Rio 2016 - 470's leading the way for Team USA

by Will Ricketson on 13 Aug 2016 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games - Day 5 of the sailing competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games was a momentous one, as the RS:X fleets concluded full-fleet competition, the opening races for the Men's 49er and Women's 49erFX high-performance skiffs were held, and the Laser, Laser Radial and 470 events entered critical stages. Standout performances for Team USA were delivered by the American Men's and Women's 470 teams, and both boats remain firmly in the hunt for the podium.

With twelve races completed over four days of sailing, the Men's and Women's RS:X fleets have only the medal races remaining on the schedule. Each medal race is reserved for the top ten competitors, and although Americans Marion Lepert (Belmont, Calif.) and Pedro Pascual (West Palm Beach, Fla.) did not advance to that stage, there were many positive takeaways for the first-time Olympians, both aged 20.

'Although I do wish I had more time to train leading up to the regatta, I'm happy with the way I raced given the skill set that I had,' said Lepert, an engineering student at Stanford University who had to balance her studies with training. 'I truly gave it my all, and I have no regrets. Rio was an incredibly beautiful and challenging place to race, and I will hold fond memories of my experiences here.'

Lepert finished 16th overall, and four of her twelve races were impressive top-ten finishes. Pascual, currently a student at Florida Atlantic University, finished 28th after submitting his best day of racing on Friday. 'We're really proud of the way they represented Team USA,' said Josh Adams, Managing Director of U.S. Olympic Sailing, of the two American board sailors. 'They are in the beginning of their Olympic careers, and have shown sparks of success along the Olympic path this year. We're glad to have them as teammates. The younger athletes on our team will see that to come out on top at the end of this event, you really need to be a complete sailor, and Rio de Janeiro tests that like no other venue.'

Once again, Annie Haeger (East Troy, Wisc.), and Briana Provancha (San Diego, Calif.) submitted a dramatic performance in the Women's 470 class to remain firmly in the hunt for the podium. In the only race of the day on Friday, Haeger and Provancha found themselves trailing the fleet at the first mark after heading far to the left-hand side of the 'Escola Naval' racecourse on the first leg. Showing resilience, the Americans passed ten boats over the course of the next three legs, and then five more at the end of the final downwind leg, to finish fifth in the day's only race. 'I would prefer if we were spending more of each race closer to the front, but I'm happy we've been recovering,' said Provancha. The American women are now in fourth overall, and sit five points from the overall leaders and London 2012 silver medalists Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark from Great Britain.

In the Men's 470 fleet, Stu McNay (Providence, R.I.), Dave Hughes (Miami, Fla.) submitted their best race of the event, a fourth place finish in race five, which moved them into eighth overall and twelve points from podium position. 'Today was good for us,' said Hughes. 'We knew we had to get our team back on track. We haven't been the team we've been recently, or been the team we've needed to be at this regatta. (Today) showed us that we could do that, and we want to keep the inertia going.' Five more races are schedule in the Men's 470 class before the medal race.

Laser Radial athlete Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) endured a tough day on the open-ocean 'Copacabana' and 'Pai' courses. The two-time Olympian and five-time World Championship medalist scored 25, 24 to fall to 10th overall. Railey is now 36 points from podium position with two full-fleet races and one double-points medal race remaining. Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) earned scores of 15-10 today in the 46-boat Men's Laser fleet, and remained in 15th overall.

American skiff athletes got off to a more difficult start than hoped for on the unpredictable 'Pao' course nestled underneath Sugarloaf Mountain on Friday. Women's 49erFX sailors Paris Henken (Coronado, Calif.) and Helena Scutt (Kirkland, Wash.) rose as high as third place in race one, but their move towards the left side of the second upwind leg did not pay off, and the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games bronze medalists finished 13th. After a 16th in race two, the pair are in fourth overall. In the men's fleet, Thomas Barrows (St. Thomas, U.S.V.I) and Joe Morris (Annapolis, Md.) stand in 20th overall after the first day.

The Finn and Nacra 17 classes had reserve days on Friday, and were inactive. Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.), Bora Gulari (Detroit, Mich.) and Louisa Chafee return to racing tomorrow on Saturday, August 13.



U.S. Sailing Team Results: Day 5 (Friday, August 12)

Women's 470 (Top 10):

GBR - MILLS Hannah / CLARK Saskia: 12
JPN - KONDO YOSHIDA Ai / YOSHIOKA Miho: 15
FRA - LECOINTRE Camille / DEFRANCE Helene: 15
USA - HAEGER Annie / PROVANCHA Briana: 17
SLO - MRAK Tina / MACAROL Veronika: 17
NZL - ALEH Jo / POWRIE Polly: 18
BRA - OLIVEIRA Fernanda / BARBACHAN Ana Luiza: 22
AUT - VADLAU Lara / OGAR Jolanta: 26
NED - ZEGERS Afrodite / VAN VEEN Anneloes: 32
POL - SKRZYPULEC Agnieszka / MROZEK-GLISZCZYNSKA Irmina: 36

Men's 470: (Top 10)

CRO - FANTELA Sime / MARENIC Igor: 7
AUS - BELCHER Mathew / RYAN Will: 9
GBR - PATIENCE Luke / GRUBE Chris: 17
GRE - MANTIS Panagiotis / KAGIALIS Pavlos: 18
FRA - BOUVET Sofian / MION Jeremie: 20
SWE - DAHLBERG Anton / BERGSTROM Fredrik: 22
AUT - SCHMID Matthias / REICHSTAEDTER Florian: 27
USA - MCNAY Stuart / HUGHES Dave: 29
SUI - BRAUCHLI Yannick / HAUSSER Romuald: 32
ESP - XAMMAR HERNANDEZ Jordi / HERP MORELL Joan: 37

Women's Laser Radial:

10. USA - RAILEY Paige: 81

Women's 49erFX:

14. USA - HENKEN, Paris / SCUTT, Helena: 29

Men's Finn:

15. USA - PAINE Caleb: 55

Men's Laser:

15. USA - BUCKINGHAM, Charlie: 37 points

Women's RS:X: (Final)

16. USA - LEPERT, Marion: 156.9 points

Mixed Nacra 17:

16. USA - GULARI Bora / CHAFEE Louisa: 23

Men's RS:X: (Final)

28. USA - PASCUAL, Pedro: 286 points