Rio 2016 - Australia win Paralympic Gold in SKUD 18 and Sonar

by Richard Aspland - World Sailing on 16 Sep 2016 Protest pending, Australia's Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch have defended their Two Person Keelboat (SKUD18) Paralympic title with two races to spare at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Sailing Competition.

Before Day 5 started, Fitzgibbon and Tesch had already posted a remarkable six race wins and two second place finishes to put a 15-point gap between them and their nearest rivals from Canada and Great Britain.

Regardless of what John McRoberts and Jackie Gay (CAN) and Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell (GBR) did in race nine, the Aussies only needed to finish in the top four to ensure an unassailable lead, guaranteeing gold.

Almost predictably they finished with yet another race win to cap an emphatic title defense with the silver and bronze medals to be decided.

Fitzgibbon now boasts a Paralympic haul of two gold medals and one silver in the SKUD18, a run that started at Beijing 2008 when he sailed with Rachael Cox.

Partner Tesch won two silvers and a bronze in Wheelchair Basketball before teaming up with Fitzgibbon and winning back to back sailing gold medals.

Australia won a second Gold medal in the three man Sonar keelboat and led by 4pts in the Norlin OD 2.4 one man keelboat.

For full results click here