Brits keep lead at Yngling Worlds

by yngling event media / sail-world.co.uk on 13 Feb 2008 After six races at the Yngling Worlds the GBR team of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson, are still in the lead. Into second place now are the German crew of Ulrike Schuemann, Julia Bleck and Ute Hoepfner. The Australians, Krystal Weir, Karyn Gojnich and Angela Farrell are in third place.

Britain's second team at this event, Shirley Robertson, Annie Lush and Lucy Macgregor, have had a tough return to the international circuit. Every race has seen an improvement and yesterdays sixth and third places finally saw Robertson and her crew back to their true competitive position, but too late. At this point in the Olympic cycle with many top sailors still looking to qualify, the level of competition is high and Robertson's other high profile sailing interests seem to have taken her eye off the main game.

The big battle is seen further down the fleet where eight nations are fighting for the four Olympic places that are still up for grabs.

For those not familiar with the qualification system, here is a brief explanation: 15 Yngling teams will sail at the Olympics. 10 of the nations were decided already at last year's Worlds in Cascais, Portugal. China have a host nation berth and the four places left will be decided here at the Worlds in Miami. Which specific team a nation will finally send to the Olympics is up to the nation itself and hard battles are also fought among teams from the same country.

The top ranked team among the not yet qualified nations is Anne Claire Le Berre, Marion Deplanque and Alice Ponsar (FRA), currently ranked 4 in the regatta. The ranking order after race 6 for the other seven nations fighting for an Olympic berth is: Norway, Greece, Italy, Canada, Denmark and Japan. With four races to go before the medal race much is at stake.

The Italian team of Chiara Calligaris, Francesca Scognamillo and Giulia Pignolo strengthened their position after leading the fleet around all the marks to win race 5.

The American team, one of the dominating teams at the Yngling arena for the last few years, had during this Championship often been found far down the fleet on the first beat without time and opportunity to come back. After a win in today's last race the team is now ranked 6 in the regatta and very much in the fight for medals.

Yngling - Overall positions after 6 races, 1 discard

1 GBR Ayton, Sarah/Webb, Sarah/Wilson, Pippa 1 3 3 2 4 [5] 13
2 GER Schuemann, Ulrike/Bleck, Julia/Hoepfner, Ute 6 7 5 1 3 [9] 22
3 AUS Weir, Krystal/Gojnich, Karyn/Farrell, Angela 4 6 2 3 [10] 10 25
4 FRA LE BERRE, Anne-Claire/DEPLANQUE, Marion/PONSAR, Alice [20] 9 8 4 2 8 31
5 NOR Sundby, Siren/Fredriksen, Lise Birgitte/Koefoed, Alexandra 8 5 [12] 12 5 2 32
6 USA Barkow, Sally/Howe, carrie/Capozzi, Debbie 2 [14] 11 6 13 1 33
7 NZL Ferris, Sharon/Smeal, Raynor/Powrie, Olivia 9 1 6 11 [29/OCS] 11 38
8 FIN Lehtinen, Silja/Klemetz, Maria/Varesmaa, Livia 3 10 4 [15] 7 14 38
9 GRE Bekatorou, Sofia/Papadopoulou, Sofia/Charamountani, Christina 7 12 10 5 15 [19] 49
10 RUS Basalkina, Anna/Ukraintseva, Vladislava/Maximova, Ekaterina 17 16 1 9 [20] 7 50
11 RUS Skudina, Ekaterina/Krutskikh, Diana/Ivanova, Natalia 13 2 [19] 16 14 6 51
12 GBR Robertson, Shirley/Lush, Annie/Macgregor, Lucy [29/OCS] 22 14 7 6 3 52
13 ITA Calligaris, Chiara/Scognamillo, Francesca/Pignolo, Giulia 5 17 [25] 21 1 12 56
14 NED Mulder, Mandy/Faber, Mary/Witteveen, Merel 23 4 15 13 [29/OCS] 13 68
15 FRA Le Helley, Anne/Catherine, Lepesant/Julie, Gerecht 12 8 7 [25] 22 21 70
16 NED Thies, Annelies/Wierenga, Lieske/Heerema, Caroline [22] 19 9 10 16 16 70
17 CHN Xia Qun, Song/XIAO NI, LI/YAN LI, YU 16 11 18 14 12 [23] 71
18 RSA Provoyeur, Dominique/Alison, Penny/Rew, Kim 11 20 [29/DSQ] 19 9 15 74
19 NED Groeneveld, Renee/Bes, Annemieke/Kampen, Marge 10 13 16 [23] 17 18 74
20 ESP Azon, Monica/Azon, Sandra/Pisonero, Graciela 15 15 [20] 18 8 20 76
21 CAN Provan, Jennifer/Henderson, Martha/Abbott, Katie [29/DNS] 21 17 8 21 22 89
22 CHN Jie, Li/ru, wang/yang, gao 19 [24] 22 20 11 24 96
23 DEN Palludan, Trine/Hartvig, Ida/Boidin, Susanne 24 [29/DSQ] 13 17 25 17 96
24 NED Hin, Janneke/V.D. Werf, Brechtje/Hendriksen, Floortje 25 [29/RAF] 24 24 24 4 101
25 JPN Shige, Yumiko/Horiuchi, Mayumi/Onizuka, Minami 14 18 23 [27] 23 27 105
26 UKR Dolynska, Mariia/Matevusheva, Svetlana/Kalinina, Ganna 18 23 [26] 22 19 26 108
27 CAN Moberg-Parker, Tine/Marshall, Sarah/Robson, Cressida 21 25 21 [26] 18 25 110
28 GRE Danezi, Altani/karabatsou, zoe/vlachou, evagelia 26 [29/DNS] 27 28 26 28 135