Britain most successful nation in ISAF Rankings

by ISAF media on 9 Oct 2005 Great Britain remain the most successful nation in the ISAF Rankings with six sailors in the top three places across the eleven events. With Ben Ainslie back at the top of the Finn Rankings and Chris Draper and Simon Hiscoks (GBR) holding firm to the 49er top spot, they have two number one crews.

This as a feat shared by the Ukraine, thanks to Olga Maslivets in the Mistral and 2004 Olympic silver medallists, Ruslana Taran, Anna Kalina and Svetlana Matevusheva in the Yngling.

Elsewhere Rankings’ leaders come from Brazil, the USA, Portugal, France, Spain, Hong Kong and Sweden, meaning the top spots are shared between Europe, Asia, North and South America.

1. Men's Windsurfer – Mistral

There are no new events counting to the Men’s Windsurfer event since the last rankings on 3 August. However, the rolling calculation of the rankings has shuffled the places up a bit and presented a new leader. Hong Kong’s Ho CHI HO leaps up from 3 to 1 and topples Maxim OBEREMKO (UKR), who had held firm leading the rankings since February 2005. HO has made a steady climb up the rankings and broke into the world’s top 10 in May of this year, and he has now clinched the top spot.

The events to be included in the final rankings for the Mistral Class on 12 December are the ISAF Grade 2 Enoshima Olympic Week and the ISAF Grade 3 Tzeni Grammalidou Cup.

2. Women's Windsurfer – Mistral

As in the Men’s Windsurfer, the women’s fleet has no events counting in this release of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings. Whilst the two-year ranking calculation has effected some sailors, there is no change in the world’s top four, who remain in the same order led by Olga MASLIVETS (UKR), with Amelie LUX (GER), Blanca MANCHÓN (ESP) and Antonia FREY (GRE) following behind.

All four put in an appearance at last weekend’s RS:X event in Cadiz, Spain, with MANCHÓN, who has been announced on the shortlist for the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards, finishing ahead of the others in second place overall, pipped to the post by Olympic Champion Faustine MERRET (FRA) who claimed the series.

3. Men's One Person Dinghy – Laser

Robert SCHEIDT (BRA) stays at the top of the Rankings and few could argue with his right to the honour, after the Brazilian legend spent August and September making mincemeat of the rest of the Laser sailing world. Three wins in the latest Rankings’ period at the ISAF Grade C1 Laser European Championship in Cartagena, Spain and the ISAF Grade 3 Laser Northeast Brazilian Championship and ISAF Grade W Laser World Championship both in Fortaleza, Brazil cement his position at the top of the Rankings which he regained from Paul GOODISON (GBR) in August.

He had originally expressed an intention to campaign a Star for Beijing, and began the year with strong performances at both the ISAF Grade C1 Star South American Championship and ISAF Grade W Star World Championship. SCHEIDT then returned to the Laser, and has been back to his very best in the last few months culminating in his massive win at the Worlds on his home waters. With such dominant displays in the Laser, SCHEIDT is once again considering his plans for 2008, and has said he will wait until November before making a decision.

Behind SCHEIDT, GOODISON remains at number two, thanks to his second place at the Europeans whilst Olympic silver medallist Andreas GERITZER (AUT) climbs above Vasilij ZBOGAR (SLO) to number three after finishing fourth in Cartagena.

4. Women's One Person Dinghy - Laser Radial

Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Champion and ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year nominee Paige RAILEY (USA) scored her fifth win of the year with a convincing display at the ISAF Grade C1 Laser Radial European Championship in Split, Croatia to build a dominant looking 450 point lead at the top of the Rankings.

Behind her there is plenty of place changing in the top ten led by Magalie BONNEAU-MARCIL (CAN) rising from five to two after she took third place at the ISAF Grade 1 CORK Regatta in Kingston, Canada, whilst CORK Regatta winner Lisa ROSS (CAN) climbs from twelve to five and is one of four Canadians in the top six along with Jennifer SPALDING and Keamia RASA.

5. Men's Two Person Dinghy – 470

The men's 470 rankings see no change to the top two teams in this ranking but the effects of the ISAF Grade W 470 World Championship can certainly be seen further down the list. The Australian team of Nathan WILMOT and Malcolm PAGE (AUS) successfully defended their title in San Francisco, and subsequently count their first points from an event since the Olympic Games in Athens and move one place up the rankings to number eleven.

The big climbers are the six teams who join the top 20. The highest is Nic ASHER and Elliott WILLIS (GBR) who move up nine places to number 13 after finishing sixth in San Francisco. The biggest climbers are Gildas PHILIPPE and Nicolas LE BERRE (FRA) whose third place at the Worlds sees them move 14 places up to number 16. Two more French teams make the move up to the top 20, Pierre LEBOUCHER and Vincent GAROS climb from 23 to 15 whilst Ronan DREANO and Ronan FLOCH make the leap from 24 to 18.

6. Women's Two Person Dinghy – 470

It's all about the Worlds for the women's 470 fleet in this ranking release. As the only event to count towards sailors' points the results in San Francsisco have had a significant impact on positions. Marcelien DE KONING and Lobke BERKHOUT (NED) took their first World Championship victory in the 470 and are additionally rewarded by their ranking position rising from 11 to five. DE KONING and BERKHOUT's victory in San Francisco couldn't have been tighter as they finished on equal points with Christina BASSADONE and Saskia CLARK (GBR), winning on countback as they counted five bullets to the British pair's two and discarding an eighth and a seventh compared to a 21 and a twelve. BASSADONE and CLARK might be smarting from being denied the title in such a way but they can console themselves with remaining at number four on the rankings.

There is also no change for Ingrid PETITJEAN and Nadege DOUROUX (FRA) at number one, Nike KORNECKI and Vered BUSKILA (ISR) at number two and Therese TORGERSSON and Vendela ZACHRISSON (SWE) at number three who finished third, fifth and sixth respectively at the Worlds.

7. Skiff - 49er

The domination continues at the top of the Skiff fleet, with Chris DRAPER and Simon HISCOCKS (GBR) holding the number one slot for what is now just over two years.

The British duo started their remarkable run on 1 October 2003 – and look set to remain at the top for some time yet? A win at the 49er European Championship in Denmark and a second place at the 49er World Championship in Moscow has helped to bolster their position. Although their points margin over the chasing pack has extended to 107 from 13 – it is only a narrow margin of relief. Another feat to their credit is their run of performances at the last four European Championships and World Championships – finishing in the top two every time.

The British pair were denied a win at the worlds by Olympic silver medallists Rodion LUKA and George LEONCHUK (UKR) who took their first 49er World Championship victory. Combining their win in Moscow with a tenth at the European Championships, LUKA and LEONCHUK have held firm to their previous ranking position and sit in fourth.

8. Heavyweight Dinghy – Finn

Ben AINSLIE (GBR) makes an unsurprising return to the number one spot following his back-to-back victories at the ISAF Grade C1 Finn European Championship in Sweden and ISAF Grade W Finn Gold Cup in Russia. Nobody could deny the double Olympic gold medallist his top spot, after he annihilated the competition at the Europeans and virtually led from the start to take his fourth consecutive Gold Cup. Since his victory in Athens last year, AINSLIE has cherry-picked his events, and balanced his Finn sailing with helming duties for Emirates Team New Zealan