Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition - Day 11

by Mark Jardine on 18 Aug 2016 After the excitement of Super Tuesday, then the disappointment of no-wind Wednesday, it was great to have the breeze back, and then some, for the finale of sailing at Rio 2016 and the last four medal races.

Women's 470 Medal Race

With gold all but wrapped up for Great Britain's Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark (as long as they sailed a clean race), the battle for silver and bronze was going to be intense. Just 5 points separated four teams; New Zealand's Jo Aleh & Polly Powrie, USA's Anne Haeger & Briana Provancha, France's Camille Lecointre & Hélène Defrance and Japan's Ai Kondo Yoshida & Miho Yoshioka.

At the top mark is was advantage USA, rounding first with the Kiwis in third. With one point separating these two teams it was developing into a straight battle on the water for silver. With pumping being allowed in the strong winds, the crews were giving their all. Anne Haeger & Briana Provancha were making the most of the conditions, together with the Dutch team of Afrodite Zegers & Anneloes van Veen, who powered away from the fleet downwind.

The USA pair rounded the leeward mark first with New Zealand dropping to fourth as the Slovenian team of Tina Mrak & Veronika Macarol overtook them down the run. The Kiwis went right on the second beat, trying something different to get past the US team leading to a race-deciding cross... Jo Aleh & Polly Powrie were right back in it with Anne Haeger & Briana Provancha choosing to tack to leeward as the cross didn't look on. The decision not to cover the Kiwi team could cost them the silver medal.

With nothing to separate the boats as they flew upwind on starboard tack, the crews were giving it their all, trapezing on the tip-toes with arms above their head to gain maximum leverage.

Out on the far right, the Japanese team of Ai Kondo Yoshida & Miho Yoshioka caught a right shift in the breeze. Would it be enough to get round the Kiwi and USA teams who were having their own private battle? A super-tight final windward mark saw New Zealand round fourth, Japan 3 seconds behind in fourth with USA just 2 seconds further back - it was all down to the final run and short reach to the finish.

Slovenia's Tina Mrak & Veronika Macarol won the medal race, but it was New Zealand's Jo Aleh & Polly Powrie's third which gave them the silver medal.

'We're really, really happy,' said Polly Powrie. 'It's been an incredibly tough week where we've had not much go our way, so to battle through with the support of Jo and Nathan and the wider team – it has been amazing.'

Talking about today's race Aleh said, 'It was really difficult, there was a lot of times in that race where I knew the other boats that were in there – there were three boats we had to look out for and they were all in positions that were a bit scary for us.'

'It was a hard race, there was a lot to keep track of and I'm just glad we could hold our composure to the end and see it out.'

Great Britain's Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark were happy just to sail round the course and keep it clean, finishing eighth to secure their gold medal. France's Camille Lecointre & Hélène Defrance's sixth in the medal race secured them bronze as the USA's Anne Haeger & Briana Provancha slipped back to 10th at the finish, their decision not to cover the Kiwis costing them dear.

This was sailing at its best and a great way to start the day; Great Britain's Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark confirming their gold medal, pure joy for the New Zealand & French, heart-break for the USA.

Men's 470 Medal Race

A three-way battle for gold between Croatia's Sime Fantela & Igor Marenic, Greece's Panagiotis Mantis & Pavlos Kagialis and Australia's Mathew Belcher & William Ryan with advantage Croatia due to their 11 point lead. After a few kid-glove punches pre-start, it was straight into the action on the start gun. Switzerland's Yannick Brauchli & Romuald Hausser were the early leaders, but the battle for medals was mid-fleet.

The Croatian team rounded 5th, Australia 6th and Greece 7th with just 5 seconds separating them. If they finished in this order then that would also be the medal order.

The teams fought amongst themselves down the run, oblivious of their positions within the rest of the fleet, leaving Croatia 5th, Australia 7th and Greece back in 9th.

All-change on the final beat with Croatia 8th, Greece 9th & Australia 10th. Great news for the Croats, but could the Australians overtake the Greeks to seal silver?

Mat Belcher & Will Ryan fought their way past Panagiotis Mantis & Pavlos Kagialis to round the leeward mark 9th, but crucially 2 seconds ahead, defending on the final reach to the finish and sealing silver. Croatia's Sime Fantela & Igor Marenic confirmed their gold and the Greeks had to settle for bronze.

Men's 49er Medal Race

New Zealand's Peter Burling & Blair Tuke had already won the Men's 49er gold with TWO races to spare and went into the medal race with a massive 34 point lead. The battle for silver and bronze was between 3 teams; Germany's Erik Heil & Thomas Ploessel on 67 points, Australia's London 2012 gold medallists Nathan Outteridge & Iain Jensen on 70 points and Great Britain's Dylan Fletcher-Scott & Alain Sign on 80 points.

Up the first beat it was advantage Australia with the Brits pinning the Germans out on the committee boat end, but also compromising their own start. Outteridge & Jensen rounded the top mark 8th, Fletcher & Sign 9th with Heil & Ploessel 10th. The Australians moved up to 7th down the run and this would be enough to give them the silver - the Brits had a lot left to do to get into the medals.

A great beat by the Brits saw them move up to 5th with the Australians just behind. Could they do enough to get enough boats between themselves and the German team to get into the medals?

Disaster for Fletcher & Sign at the leeward mark! A capsize and the fleet sails past. They went for the gap with a high speed, all-or-nothing manoeuvre and paid the price. It was now down to just Germany & Australia to battle it out for silver and bronze.

Australia finished the race 4th to take silver with the Germans 8th giving them bronze.

As for the Kiwis? They led at the windward mark, powered round the course and took the win with a skiff sailing master class. Business as usual for Burling & Tuke who will now resume America's Cup duties with Emirates Team New Zealand. I think very few would disagree that they could well be the best skiff sailors ever.

Blair Tuke said, 'It was awesome sailing conditions of 15 odd knots and flat water, so to have the pressure off and just go and enjoy it was an amazing feeling, but we wanted to put in a good race and put a stamp on the regatta and it's just great to do that.'

Burling said, 'We had a day off and a little bit of a celebration the day before, but we definitely decided we wanted to go and do what we could in this race and try and take another win and to put our best foot forward.'

'It has been an amazing week and to be able to do that and in those kind of conditions it was a really special moment coming into the finish there, and know we'd done it and we were going to get the medal soon.'

'You know, with our coach Hamish on the coach boat afterward was pretty special as well. We've been working super hard for a long time and for it all to come together so well, it's been an amazing week.'

Women's 49er FX Medal Race

Saving the best for last were the Women's 49er FX fleet. Unbelievably, after 12 races just one point separated Spain's Tamara Echegoyen Dominguez & Berta Betanzos Moro, Brazil's Martine Soffiatti Grael & Kahena Kunze, Denmark's Jena Hansen & Katja Salskov-Iversen and New Zealand's Alexandra Maloney & Molly Meech.

Advantage New Zealand at the windward mark as they round 2nd with just the Italian's ahead of them, but Brazil and Denmark were hot on their heels in 3rd & 4th respectively. The Spanish team rounded 8th, but just 19 seconds off the lead.

Positions stayed the same at the front down the run, but the Spaniards gained a place. Great Britain's Charlotte Dobson & Sophie Ainsworth had a carbon-copy capsize of the British Men's 49er at the leeward mark.

The big moment came on the final beat as Brazil's Martine Soffiatti Grael & Kahena Kunze took the lead by taking the left hand side of the course. New Zealand's Alexandra Maloney & Molly Meech rounded 2nd, 10 seconds behind, with Denmark's Jena Hansen & Katja Salskov-Iversen 4th. The Kiwis powered down the final run to the line - the question was would the Brazilians need to gybe to the finish line?

Brazil's Martine Soffiatti Grael & Kahena Kunze gybed on the finish line to take gold ahead of New Zealand's Alexandra Maloney & Molly Meech's by just 2 seconds. What a finale! Denmark's Jena Hansen & Katja Salskov-Iversen held 4th to take the bronze.

'We sailed a really, really good race,' said Molly Meech. 'We got a nice jump on the rest of the fleet to the first bottom mark, but the Brazilians came through a little stronger in the last lap. They sailed really well, and I think we're really happy with how we sailed.'