Women's Match Race Country Qualifier – Teams fight for final spots

by WIMRA on 5 Feb 2012 Women's Match Race International Country Olympic Qualifying Regatta 2012 (WMRICOQR) is hosted by Key Biscayne Yacht Club, WIMRA, and Sail Sheboygan with the support of North Sails.

Emotions ran high on the water as Olympic dreams came true for some and ended for others. Finland and Spain will be going to the Olympics in Women's Match Racing and Germany and Slovenia will not. One more place remains to be decided on Sunday.

The teams hit the water on Saturday with six teams still vying for the four places in the semi finals. Lead changes were seen in nearly every match of the day as the teams fought to move on. As one umpire said 'This is some of the best match racing I have seen - men or women - anywhere in the world.'

Finland, Spain, Denmark, and Argentina moved on to the Semi Finals while Germany and Slovenia did not.

Stage 2 Results:
1- Finland: 8 wins - 2 losses
2- Spain: 7-3
3- Denmark: 5-5
4- Argentina: 4-6
5- Germany: 3-7
6- Slovenia: 3-7

The Semi Finals saw Finland and Argentina's knockout series go all the way to a fifth and deciding race with Finland victorious 3-2 and Spain defeating Denmark 3-1 in their series. By winning their Semi Finals, Finland and Spain have earned the right to send a team to the Olympics. Argentina and Denmark will compete on Sunday for the last berth.

Semi-Final Results:
Finland defeats Argentina 3-2
Spain defeats Denmark 3-1

The Finals and Petit-Finals will be sailed on Sunday in the waters off Key Biscayne.

The top three countries from this event will join the nine countries that have already qualified for the2012 Olympic Sailing Competition (Australia, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, Russia, and USA).

Live results and tracking can be found on the regatta website [Sorry, this link had a problem].

Teams Competing:
Argentina - Martina Silva, Ana Lucía Silva, María Trinidad Silva
Brazil - Renata Decnop, Gabriela Nicolino, Larissa Juk
Canada - Sharon Ferris-Choat, Caroline Kaars Sijpesteijn, Joanne Prokop
China - Ru Wang, Li Xiaoni, Pan Ting Ting
Denmark - Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, Susanne Boidin, Tina Schmidt Gramkov
Finland - Silja Lehtinen, Mikaela Wulff, Silja Kanerva
Germany - Silke Hahlbrock, Anke Lukosch, Maren Hahlbrock
Slovenia - Vesna Dekleva Paoli, Katarina Kersevan, Lena Koter
Spain - Tamara Echegoyen, Angela Pumariega, Sofía Toro

http://www.sailsheboygan.org/WMR-2012.php!Event_website [Sorry, this link had a problem]