Britain’s Sonar trio proved to be true to their word at Rio Paralympic

by RYA on 18 Sep 2016 Britain’s Sonar trio of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Steve Thomas ended their Rio 2016 Paralympics on a high after a third place in today’s sole race saw them finish the regatta ninth overall (Saturday 17 September).

The Brits had gone into the race knowing that a medal was out of their reach but vowing to put on a display of their best form after enduring a rollercoaster regatta.

And they were true to their word as they enjoyed a great start from the port end of the line on the Pão de Açúcar course (Sugarloaf) to lead up the first beat and head round the windward mark first before finally crossing the line still in the top three.

It was not the end to their Paralympic careers, which started at Athens 2004, that the British Sonars had hoped for, having clawed themselves back into medal contention with three wins at the midpoint of the regatta only for a race seven disqualification leaving them on the back foot and playing catch up again.

But Robertson admitted that despite their disappointment, they were pleased to leave Rio on the back off a good performance.

He said: “It was good to finish on a high note, it just shows what we can do. It was a tricky racecourse on the Sugarloaf course today, there was a nice breeze that we just had to read, and Hannah did a cracking job of that.

“We sailed the boat well but to be honest we're just pretty disappointed not to be on the podium and not to get a gold medal.

“That's just sport and we weren't quite good enough this week. Even though we tried our best it didn’t all quite gel at the right time and that happens sometimes.”

Robertson admitted he and his teammates left themselves with an uphill battle after the opening two days when they scored 11, 9 and 14.

With Rio living up to its reputation as one of the world’s toughest venues the Brits were left frustrated at not fulfilling the potential they felt they had to take their first Paralympic silverware coming into the event.

Robertson added: “It's a tricky venue and on the second race on the first day we were in the top three at the first mark and then there was a big wind shift and we ended up ninth and that put us back in the pack at the start.

“Then the next day was another poor one and we were last in that race so those two tricky first days made it hard to get into it. They were the days that did for us really.

“The Wednesday when we got the three bullets was pretty awesome; there was a nice bit of breeze and we really got into. To nail it into a provisional medal position the next day, only to get a disqualification was pretty awful. It is frustrating but congratulations to all the medallists but we should have done better really.”

Colin Harrison, Russell Boaden and Jonathan Harris won gold for Australia, Rick Doerr, Hugh Freund and Bradley Kendell (USA) took silver and Paul Tingley, Logan Campbell and Scott Lutes (CAN) bronze.