London Olympics 2012 - Brits prepare for Medal Race assault

by Matt Carter on 7 Aug 2012 At the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition, windsurfer Nick Dempsey is preparing himself for his assault on Olympic sailing silver on Tuesday 7 August. The Athens 2004 bronze medallist currently sits second overall, 11 points clear of Toni Wilhelm (GER) in bronze medal position and 17 points ahead of Przemyslaw Miarczynski (POL) who occupies fourth spot.

Dorian Van Rijsselberge (NED) has wrapped up the gold medal already with an unassailable lead heading into the final race.

But Nick has manoeuvred himself into a great position to at least equal his medal winning exploits of eight years ago.

The 31-year-old’s dad, Mike, said: 'Yesterday he put in a good day at the office. He did what he had to do, he’s got himself a buffer of 11 points and I’m a bit more relaxed now, I know he’s perfectly capable of doing it.'

The RS:X Men’s medal race, is scheduled to take place on the spectator Nothe course at 1pm.

Meanwhile Bryony Shaw kept her windsurfing medal hopes alive after picking up her first race win of London 2012 yesterday.

With the RS:X Women’s medal race taking place tomorrow, Shaw currently sits 11 points off bronze and silver medal positions – with the athletes currently occupying those two positions, Lee-El Korzits (ISR) and Tuuli Petäjä (FIN) tied on 38 points - heading into the deciding double-pointer.

Beijing 2008 bronze medallist Shaw currently occupies seventh overall. The RS:X Women’s medal race is scheduled for 2pm on the spectator Nothe course tomorrow.

Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor are preparing to up their bid for Olympic Women’s Match Racing silverware ahead of their quarter-final showdown against Russia tomorrow.

The Match Race Girls, who were seeded seventh after the opening round robin phase, go head-to-head against second seeds Ekaterina Skudina, Elena Syuzeva and Elena Oblova in their winner-takes-all knock out contest.

After completing 11 round robin matches, in the quarter final matches, and all rounds beyond that, the winner of each knockout tie will be the first boat to win three races (three points).

The winners of the Macgregor v Skudina showdown will qualify for the semi-finals, which are scheduled to take place on Friday (10 August) while the defeated team goes through to the Thursday’s 5-8 sail off.

The Russians beat the Brits in the round robin on Wednesday, but the knockout phases present a whole different level of opportunity.

Match racers are in action on more days than any other class and are not only one of the first classes to start but the last class to finish with the match racing final bringing the curtain down on the 2012 Olympic Regatta on Saturday 11 August.

The Olympic Sailing Regatta runs from Sunday 29 July – Saturday 11 August. RYA website