Kiwi Olympic Sailing update

by Jodie Perkins on 24 Aug 2004 New Zealand’s board sailors raced overnight in Athens and now have only one race remaining. Barbara Kendall claimed two race wins though she is now out of medal contention, while Thomas Ashley also moved up the ranks.

New Zealand’s Overall Results:

Barbara Kendall – Women’s Mistral – 5th

Thomas Ashley – Men’s Mistral – 10th

Sailing got underway after a 40 minute delay last night in a light offshore breeze that ranged between 10-14 knots. The Kiwi sailors on the water brought in some impressive results.

Barbara Kendall won both her races overnight to improve her overall standing up to 5th place going into the final race on Wednesday night. Unfortunately her rivals have too much of a lead after Kendall’s start line disqualifications earlier in the regatta and last night’s performance was not enough to put her in the running for a medal.

'It was a disappointing day for Barbara,' says Team Manager Don Cowie, 'she is understandably upset that she has missed the medals this time around.'

Kendall had a battle on her hands to clinch last night’s wins in the shifting breeze. 'In her second race of the day she had a 30 second gap on the fleet, that would normally be enough' explains Cowie, 'but she was overtaken, and had to fight back for the win.'

Italy’s Alessandra Sensini has regained the lead over Faustine Merret of France while Yin Jian of China has slipped back into 3rd after starting the day at the top of the leader board. The top spots are by no means decided and Wednesday’s final race will decide the order of medals amongst those currently in the top four.

Thomas Ashley improved his standing in the Men’s Mistral fleet after an excellent day on the water for the young sailor. He finished 3rd in both of last nights races which saw him gain 3 places moving up to 10th.

'Thomas had a great day,' says Cowie, 'it would be fantastic if he could finish in the top ten here.'

Ricardo Santos from Brazil is still out in front but has only a narrow 3 point margin over Gal Fridman from Israel. Home town support will be behind the Greek sailor Nikolaos Kaklamanakis who goes into the final race in 3rd place.

The Mistral fleets have a rest day before sailing the final race of the Olympic regatta on Wednesday night.