U.S. Paralympic Sonar, 2.4mR will challenge for medals on Saturday

by Will Ricketson on 17 Sep 2016 With the completion of Friday’s races, one day of competition remains at the Rio 2016 Paralympic regatta. Team USA will enter Saturday’s final races in contention for medals in the three-person Sonar and one-person 2.4mR classes.

In the Sonar, Rick Doerr (Clifton, N.J.), Brad Kendell (Tampa, Fla.) and Hugh Freund (South Freeport, Maine) maintained their position in second place overall for the third consecutive day, but after submitting a ten, eight scoreline on Day five face an intense battle for the podium on Saturday. The Australian team of Colin Harrison, Russell Boaden and Jonathan Harris clinched gold on Friday, but silver and bronze are still reachable by a significant portion of the fleet. Canada’s team, helmed by two-time Paralympic medalist Paul Tingley with crew Logan Campbell and Scott Lutes sit in third, just one point behind the Americans. The fourth through eighth place boats are lurking close behind, with only a handful of points separating the pack.

“On the second race we were leading at the first mark, but our decision to gybe immediately after the mark didn’t work out,” said Freund, the bowman. “The rest of the fleet blocked our wind, and we got passed by a few boats. After that, we weren’t able to round the favored leeward gate, and got bounced around upwind.”

Kendell, the tactician and main trimmer, said that despite Friday’s challenges the team was confident heading into Saturday’s deciding race. “We didn’t make it easy for ourselves today, but we’ve proven we can do well,” said Kendell, who survived a plane crash 13 years ago, and joined forces with Doerr and Freund in 2010. “We were thinking too much out there today. We just need to focus on our jobs, and get it done.”

Saturday’s final Sonar race is scheduled to begin at 12:00 noon Rio de Janeiro local time. To learn how to follow the race, reference US Sailing’s Paralympic Games viewing guide.

Dee Smith (Annapolis, Md.) sailed well on Day 5, with finishes of first and fifth. The professional sailor and cancer survivor remained in fourth overall, and will enter Saturday two points away from third. Smith will need to overtake Australian Matthew Bugg to take bronze. Both sailors have flashed considerable speed this week, and each of them have won three of the ten races.

Smith initially though he would enter Saturday’s final race a formidable ten points away from bronze, but Bugg’s 17/DSQ in Race 10 breathed new life into the American’s hopes for a medal. While both Bugg and Smith can mathematically move higher than bronze on the podium, the battle for gold and silver will be likely be waged between defending champion Helena Lucas of Great Britain, and Damien Seguin of France. Saturday’s Paralympic showdown in the 2.4mR one-person keelboat, a boat sailed worldwide by able-bodied and adaptive competitors alike, promises to be both tense and exciting.

Despite a solid fourth place finish in Race 10, the SKUD-18 team of Ryan Porteous (San Diego, Calif.) and Beijing 2008 gold medalist Maureen McKinnon (Marblehead, Mass.) were eliminated from medal contention on Friday. The American pair are only two positions away from bronze, but the 12 point deficit is not assailable in Saturday’s final race.

“We had a good start in the second race, and were able to work our way into lanes of wind,” said Porteous, the helmsman and a first-time Paralympian. “After that, we played the shifts well, and had good speed.”

The defending gold medalists from Australia, Daniel Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch, locked up a second gold on Friday after taking the win in race nine. The pair have submitted a dominant performance, winning every race but two, and taking second in the others. Silver and bronze in the SKUD-18 will be up for grabs on Saturday for teams from Canada, Great Britain, and Poland.

Standings: Rio 2016 Paralympic Sailing Competition (Day 5)

Sonar (Three-Person Keelboat) Top 10:

1. AUS – Harrison Colin, Harris Jonathan, Boaden Russell: 19
2. USA – Doerr Rick, Freund Hugh, Kendell Brad: 43
3. CAN – Tingley Paul, Lutes Scott, Campbell Logan: 44
4. NOR – Wang-Hansen Aleksander, Solberg Marie, Kristiansen Per Eugen: 48
5. GRE – Christoforou Vasileios, Alexas Theodoros, Notaroglou Anargyros: 49
6. NZL – Dodson Richard, May Andrew, Sharp Chris: 49
7. GER – Klotzing Lasse, Kroker Jens, Mainka Siegmund: 50
8. ISR – Cohen Dror, Ben Yakov Shimon, Efrati Arnon: 55
9. GBR – Robertson John, Thomas Stephen, Stodel Hannah: 61
10. FRA – Jourdren Bruno, Flageul Eric, Vimont-Vicary Nicolas: 81

SKUD-18 (Two-Person Keelboat) Top 10:

1. AUS – Sitzgibbon Daniel, Tesch Liest: 10
2. CAN – Mcroberts John, Gay Jackie: 31
3. GBR – Rickham Alexandra, Birrell Niki: 32
4. POL – Gibes Monika, Cichocki Piotr: 36
5. USA – Porteous Ryan, Mckinnon Maureen: 44
6. ITA – Gualandris Marco Carlo, Zanetti Marta: 51
7. NED – Schrama Rolf, Nap Sandra: 60
8. BRA – Landgraf Bruno, De Almeida Marinalva: 65
9. ESP – Roig Alzamora Sergi, Del Reino Violeta: 72
10. SIN – Tan Wei Qiang Jovin, Yap Qian Yin: 80

2.4mR (One-Person Keelboat) Top 10:

1. GBR – Lucas Helena: 25
2. FRA – Seguin Damien: 26
3. AUS – Bugg Matthew: 35
4. USA – Smith Dee: 37
5. GER – Kroger Heiko: 48
6. NOR – Erikstad Bjornar: 49
7. ITA – Squizzato Antonio: 62
8. FIN – Salomaa Niko: 71
9. CAN – Millar Bruce: 73
10. AUT – Reiger Sven: 73