Double British podium success as Para Sailing Worlds draws to a close

by RYA on 28 May 2016 British sailors enjoyed a medal boost at their final major event before the Paralympic Games, claiming two podium finishes from three events on the final day of the Para World Sailing Championships in Medemblik, the Netherlands, on Saturday (28 May).

John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas secured a closely-fought silver medal in the Sonar class, while Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell also claimed silver in the two-person SKUD event.

Paralympic champion Helena Lucas finished just outside of the podium spots in the 2.4mR class.

A gripping final day of racing on the Ijsselmeer saw the Sonar title chase go right down to the wire. Defending champions Robertson, Stodel and Thomas went into the final day in silver medal position, four points from the leading American team of Rick Doerr, Hugh Freund and Brad Kendall, but with the Australian and Norwegian teams also snapping at their heels.

The points closed up even more after the first of the final day’s two races, with all four leading boats finishing in the top four. The British trio crossed third to the Americans’ fourth reduce the deficit, but went into the final race equal on points with the Australian crew and with Norway just three points behind them.

It gave rise to a nail biting final race, with the American leaders having to fight back through the pack after a tough start. With place changes even down the last downwind leg, Robertson, Stodel and Thomas did all they could to fend off the Australian team and win the race, and the rest was out of their hands.

Doerr, Freund and Kendall pulled past the Norwegians, and their third place in the final race was enough to hand them the world title by just one point.

Although they conceded their 2015 world title, helmsman Robertson was delighted with the British team’s performance this week.

“We’ve made a lot of good progress this week, and I think to have a silver medal, just a point off first, is really good for us going in to the next few months,” he admitted.

“It would have been nice to have had a gold but to have a silver at this stage of the game is pretty good actually. The way we sailed was really quite good as well, so we’re pretty chuffed.”

“Going in to the day you’ve got to be in the right mindset, enjoy it and be the best you can be. We pretty much did that so you’ve got to be happy,” the Sunderland sailor continued.

“A tight week under that sort of pressure – you’ve got to win the race and we did that so it’s pretty good for us.”

The World Championship result – their second consecutive Worlds podium finish – provides a timely confidence boost with the Rio Paralympic Games just over 100 days away.

“We’re pretty excited for the next couple of months’ run in to Rio. We’re off there in about 10 days’ time for another training event. We’ll enjoy it and try and take everything from it that we can.

“It’s our last one pretty much so we’ll really enjoy it and smash everything that we can to make sure we do come home with that gold medal that we’re striving for.”

Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell also finished the event on the second step of the podium, claiming silver in the SKUD event.

The Paralympic bronze medallists went into the final day in overall third, tied on points with the Australian 2012 gold medallists Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch. The Polish crew had a comfortable points margin, so the battle for silver was between the British and Australian former World Championship winners.

“In the first race we were leading all the way round and then there was a rules incident at the end of the last run which on the water put them one and us two, but I was pretty convinced they were in the wrong so we took it to the [jury] room and we won that protest,” Birrell explained.

“In the second race we sailed well again. Unfortunately we had our seats a bit too far forward and it was really choppy, so it was quite difficult to be quick upwind as we had a lot of water in the boat. We finished second in that race but with the Australians getting flicked [from the first] it was quite a comfortable silver.”

“This time last week I wouldn’t have taken a silver as I’d have loved to have won the Worlds, but given how the week panned out – we had a few things go against us, sailed badly in a couple of races, ripped a spinnaker in one when we were leading, which cost us ten points,” Birrell continued.

“Considering all that it was about as good as it could have got this morning, so I’m pleased with a silver but really want a gold in Rio so we need to get working hard. Congratulations to the Poles, we’ll have to find a way to beat them.”

In the 2.4mR fleet, Helena Lucas had to settle for fourth, but was pleased with her resilience to fight back through the standings after a difficult start to her regatta with equipment damage on the first day.

“I’d put myself on the back foot from day one, which is not ideal, but in some ways it’s a good learning position to be in for Rio in terms of mental toughness,” said Lucas.

“It was quite a good exercise even though you’d rather not have it. It was a case of keeping it together, staying positive and staying mentally tough. It put me under pressure, but it was good to maybe experience that.”

Germany’s Heiko Kroeger won gold, with Damien Seguin of France taking silver and Australia’s Matt Bugg bronze.

“In some ways it’s encouraging that no one really dominated,” the 2012 gold medallist continued.

“Heiko sailed really well but he had a couple of big scores on his scoresheet and the same with Damien. It was quite an open regatta with real snakes and ladders going on out there.

“Rio and the venue it is, with it being so tricky, there’s every chance of it being a bit like it out there. It’s about keeping your head, keeping calm – you might be on a snake and everyone else might be on a ladder but never give up and keep fighting to the last race.”

Elsewhere in the 2.4mR fleet, Megan Pascoe concluded her event in seventh, John Brooker in 12th, Carol Dugdale in 14th and Will Street in 19th.

Craig Wood, Steve Palmer and Liam Cattermole ended their event 14th in the Sonar fleet.

“It’s great for us to win a couple of medals at this stage going in to the Paralympic Games in Rio later in the summer, but I think Helena will also be disappointed that she missed out on the podium this week,” said RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park of the team’s World Championship showing.

“She certainly was sailing well enough and fast enough, but really just made one or two small errors which set her back particularly at the beginning of the week. In the second half of the week she sailed very well.

“I think that really sums up our performance for all three boats – they’re all sailing well enough to take on the top step of the podium, they just didn’t quite execute to the best of their abilities through the course of this week.

“Despite that it’s been a promising week and we’re looking forward to getting out there to Rio for the Paralympics.”