Rio 2016 - Dempsey overcomes Race 6 stumble, Italy leads Womens RS:X

by World Sailing on 10 Aug 2016 Day 2 of the Olympic Sailing Competition produced lighter winds more expected at this time of year in Rio, and the south-easterly breezes were mostly around five to seven knots with only occasional moments in double figures.

Men's Windsurfer - RS:X

Nick Dempsey (GBR) continues to lead the Men's Windsurfer competition after another good day on the water, marred only by a 14th place in race six. Currently the London 2012 silver medallist leads by a point from the reigning Olympic Champion, Dorian van Rijsselberghe (NED), who has the added benefit of a fifth place as his discard, to Dempsey's 14th. That could be a critical difference later on in the regatta.

'Good day today, with a four and two firsts,' said van Rijsselberghe. 'I've been lucky! Sometimes lucky and sometimes good. Everything is going well, we have done six races so we are not at the halfway point yet. But I'm feeling good, I'm happy about today and just need to try to keep going like this.' With the wind dropping throughout the afternoon, it was physical day of pumping the sail to keep the board moving. 'The last race was almost un-raceable. But it is what it is.'

The reigning World Champion Piotr Myszka (POL) moves up third place ahead of Byron Kokkalanis (GRE).

Women's Windsurfer - RS:X

It was Flavia Tartaglini's (ITA) turn to rip up the race course in the Women's Windsurfer on day two of competition, the Italian running away with a one, one, four scoreline and deposing yesterday's winner, Charline Picon (FRA), from the top of the leaderboard. The French sailor still had a very respectable day in difficult conditions to sit just a point behind the leader.

Tartaglini commented, 'I was not expecting these good results, to tell you the truth. I was feeling ready, but in others regattas I have also felt ready and then things have not gone so well. I'm trying to go day by day and race by race. We still have more than the half of the races to finish the Olympics, but at least this evening I'm going back home very happy.'

As to her growing rivalry with the French sailor, Tartaglini observed, 'Charline was leading yesterday and today she was behind me in all three races. But that means just that today I have had a good day. She's one of the strong contenders, so maybe I'm also one of them. Today was my best day, I hope I will continue in this way. I have the speed and I have the training, and we are all there in the fight.'

Stefania Elfutina (RUS) sits just five points back in third overall, and is having the regatta of her young life. 'I'm young, yes, I'm 19 years old,' said the Russian. 'But I think that's not a problem to be able to fight for the medals together with the most experienced women. Nobody expects anything from me, so I just do what I love, and sometimes I can do it well and be in the fight.'

Maybe the challenging nature of the Rio race courses are playing to Elfutina's strengths. 'Today the racing conditions were very complicated, with the currents and the wind, but it was hard for everybody. In the last race the wind dropped and we had to pump a lot. I feel tired, that's for sure. We had three hard races today, so it's nice to have a rest day tomorrow to charge some new energy.'