Rio 2016 - Bronze for Paine, 470’s hang tough, 49erFX into Medal Race

by Will Ricketson on 17 Aug 2016 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games - Tuesday was an emotional thrill ride for U.S. Sailing Team athletes, staff and fans alike as the action at the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing competition reached a crescendo.

Team USA's Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.) won bronze in the Men's Heavyweight Finn, a triumphant moment for both the first-time Olympian from San Diego, and the national team as a whole. The team also qualified for three additional medal races on Tuesday in the Men's 470, Women's 470, and Women's 49erFX classes.

Paine's wire-to-wire victory in the Finn medal race elicited roars of excitement from sailing fans massed on Flemengo Beach and crowded around screens back home in the U.S. 'It's been a tough battle for me, and I feel fortunate to come up with a medal in the end,' said Paine. 'I saw quite a bit of breeze coming down the right side (on the first leg of the race), I hitched out there, and then was continuously playing the right. I just saw the wind, and sailed towards it.'

Paine was never threatened after rounding ahead at the first mark on the 'Pao' racecourse in the shadow of Sugarloaf Mountain. With his victory he passed Croatia's Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic in the overall standings and earned a place on the podium. Four-time World Champion Giles Scott of Great Britain won gold, with three-time Olympic medalist Vasilij Zbogar of Slovenia earning silver in the venerable Finn, which has been a part of every Olympic regatta since 1952.

Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) came into Rio 2016 with high hopes after getting on the podium at two Laser World Championships in the past four years, and winning her third career Pan American Games medal. Despite that strong track record, and extensive time spent living and training in Rio, a podium performance was not to be for the 2006 World Sailor of the Year.

'Unfortunately my results don't show the improvement in my sailing over the last few years,' said Railey. 'Sometimes, things just don't go your way. I'll walk away from Rio with my head held high, and proud to have represented my country.' Despite her frustrations at the Olympics, Railey undoubtedly ranks among the best athletes in the history of the class, with more World Championship medals (five) to her name than any other Radial sailor.

Bora Gulari (Detroit, Mich.) and Louisa Chafee (Warwick, R.I.) finished strong in the Nacra 17 class with a fourth place in Tuesday's medal race. After an impressive charge up the standings in the second half of the event, the Americans finished eighth overall in the high-speed mixed multihull. 'We picked up eight spots in three days in a pretty tough fleet, and I'm pretty proud of that,' said Gulari, a two-time Moth class World Champion. The pair had suffered some mishaps earlier in the event when trapeze wire breakages forced their withdrawal from race three and race five. 'If we hadn't done that,' said Gulari, 'we might have been a heck of a lot closer to the podium, and maybe even pulled it off. Who knows, but I couldn't be more proud of Louisa or the effort we put forth together.'

Paris Henken (Coronado, Calif.) and Helena Scutt (Kirkland, Wash.) submitted yet another consistent performance on Tuesday. Their twelve, twelve, six scoreline in races 10-12 lifted the Pacific Coast pair into the 49erFX medal race, scheduled for Thursday, August 18. The youngest team in the fleet, Henken and Scutt have only been sailing together full-time for a year and a half after balancing training with schoolwork schoolwork prior to deciding to fully commit to a Rio 2016 campaign.

Two-time Olympian Thomas Barrows (St. Thomas, U.S.V.I) and Joe Morris (Annapolis, Md.) finished their Rio 2016 regatta on a high note, with a sixth place result in race 10 representing their best score of the event. Barrows and Morris, who also competed together on the collegiate level at Yale University, finished racing in 19th overall, and will not appear in the medal race.

American 470 sailors continues to battle at the front of the fleet on Tuesday with mixed results on the difficult 'Escola Naval' course on Guanabara Bay. Day 9 was a crucial one for the U.S. two-person dinghy teams, with the women's pair of Annie Haeger (East Troy, Wisc.) and Briana Provancha (San Diego, Calif.) fighting to stay in podium position, and the men's team of Stu McNay (Providence, R.I.) and Dave Hughes (Miami, Fla.) hoping to pull themselves into contention.

Haeger and Provancha entered the day in second overall, and submitted scores of nine, nine, nine to drop to fourth overall. However, the Americans still have an excellent chance to earn a medal on Wednesday, as they are only three points from silver medal position and one point from bronze.

Team USA's Men's 470 started the day as well as possible with an emphatic win in race eight, but scores of 11, 14 to close out the qualifying series means that McNay and Hughes are in fourth overall and 27 points from bronze medal position. Unfortunately this means that the veteran pair, who have medaled sixteen times at elite-level events since 2012, are mathematically eliminated from challenging for the podium.

Marion Lepert (Belmont, Calif.) and Pedro Pascual (West Palm Beach, Fla.) have concluded racing in the Men's and Women's RS:X classes, along with Laser sailor Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.)

U.S. Sailing Team Results: Day 9

Women's 470 (Top 10, Medal Race Wednesday)

1. GBR - MILLS Hannah / CLARK Saskia: 28
2. NZL - ALEH Jo / POWRIE Polly: 48
3. USA - HAEGER Annie / PROVANCHA Briana: 49
4. FRA - LECOINTRE Camille / DEFRANCE Helene: 50
5. JPN - KONDO YOSHIDA Ai / YOSHIOKA Miho: 52
6. NED - ZEGERS Afrodite / VAN VEEN Anneloes: 59
7. SLO - MRAK Tina / MACAROL Veronika: 65
8. BRA - OLIVEIRA Fernanda / BARBACHAN Ana Luiza: 68
9. AUT - VADLAU Lara / OGAR Jolanta: 74
10. POL - SKRZYPULEC Agnieszka / MROZEK-GLISZCZYNSKA Irmina: 96

Men's Finn: (Final, Top 10)

1. GBR - SCOTT Giles: 36 - Gold
2. SLO - ZBOGAR Vasilij: 68 - Silver
3. USA - PAINE Caleb: 76 - Bronze
4. BRA - ZARIF Jorge: 87
5. CRO - KLJAKOVIC GASPIC Ivan: 89
6. SWE - SALMINEN Max: 90
7. NZL - JUNIOR Josh: 92
8. AUS - LILLEY Jake: 97
9. ARG - OLEZZA BAZAN Facundo: 101
10. NED - POSTMA Pieter-Jan: 105

Men's 470: (Top 10, Medal Race Wednesday)

1. CRO - FANTELA Sime / MARENIC Igor:27
2. GRE - MANTIS Panagiotis / KAGIALIS Pavlos: 38
3. AUS - BELCHER Mathew / RYAN Will: 40
4. USA - MCNAY Stuart / HUGHES Dave: 67
5. SWE - DAHLBERG Anton / BERGSTROM Fredrik: 69
6. GBR - PATIENCE Luke / GRUBE Chris: 69
7. AUT - SCHMID Matthias / REICHSTAEDTER Florian: 73
8. FRA - BOUVET Sofian / MION Jeremie: 79
9. SUI - BRAUCHLI Yannick / HAUSSER Romuald: 92
10. GER - GERZ Ferdinand / SZYMANSKI Oliver: 94

Women's 49erFX: (Top 10, Medal Race Thursday)

1. ESP - ECHEGOYEN DOMINGUEZ Tamara / BETANZOS MORO Berta: 46
2. BRA - GRAEL Martine / KUNZE Kahena: 46
3. DEN - HANSEN Jena / SALSKOV-IVERSEN Katja Steen: 46
4. NZL - MALONEY Alex / MEECH Molly: 47
5. FRA - STEYAERT Sarah / COMPAN Aude: 75
6. ITA - CONTI Giulia / CLAPCICH Francesca: 76
7. GBR - DOBSON Charlotte / AINSWORTH Sophie: 81
8. NED - BEKKERING Annemiek / DUETZ Annette: 85
9. USA - HENKEN Paris / SCUTT Helena: 94
10. GER - JURCZOK Victoria / LORENZ Anika: 94

Mixed Nacra 17: (Final, Top 10)

1. ARG LANGE Santiago / CARRANZA SAROLI Cecilia: 77
2. AUS - WATERHOUSE Jason / DARMANIN Lisa: 78
3. AUT - ZAJAC Thomas / FRANK Tanja: 78
4. NZL - JONES Gemma / SAUNDERS Jason: 81
5. ITA - BISSARO Vittorio / SICOURI Silvia: 84
6. FRA - BESSON Billy / RIOU Marie: 93
7. SUI - BUHLER Matias / BRUGGER Nathalie: 100
8. USA - GULARI Bora / CHAFEE Louisa: 106
9. GBR - SAXTON Ben / GROVES Nicola: 109
10. BRA - ALBRECHT Samuel / SWAN Isabel: 117

Women's Laser Radial: (Final, Top 10)

1. NED - BOUWMEESTER Marit: 61
2. IRL -MURPHY Annalise: 67
3. DEN - RINDOM Anne-Marie: 71
4. BEL - VAN ACKER Evi: 78
5. FIN - TENKANEN Tuula : 86.6
6. SWE - OLSSON Josefin: 90
7. LTU - SCHEIDT Gintare: 90
8. GBR - YOUNG Alison: 93
9. AUS - STODDART Ashley: 107
10. USA - RAILEY Paige: 131

Men's Laser: (Final)

11. USA - BUCKINGHAM, Charlie: 108 points

Women's RS:X: (Final)

16. USA - LEPERT, Marion: 156.9 points

Men's 49er: (Final)

19. USA - Barrows, Thomas / MORRIS, Joe: 155

Men's RS:X: (Final)

28. USA - PASCUAL, Pedro: 286 points