Xu leads, Clark challenges for podium place

by Jodie Bakewell-White on 20 Mar 2008
Lijia Xu of China continues to lead the Women’s Laser Radial World Championships, being sailed off Takapuna, New Zealand, going into the final day of the regatta tomorrow. Xu is four points clear of Evi Van Acker of Belgium in second with Sarah Steyaert holding on to third place a further nine points behind Van Acker. Penny Clark and Andrea Brewster (GBR) are in 4th and 5th places

After regular postponements over the initial four days, conditions on the Hauraki Gulf today were conducive to an on time 10am start to racing on what was the penultimate day of the 2008 Women’s Laser Radial World Champs. Three races were sailed today with a total of eight races now on the board, and just one day of competition remains.

Racing now in gold and silver fleets, sailors today encountered a predominantly overcast sky and a north easterly breeze which ranged between 6 and 10 knots. Sailors had challenging chop to contend with which made things interesting.

'Race one we had 8-10 knots, less in the second race, like 6-8 knots, and then a little more again, but it was really hard with the waves,' said Evi Van Acker after racing. 'It was kind of like China, so that was good practice.' 'You couldn’t really see where the wind was coming from because the waves were so big. It was really difficult and everyone had mixed results, and I think that’s why I’m still in second place.'

Chinese sensation Lijia Xu, who had the overnight lead, won the first race of the day in the gold fleet. Eighth around the first mark Xu had to battle back to cross the line 12 seconds ahead of Charlotte Dobson GBR.

Race seven was Xu’s worst in the regatta to date apart from her DSQ in race two; she finished 30th which effectively wiped her large leading margin putting Evi Van Acker of Belgium back within striking distance of the lead. Van Acker managed to further diminish Xu’s lead by finishing ahead of her in race eight, the last race of the day. Xu was 6th while Van Acker was 4th narrowing the gap to four points at the conclusion of the penultimate day.

Sarah Steyaert of France retains third place overall despite a mixed day on the water. She recorded a 24th, a 20th and a 3rd today and now has a points total of 58, nine points back from Van Acker. Behind her, Penny Clark GBR is her closed rival who would need to close an eleven point gap to Steyaert to make it onto the podium.

Olympic Qualification

With just six Olympic berths still available and 23 nations here in Auckland who have not yet qualified the battle for national Olympic qualification is on. The pecking order after today of those in the hunt for Olympic qualification is as follows… Greece, Spain, Russia, Ireland, Croatia and Czechoslovakia with Paraguay further down the list.

Women’s Laser Radial World Championship 2008

Results Radial - Gold
Scores take into account 1 = ;discard=20
No	Sail Number	Name		Scores	1	2	3	4		5	6		7	8
1	CHN 193008	Xu Lijia		45	3	(dsq)	1	1		3	1		30	6
2	BEL 193004	Van Acker Evi		49	1	2	7	2		14	(dnf)		19	4
3	FRA 193009	Steyaert Sarah		58	6	1	2	2		-36	24		20	3
4	GBR 193011	Clark Penny		69	10	7	18	13		-39	17		2	2
5	GBR 193010	Brewster Andrea		76	9	12	-28	17		10	4		15	9
6	AUS 193003	Blanck Sarah		78	1	4	8	-42		11	8		28	18
7	NED 193015	Bouwmeester Marit		84	4	7	16	22		13	16		6	-35
8	POL 193005	Szotynska Katarzyna		88	10	5	13	4		20	7		29	-36
9	LTU 193019	Volungeviciute Gintare		92	5	(dnf)	23	28		4	3		9	20
10	USA 193002	Tunnicliffe Anna		93	6	(ocs)	1	33		13	5		34	1
11	CHN 193042	Shen Xiaoying		101	18	14	15	-15		22	6		21	5
12	FIN 193007	Tenkanen Tuula		102	-31	29	5	6		26	12		10	14
13	USA 193020	Railey Paige		103	3	2	(dnf)	7		8	34		4	45
14	NZL 193001	Aleh Jo		108	7	6	5	43		2	28		17	-52
15	SWE 193115	Soderstrom Karin		108	24	10	2	9		38	-43		13	12
16	GBR 193006	Dobson Charlotte		111	5	3	48	19		(dnf)	2		26	8
17	NZL 193014	Winther Sara		117	26	19	20	6		8	-40		25	13
18	GBR 193013	Vickers Lizzie		118	8	6	15	16		31	9		-51	33
19	GBR 193018	Baldwin Laura		120	22	9	13	23		-44	31		11	11
20	SUI 193113	Brugger Nathalie		121	7	5	14	-50		5	19		31	40
21	SIN 193108	Yin Elizabeth		124	41	33	10	5		19	-44		1	15
22	ESP 193052	Cebrian Alicia		124	18	23	6	16		18	-23		27	16
23	GRE 193067	Mantzaraki Eftychia		124	11	8	17	28		17	15		-46	28
24	ESP 193055	Romero Steensma Susana		125	37	27	25	1		1	22		12	-57
25	POL 193103	Gladysz Zuzanna		125	14	28	4	-32		28	18		3	30
26	FIN 193058	Multala Sari		134	2	1	-37	36		32	32		5	26
27	RUS 193105	Chernova Anastasia		134	17	20	18	8		7	10		54	-55
28	GRE 193070	Kravarioti Virginia		136	20	8	20	29		-38	13		36	10
29	DEN 193050	Schutt Maiken		139	16	10	22	18		25	-53		14	34
30	FRA 193017	de Turckheim Sophie		142	4	(ocs)	9	5		28	50		24	22
31	IRL 193074	Peelo Ciara		146	-34	31	16	25		12	21		16	25
32	BEL 193025	Maes Laura		147	43	-45	3	23		3	35		23	17
33	CAN 193038	Ross Lisa		148	37	14	3	14		20	-55		22	38
34	CRO 193016	Mihelic Tina		150	30	11	8	20		15	-39		39	27
35	CRO 193045	Petronijevic Mateja		163	11	(ocs)	32	3		10	11		43	53
36	CZE 193046	Fenclova Veronika		163	19	17	33	24		12	37		-47	21
37	ITA 193080	Nevierov Larissa		165	24	25	49	21		1	-52		8	37
38	FRA 193062	Brain Solenne		165	2	21	34	17		14	-47		45	32
39	NOR 193092	Samdal Elin		165	15	(ocs)	4	37		37	42		7	23
40	CAN 193037	Rasa Keamia		165	23	24	19	13		6	33		-52	47
41	SIN 193109	Lo Manyi		165	38	24	29	19		16	-45		32	7
42	CHN 193041	Zhu Jiangyan		166	12	20	11	37		54	14		18	-56
43	DEN 193047	Lindberg Alberte		169	25	9	12	-44		21	38		33	31
44	IRL 193075	Hanna Debbie		170	27	18	11	8		29	27		(dnf)	50
45	BRA 193027	Kostiw Adrina		171	21	16	30	34		22	29		-50	19
46	PAR 193101	Cerutti Bogado Florencia		173	16	11	14	10		41	-56		40	41
47	ISR 193076	Endelman Nufar		183	15	4	-56	9		30	20		56	49
48	CAN 193035	Bertold Isabella		187	29	12	26	12		34	30		-49	44
49	LTU 193089	Mileviciute Ausra		196	55	43	12	14		7	36		(dnf)	29
50	NZL 193099	Powrie Miranda		196	12	27	24	40		30	26		37	-43
51	CHN 193040	Shen Huanqi		196	17	21	27	26		-43	25		41	39
52	RUS 193106	Kirilyuk Alisa		201	39	31	34	27		2	-54		44	24
53	GRE 193069	Vlachou Maria		201	40	37	25	3		9	41		-53	46
54	ITA 193078	Clapcich Francesca		201	26	15	33	15		35	-57		35	42
55	PER 193102	Schmidt Paloma		216	39	28	6	31		19	51		42	-54
56	TUR 193117	Unver Ayda		218	28	22	26	18		27	46		-55	51
57	DEN 193049	Hall Cathrine		226	36	26	47	20		11	-48		38	48
58	NZL 193096	Hume-Merry Cushla		242	8	32	37	53		15	49		48	-58
Scoring penalties are as follows: =
CHN 193042 Shen Xiaoying Race 4 15, 15 -->33 scores, = arb
ESP 193052 Cebrian Alicia Race 6 23, 23 -->41 scores, 20= arb