British Team at 2020 RS:X Windsurfing World Championships - Overall
by British Sailing Team 29 Feb 2020 21:40 GMT
25-29 February 2020
Emma Wilson - 2020 RS:X Windsurfing World Championships, final day © Caitlin Baxter
Emma Wilson and Tom Squires can count themselves among the planet's best Olympic class windsurfers after both posted top ten finishes at the RS:X World Championships.
Wilson, 20, narrowly missed out on a podium spot to finish fourth overall in the women's fleet, equalling her 2018 result, while Squires scored a world championship personal best coming home ninth in the men's division.
The pair, who will represent Team GB at Tokyo 2020 this summer, both pinpointed consistency as a key area to work on in the lead-up to the Games.
A third in the double points medal race would have raised Wilson onto the podium had French rival Charline Picon not been ahead of her.
"I didn't have a great start to the medal race but I worked hard to get back into it and crossed the line in third," said Wilson, from Christchurch, Dorset. "Unfortunately Charline was just in front of me so I couldn't move up onto the podium. I'm pretty happy with fourth overall but I've still got lots to work on. A little bit more consistency is needed - two bad races over the week effectively cost me a medal. I'll keep training hard, pushing myself and trying to improve."
Oxford's Squires, 26, who won Sail Melbourne in the run-up to the worlds, won the final fleet race of the regatta to go into the medal race in ninth, but just missed out on his target of eighth overall.
"I had an up-and-down week," Squires said. "I've struggled with my starts but managed to pull it through and get into the medal race with a bullet in the final fleet race which I was stoked about. I was aiming for a top-eight finish and came home ninth overall so it's a bittersweet ending. I've got a lot more work to do on my light wind sailing and need to be more consistent but I think I have a chance of pulling it all together for Tokyo 2020."
Brits Andy Brown and Kieran Holmes-Martin came home 22nd and 43rd respectively.
The pair will be back in action at the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma in late March, followed by the RS:X European Championships in Athens in May.
RS:X results can be found here.