Rio Olympics – Thompson to give everything to claim Laser debut medal

by RYA on 14 Aug 2016 Nick Thompson will give everything he’s got left to claim an Olympic Laser debut medal after seeing his chance of gold slip away in Rio today (Saturday 13 August).

Currently sitting in sixth overall, Thompson goes into Monday’s double points Medal Race knowing that he can still end his Games on a podium high, with 10 points separating the sailors in third to sixth overall.

But, a tough final opening series race today, in which he finished 22nd, left him unable to overtake Tonci Stipanovic (CRO) in pole, while realistically he is fighting it out for bronze in what is guaranteed to be a nail-biting final showdown.

On the tricky Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf) course inside Guanabara Bay, Thompson got off to a great start rounding the first mark in fourth in the opening race of today.

In a decent 12kts of breeze with big waves, he held a good position on the right-hand side of the course and looked comfortable before slipping down the fleet to 12th on the first run to the bottom mark. Again he recovered well to climb back through the fleet to cross the line in sixth. But after switching racetracks to the outside Niteroi ocean course, Thompson didn’t get to grips with conditions and his gold dream evaporated.

But he is not about to stop fighting.

Thompson said: “It was a really frustrating day. This whole week I’ve had plenty of opportunities to do better and never really got fully firing except for one day. But I’ve still got a shot at a medal and from here I’m going to have to re-set, focus on that Medal Race and give it everything.

“The first race today was a real battle the whole way round. It was a really good race with plenty of position changes and I ended up doing ok. Then we moved out of the bay and it was a very different day, I just never gave myself a chance. I had a really poor start in the middle of the line and never got into the race. It’s a bit frustrating.”

The Lasers will have a rest day tomorrow, before competing in Rio for the final time on Monday. The Laser Medal Race is scheduled to start at 6pm live on the BBC.

Laser - Men - Overall results
 

Pos	NOC	Crew	Race										Points
			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Net
1	CRO	Tonci Stipanovic	1	5	7	12	6	7	(28)	9	7	3	85	57
2	AUS	Tom Burton	(17)	8	2	10	9	14	7	2	11	4	84	67
3	NZL	Sam Meech	(19)	3	5	6	14	17	13	6	12	1	96	77
4	FRA	Jean Baptiste Bernaz	11	10	4	17	5	(47) UFD	3	15	19	2	133	86
5	BRA	Robert Scheidt	23	1	(27)	4	11	2	4	5	26	11	114	87
6	GBR	Nick Thompson	8	17	9	15	2	1	(24)	7	6	22	111	87
7	CYP	Pavlos Kontides	7	(31)	1	14	25	6	8	14	9	8	123	92
8	GUA	Juan Ignacio Maegli Aguero	18	14	3	7	16	(25)	18	17	3	7	128	103
9	ARG	Julio Alsogaray	4	2	14	1	24	(47) UFD	12	16	14	20	154	107
10	NED	Rutger van Schaardenburg	3	21	(24)	8	1	4	22	4	21	24	132	108
11	USA	Charlie Buckingham	20	7	10	22	8	(26)	15	10	10	6	134	108
12	ITA	Francesco Marrai	(39)	11	18	5	22	11	5	1	13	23	148	109
13	KOR	Jeemin Ha	26	6	(38)	3	12	9	10	21	8	14	147	109
14	GER	Philipp Buhl	16	16	8	13	17	13	1	25	(34)	17	160	126
15	RUS	Sergey Komissarov	2	9	19	23	7	10	16	(31)	28	15	160	129
16	SWE	Jesper Stalheim	10	23	26	28	10	15	2	3	20	(31)	168	137
17	BEL	Wannes Van Laer	27	(30)	12	11	23	12	23	13	1	18	170	140
18	POL	Kacper Zieminski	34	28	6	(47) DSQ	3	5	20	12	22	10	187	140
19	ISV	Cy Thompson	13	4	11	(35)	32	33	6	20	17	16	187	152
20	SIN	Colin Cheng	5	20	13	18	21	(47) UFD	27	22	25	9	207	160
21	EST	Karl-Martin Rammo	24	19	17	(44)	30	28	36	8	2	5	213	169
22	POR	Gustavo Lima	15	15	20	25	15	8	11	28	(38)	33	208	170
23	CAN	Lee Parkhill	(43)	37	33	9	19	20	14	23	4	13	215	172
24	ESA	Enrique Jose Arathoon Pacas	(33)	32	28	30	4	3	9	32	18	21	210	177
25	DEN	Michael Hansen	6	24	23	20	(31)	31	19	26	5	26	211	180
26	FIN	Kaarle Tapper	(32)	12	31	29	27	18	17	11	23	19	219	187
27	NOR	Kristian Ruth	(47) UFD	13	32	2	29	16	25	47 BFD	15	30	256	209
28	CZE	Viktor Teply	29	18	30	19	13	23	29	29	32	(34)	256	222
29	MNE	Milivoj Dukic	12	26	(35)	24	33	19	32	24	33	29	267	232
30	CHI	Matias Del Solar	22	(35)	22	32	35	24	34	33	24	12	273	238
31	PER	Stefano Peschiera	37	40	16	16	28	22	21	27	35	(47) DNF	289	242
32	IRL	Finn Lynch	14	27	15	39	18	27	33	30	40	(47) BFD	290	243
33	HUN	Benjamin Vadnai	9	44	21	21	(47) DSQ	30	30	39	29	25	295	248
34	TUN	Youssef Akrout	21	29	34	26	(38)	32	37	35	16	27	295	257
35	MAS	Khairulnizam Mohd Afendy	38	33	40	33	20	21	(47) RET	37	31	28	328	281
36	ESP	Joaquín Blanco	28	(47) DNF	25	40	26	29	26	47 DNE	30	35	333	286
37	THA	Keerati Bualong	25	38	37	31	37	39	35	18	27	(47) BFD	334	287
38	VEN	Jose Gutierrez	35	36	36	(42)	39	35	40	19	37	37	356	314
39	TTO	Andrew Lewis	42	34	39	36	40	34	31	(47) BFD	36	32	371	324
40	RSA	Stefano Raffaele Marcia	30	25	42	38	43	38	(44)	36	39	40	375	331
41	BER	Cameron Pimentel	31	(45)	41	27	44	42	39	34	42	39	384	339
42	MEX	Yanic Gentry	41	42	29	43	34	36	38	(47) DNF	41	36	387	340
43	EGY	Ahmed Ragab	36	22	44	41	41	41	42	40	(45)	42	394	349
44	COK	Peter Elisa Henry	40	39	43	34	36	40	45	(47) BFD	44	41	409	362
45	SEY	Rodney Govinden	45	41	(47) DNF	37	42	37	41	41	43	38	412	365
46	ANG	Manuel Lelo	44	43	45	45	(47) DNF	43	43	38	46	43	437	390