London Olympics 2012 - Canadians looking good for medal races
by Canadian Sailing Team on 5 Aug 2012
Gordon Cook and Hunter Lowden (CAN) competing today, 30.07.12, in the Men’s Skiff (49er) event in The London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition. onEdition
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Week one of the summer London Olympics 2012 is nearing a close at Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.
Heading into the weekend there’s another week to go, which will see medal races for all fleets. Currently Canadians are looking good as contenders in the men’s and women’s RS:X fleets in terms of medal race qualification. With points doubled in the final races it’s going to take some serous tooth grinding to get close to the top three.
Summery results have finally settled into these summer games, with temps up to 16 degrees and finally a little sunshine. Wind today was in the 12-15 knots range, so conditions were once again fair for olympic sailing. Taking their lay day today were the RS:X men and women’s fleets, giving them a chance to relax and spend some time with family and friends. Our Mens RS:X contender Zac Plavsic from beautiful BC spent the day with his friends and family seeing the sights. Nikola Girke, women’s RS:X spent time with her mom and did some serious prep work for the rest of her races; laundry. She’s pumped to get back to racing tomorrow.
On the water today were the 49ers guys Hunter Lowden and Gordon Cook, who sailed three races to amp up their 15 races series. They posted an 11, 16 and 7 today, moving them to 16th overall. The guys commented, 'Our starts are good, our speed is great, we are simply not executing as well as we should be.'
They have four races remaining before the medal race, keep cheering for their qualification - only the top ten boats go. Our Canadian 470 sailors Mike Leigh and Luke Ramsay posted two finishes of 21 today, they’re in 24th overall after four races.
Also out were the Laser and Radial Fleets. Canadians Danielle Dube and David Wright gave their all but posted lower than usual results. In the Laser David added a 41 which is his discard and a sixth moving him to 21st overall. Pretty inconsistent results but never the less a top ten.
Danielle Dube from eastern Canada finished 25th and 17th today, moving her to 27th overall. Danielle’s coach Malte Phillip comments on her performance, 'Danielle sailed well and it was good to see her sailing with the top groups, however a few small mistakes and penalty turns cost her some boats. When you are keen to do well, you tend to take risks that are not always necessary, but overall we are happier with her performance today.'
In the Finn Class, Greg Douglas nailed a 20th and 12th to his tally. He sits at 15th over all which is his final score. Great work representing canada Greg, we’re all happy to call you our Finn Sailor! He shared his thoughts, 'This whole experience has been good. Lots of learning, lots of takeaways for the next one.'
Also finished their Olympic Campaign are the Star sailors Richard Clark and Tyler Bjorn. They Posted a five and 13 today, putting them in 12th overall. The guys had a rough week, with lots of ups and downs. This is also the last Olympics that the Star will be a competing class. Great work to you guys as well.
Keep watching in the final weeks as we narrow down the 49er, Laser, Laser Radial, 470 and RS:X fleets for medal race qualification.
Also watch out for the big buzz between Ben and Jonas in the Finn class with only two points separating the two as Ainslie makes his comeback. The dynamics on the water and in the media zone immediately following their racing are charged! Banter and comments among the two are electric. Big question is can Jonas dethrone Big Ben?
Canadian Sailing Team here
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