On day four of the 2012 RS:X Youth World Windsurfing Championships, Pawel Tarnowski [POL] was leaving nothing to chance. He would not release the relentless pressure. His scoreline since the aberration he suffered on day one includes four seconds and five bullets. No one can live with him when he is in this form.
That won't stop Martin Olmeta [FRA] putting up a spirited challenge. Two firsts and a second today following up on his bullet in race 8 have boosted him to the silver medal position with a 10 point lead over Mattia Camboni [ITA] U17 who did not have his usual good day.
If all goes to plan when the second discard kicks in tomorrow, Martin will close up on Pawel. It won't be significant, but every little bit helps when you are positioning yourself for the double points medal race (MR) on Saturday.
Back in fourth Kieran Martin [GBR] has to pull something special out of the bag tomorrow to take advantage of the potential seven point gain (his second discard is a 15th place) he will make on Mattia. Can he take another five points out of him in the next three races to snatch back the bronze medal position? That's his goal...
Before we take a look at the action in the youth women's fleet, a glance down the order shows five points covering four guys fighting for the two last places at the MR cut off point. Oleksander Tugaryev [UKR] dropped from his overnight 10th spot to finish 12th this evening letting in Ignacio Berenguer [MEX] and Bautista Saubidet Birkner [ARG].
All things being equal the RS:X Youth Men's medal race could include 10 guys from seven countries and three continents... The South Americans are coming!
OK, now for the Youth Women's fleet and Saskia Sills [GBR] took her foot off the pedal in races 10 and 11 and in the process sliced 10 points off her lead over second spot. When I asked her what had happened she calmly suggested that she just wanted to keep it interesting for one more day...
This Rolex ISAF World Sailor of the Year Nominee is certainly cool under pressure!
Back in third 15 year old Israeli wonder kid, Shahr Tibi is sticking to her guns. Anastasiya Valkevich [BLR] may have dropped two points to let Jeanne Dantes [FRA] take over the silver medal position but she is not giving a millimetre.
Four points now cover the top four places so it, as they say, is anyone's game... If the second discard were to be taken tonight that margin would sliced to two. So it certainly is going to be an exciting conclusion with the offshore breeze likely to be no more than the 15 knots of this morning making for a super shifty finale.
It is almost impossible to predict the shifts as the wind drops into the bay through buildings and low trees. If it were stronger the movement would be more consistent, so the roulette wheel is spinning... This could be a cliff-hanger.
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