sterritt told his school mates he was going to go to the Olympics one day... and two decades on that vision has come true. Posted on 28 Jul
The making of Saskia Tidey
The three-time Olympian is a powerhouse of the 49erFX class Three-time Olympian Saskia Tidey is a powerhouse of the 49erFX class - and after teaming up with young gun Freya Black she's back to take on the world's best at Paris 2024 with Team GB. Posted on 28 Jul
The making of Connor Bainbridge
He fell in love with windsurfing as a kid, then discovered kiting Connor Bainbridge fell in love with windsurfing as a kid growing up in West Yorkshire. Soon that love became an obsession, and by the time he was in his late teens he was part of the British Sailing Team. Posted on 27 Jul
The making of Sam Sills
A world champion windsurfer at youth level, Sam is now a master of flying in the new iQFoil A world champion windsurfer at youth level, Sam Sills is now a master of 'flying' in the new iQFoil, which makes its debut at Paris 2024. Posted on 27 Jul
The making of Chris 'Twiggy' Grube
The true legend is back for a third time in Team GB colours Back for a third time in Team GB colours, Chris 'Twiggy' Grube is a true legend of the 470 class. After narrowly missing out on a medal at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2024, Twiggy is back for one more tilt at Paris 2024 as the 470 becomes a mixed class. Posted on 26 Jul
The making of Freya Black
Discover the British Sailing Team's young gun 49er helm's route to Paris 2024 One of two 22-year-olds on TeamGB's sailing team for Paris 2024, Freya Black is one to watch. This young gun teamed up with Saskia Tidey in the 49er FX class just over two years ago, and is now set to make her Olympic debut in Marseille. Posted on 25 Jul
The making of Micky Beckett
From learning to sail in a homemade boat in Pembrokeshire to becoming one of the world's best From learning to sail in a homemade boat in Pembrokeshire to becoming one of the world's best Olympic class sailors, hear the incredible story of how ILCA 7 sailor Micky Beckett earned his spot with TeamGB for Paris 2024. Posted on 24 Jul