ISAF Sailing Worlds, Santander - Bronze for 470 duo Mills and Clark

by Lindsey Bell on 21 Sep 2014 Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark secured the second British medal at the ISAF Sailing World Championships on Saturday (20 September), winning bronze in the 470 Women’s event.

The Olympic silver medallists went into the final day in bronze medal position, with an outside chance of moving upwards in the rankings, and gave a strong display to finish second in the medal race behind the Austrian duo who were crowned World Champions.

With their second place in the race, the British duo had to hope that New Zealand’s defending champions and Olympic gold medallists Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie finished the 10-boat race in ninth or worse to wrest the silver medal from them.

But although the Kiwi pair had been in that position during the first lap of the race, they picked their way back through to finish sixth and hold on to their overall second place.

Mills and Clark, who have endured a disjointed season through injury, were happy with their efforts and to have remained among the leading lights in the women’s double-handed class.

'This was all we could have hoped for today really,” Cardiff’s Mills explained.

“It was too far for silver and gold to be in with a shout so we did just did the best job we could and came home with the bronze.

“This is the ISAF World Championships, it is only once every four years - it is a big deal in the build up to any of the Olympic Games so to come here and perform we are really happy. It's not quite the colour we wanted but we have a lot to work on.'

The medal racers played to a 2,500-3,000 strong crowd in the grandstands, but had to wait to get their race underway as the sea breeze built.

West Mersea’s Clark explained: 'It was a big deal this morning there was lots of noise when we came to the boat park. We don't get much chance to practice in that - it is only the Olympics really we have all that kind of excitement.

“On the water it was really tricky with land all around us that is similar to a lot of our race courses in Rio so we feel we have made a real step forward sailing in that kind of breeze this week.'

Luke Patience and Elliot Willis also featured in medal race action, finishing second in the 470 Men’s medal race to consolidate their overall fourth place.

With a tricky ten point gap separating them from the third-placed Greek boat heading into the final day, they just had to sail their own race and hope that the finishing positions around them fell favourably.

And it almost worked out, with the Greeks back in sixth in the race at one stage and needing to be seventh for the Brits to sneak past them on the podium, but they pulled back to finish the medal race in fourth and maintain the status quo heading in to the day. Australia’s Mat Belcher and Will Ryan took the world title, with Croatia and Greece claiming the silver and bronze respectively.

“I’ve never finished fourth before,” said Helenburgh Olympic silver medallist Patience after the race. “It’s a new feeling and not one I’m particularly keen on!

“It was a really big ask to win a medal due to the amount of points that were separating us. It was going to take them having a bad race as well as us having a good race. So we could only do what we could do.

“We are racing well, we are going fast and we are on track for what we’re trying to achieve in two years’ time.”

“We’ve had a great season – we’ve medal raced all year, we’ve won the Europeans and were second at the Test Event in Rio so we’re going well,” added the double World Champion Willis.

“We’ve got a few fine bits to sort out boat-wise and equipment development-wise and we’re looking forward to the next year.”

Sunday will see the remaining four medal races in the 49er, 49erFX, Nacra 17 events and the Finn class, where Giles Scott is closing in on his second World Championship title.

No racing was possible for the heavyweight dinghy sailors in Saturday’s light winds, so the European Champion Scott, who won the world title in 2011, has a comfortable 20 point lead heading in to the 10-boat medal race meaning he needs to just sail a clean race to get his hands on the coveted Finn Gold Cup.

The British Sailing Team’s Ed Wright also has a shot at the podium spots. He’s in fourth overall, just one point from the third-placed Frenchman Jonathan Lobert.

French duo Billy Besson and Marie Riou have won their second world title with a day to spare in the Nacra 17 multihull event, but Britain’s Pippa Wilson-John Gimson and Lucy Macgregor-Andy Walsh are among seven crews in the mix for the remaining podium spots on Saturday.

John Pink and Stuart Bithell have made the medal race cut in the 49er event, in seventh place overall, while Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth will race in their first World Championship final in the 49erFX event. They qualify in sixth place, but are out of contention for the medal positions.

In qualifying for all the final day medal races, Great Britain has ensured country qualification across the ten classes for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Sunday 21 September:

1210: 49erFX Medal race
1310: 49er Medal Race
1410: Finn Medal Race
1510: Nacra 17 Medal British Sailing Team