GBR rules the waves with 13 medals at Sailing World Cup Weymouth

by RYA on 12 Jun 2016 Britain’s sailors ruled the waves on the final day of World Cup competition in Weymouth and Portland, winning five golds medals among a total haul of 13 at the final event before the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Seven of the British Sailing Team’s Rio representatives secured podium positions on their home waters on Sunday (12 June), with medal performances also from rising talents and Olympic hopefuls for Tokyo 2020.

The day culminated in a British sweep of the medals in the 470 Women’s event, with gold medallists Hannah Mills-Saskia Clark flanked on the podium by training partners Sophie Weguelin-Eilidh McIntyre in silver and Amy Seabright-Anna Carpenter taking bronze.

Maiden World Cup victories went to Charlotte Dobson-Sophie Ainsworth in the 49erFX and Ben Saxton-Nicola Groves in the Nacra 17, while World Champions Giles Scott in the Finn and Nick Thompson in the Laser rounded off event victories on a stunning final day of racing at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games venue.

After a week of light wind conditions, Weymouth and Portland turned on perfect wind conditions for the final day. Luke Patience and Chris Grube opened the medal tally for the home team in the closely-fought 470 Men’s event.

They picked up bronze – their first World Cup medal together – with a sixth place in the medal race, while Scott sealed the first gold medal for the Brits in the Finn class.

Scott went in to the final race just a point ahead of second, and with just 11 points separating the top seven boats, the medals were up for grabs across the fleet.

The four-time World Champion finished in second place behind 2012 bronze medallist Jonathan Lobert, but it was enough to hand him the win.

“Today was really tough,” Scott admitted. “The week we’ve had and with the points [tight], it was really anyone’s game. Weymouth brought some decent wind today and we got some really good medal racing, and fortunately I did just enough to come out on top.”

“The first run it was really, really tight and I managed to get on the correct side to get the left hand and get the first shift on the second beat so just played out from there,” said Scott of the medal race. “It was all a little bit of a blur in honesty as the downwinds were so physical, I imagine everyone was at max heart rate.

“It’s served as a very good training regatta, that’s for sure, and in honesty that is how everyone here is taking it. It’s very much a stepping stone to put everything in a place in Rio, but ultimately it’s a regatta and everyone wants to win it so to be able to do that is great.”

Lorenzo Chiavarini won the Laser medal race, but it was double World Champion Nick Thompson who took the overall event victory. He maintained his yellow jersey position with a fourth place from the medal race, with teammate and training partner Elliot Hanson joining him on the podium in silver thanks to a medal race third.

“I’m really, really happy. Winning the last two big events has been amazing and certainly gives me a massive confidence boost going in to Rio,” said Thompson afterwards. “It’s always nice to win on home waters as well, in front of a home crowd.”

The World Champion payed tribute to his teammate Hanson, who secured what was his first World Cup podium finish.

“Elliot’s a brilliant sailor,” said Thompson. “He’s been working so hard with me out in Rio and on his own sailing and it’s fantastic to see that paying off. He didn’t have the best Worlds, I expected to see more from him there and I think he did, so for him to come here and finish up second is fantastic, and also sends a message to the rest of the world. I’ve got the best training partner in the world at the last event going in to the Games.”

Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth continued the golden run for the hosts, with a fourth place in the medal race enough to hold on to the top spot in the 49erFX event by just one point.

“We always said that this for us was a practice Olympics and where we would start putting our game plan into action, so to win it is fantastic with such a good fleet here as well is fantastic,” enthused Dobson, who, alongside Ainsworth, will make her Games debut in the new women’s skiff event this summer.

“We couldn’t be happier with where our sailing is at the moment. Since Mark [Asquith] came to coach us nine months ago it’s been putting lots of building blocks in place and this is the chance to put it all together to come out with the result that we wanted and what we’re looking for at the Games.”

Ben Saxton and Nicola Groves dropped out of the medals in the final race at the last World Cup edition regatta in Hyeres, and were determined to rectify that in their Nacra 17 finale on home waters.

They started the day with a seven point advantage and fended off Germany’s Paul Kohlhoff-Carolina Werner and four-time World Champions Billy Besson-Marie Riou of France to keep hold of the yellow jerseys and make it four golds for Great Britain.

Saxton said it was a great confidence boost for the duo ahead of their first Games in Rio: “We are serious contenders, we’re not one of the only ones, there is a handful of us but we are definitely one of the party.

“We are going to work unbelievably hard and have as much fun as we possibly can!”

The 470 Women’s medal race, the last of the day, wrapped up proceedings in impressive style with three British crews finishing the medal race in the top three and in doing so swept the podium spots.

Sophie Weguelin and Eilidh McIntyre won the medal race to advance from overall fourth to silver, but gold went to Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark whose second place was enough to elevate them to the top step of the podium, adding Weymouth and Portland World Cup gold to their World Cup victory in Hyeres.

Bronze went to Amy Seabright and Anna Carpenter, who consolidated their overall third place with a third in the medal race.

“It was a super tough medal race – a really physical race actually which was quite nice to get in after the really light week,” Mills explained. “It was really high pressure, which was good practice for Rio in a couple of months’ time. After the start we actually sailed quite a solid race. It was good to do.”

“It was great to have the other girls up there,” Clark added. “We’re really pleased for them, especially for Amy and Anna who are one of the younger teams coming through. They’re training hard with us and are a great help.”

Elsewhere, a British 1-2 in the 49er medal race secured a silver medal for Dylan Fletcher-Alain Sign and bronze for John Pink-Stuart Bithell, while Emma Wilson and Izzy Hamilton added silver and bronze to the British tally from the RS:X women’s windsurfing event.

RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park was impressed with his team’s performance, which he feels sets them up well for the two months running in to Rio.

“It’s been a tough week for a lot of sailors from every event. It’s turned out to be a better practice for Rio than we expected, particularly as there was so much light wind, so much hanging around in the first half of the week.

“The race teams were great, got in all the races in they could, which we know if going to be super important in Brazil, just as it was this week.”

“It’s easy to be a little bit biased because we’re the British team at a British event, but I think all the foreign competitors would confirm that this event has put on the best show, the best race management. The organisation has been excellent, all the media work, all the crowds coming down who’ve been able to watch the racing, the tracking and the television coverage.

“It’s all been fantastic for the sport and it really sets the standard of how World Cup events should be run for the future.”