Goodison grabs fourth Laser European crown

by Lindsey Bell on 20 Jul 2008 British sailing star Paul Goodison ensured the perfect send-off to the Beijing Olympics, by capturing the Laser European Championship title in Nieuwpoort, Belgium, on Saturday. It’s the fourth straight European crown for the Skandia Team GBR sailor, and a timely boost for the 30-year-old from Rotherham before he heads to the Olympic sailing venue in Qingdao for his second Olympic Games in just over a week’s time.

Aside from a race result of 26th following a capsize in the seventh race of the series, Goodison posted an otherwise consistent set of results amid a week of shifty and variable wind conditions at the Belgian venue. Goodison finished as the top European sailor, but was second overall in the international fleet behind Australia’s two-time world champion Tom Slingsby.

Goodison’s Skandia Team GBR training partner Nick Thompson – a European bronze medallist in 2007 – finished just outside of the podium positions, placed as the fourth European sailor.

With racing cancelled on Saturday’s final day due to strong winds, Goodison was disappointed to not have had the chance to get the better of his Australian rival in the overall regatta standings, but was otherwise delighted with his result.

'I was a bit gutted that we didn’t sail today as I still had the chance to catch [Tom]. We’d been in different groups all week, so only raced against each other for the first time in the gold fleet on Friday.

'But I’m really happy to have done so well,' continued Goodison, who heads to China unbeaten on the Olympic racetrack after winning both Test Events at Qingdao in 2006 and 2007.

'I didn’t come here necessarily with the aim to win, but I feel I’ve been sailing well all week so it’s great to have got the result in the last event before China.'

Goodison now heads home to Weymouth for a week of light training before making the trip to Qingdao for the Olympic Games, where racing for the Laser and Laser Radial classes get underway on Tuesday 12 August.

In the women’s Laser Radial event, held concurrently in Nieuwpoort, Andrea Brewster finished as the highest place British sailor in eighth place, with Team GB Olympic representative Penny Clark in 15th.

In the Men's Radial Britain's Jon Emmett took the Silver after he was overtaken by Poland's Wojciech Zemke in the last race sailed. Matthieu Frei of France moved up to third place.

Final Leading overall results

European Laser Standard Senior Championship 2008, 1 discard

1 AUS 192274 Slingsby Tom 11,0 1 1 1 (4) 1 4 2 1
2 GBR 193501 Goodison Paul 22,0 1 3 5 2 7 2 (26) 2
3 SLO 182671 Zbogar Vasilij 22,0 4 3 1 3 (9) 3 5 3
4 CAN 188818 Leigh Michael 24,0 3 1 4 (7) 6 2 7 1
5 GER 183431 Schadewaldt Tobias 26,0 7 1 3 1 7 (8) 3 4
6 GBR 193264 Thompson Nick 27,0 2 3 (7) 2 4 3 7 6
7 NED 192625 Van Schaardenburg Rutger 36,0 6 6 (16) 5 4 5 6 4
8 POL 189010 Porozynski Karol 38,0 12 4 6 8 (30) 6 1 1
9 ITA 189107 Romero Diego 39,0 3 7 5 10 (bfd) 1 2 11
10 CHI 161167 Del Solar Matias 39,0 2 5 7 8 1 (21) 10 6

European Laser Radial Women's Championship 2008, 1 discard

1 FIN 190609 Multala Sari 8,0 1 1 1 1 2 (16) 1 1
2 BEL 188816 Van Acker Evi 17,0 3 1 5 1 3 (9) 3 1
3 FRA 191336 de Turckheim Sophie 22,0 1 2 3 2 (26) 10 2 2
4 AUS 192293 Blanck Sarah 24,0 4 (15) 2 7 1 1 2 7
5 POL 192682 Szotynska Katarzyna 27,0 2 4 (14) 4 2 1 4 10
6 FRA 185350 Steyaert Sarah 31,0 3 3 3 6 6 2 8 (11)
7 USA 189011 Railey Paige 43,0 7 2 2 (bfd) 1 19 6 6
8 ARG 190887 Carranza Saroli Cecilia 51,0 8 14 11 5 (17) 4 1 8
9 ITA 188561 Nevierov Larissa 53,0 14 12 4 5 4 7 7 (21)
10 GBR 191316 Clark Penny 55,0 10 5 1 (bfd) 11 9 5 14
11 GBR 188411 Brewster Andrea 56,0 5 (18) 5 18 7 3 9 9
12 GBR 192519 Dobson Charlotte 58,0 6 8 10 3 (24) 11 10 10

European Laser Radial Men's Championship 2008, 1 discard

1 POL 180738 Zemke Wojciech 12,0 1 2 1 3 1 (13) 1 3
2 GBR 188824 Emmett Jon 15,0 2 1 4 2 1 1 (10) 4
3 FRA 190888 Frei Mathieu 16,0 1 (bfd) 5 1 2 5 1 1
4 GRE 181569 Michail Aristeidis 20,0 2 1 (10) 2 5 3 6 1
5 NED 192302 Koppelaar Ben 23,0 (5) 4 2 4 5 1 2 5
6 CRO 187073 Matika Filip 26,0 3 9 1 6 3 2 2 (10)
7 NED 192629 Van Mackelenbergh Rodie 33,0 6 (bfd) 3 4 3 9 5 3
8 CRO 186212 Sestan Marko 44,0 3 6 9 7 6 (17) 7 6
9 ITA 181441 Baruzzi Marco 50,0 8 10 7 5 4 11 5 (12)
10 GBR 189362 Evans Martin 52,0 4 2 9 1 28 (31) 6 2

Full results available at http://www.laserinternational.org/