ENGLAND WIN GOLD, ITALIAN CLOSES ON FINN SILVER
by Ian Grant. on 30 Sep 2000
Katrina Butler
Luca Devoti the 103kg Italian Finn class skipper claimed and important win in the 10th heat of the Olympic series on Sydney Harbour today.
The Italian hardly made a tactical error during the 1 hour 6 minute windward leeward race contested in an ideal 8-12 knot North East breeze.
He was in control of the race strategy from the start and generally sailed each variable direction change to the best possible advantage which was needed to stall the challenge from Australian Anthony Nossiter and the Croatian helmsman Carlo Kuret.
England's title leader Iain Percy failed to start in clean air and was back in the pack when sails were eased for the first downwind run but the placing was not going to damage his chance of winning with a race to spare.
His consistent score in the previous 9 races had the margin to carry at least one poor result in the final two races today and he cleverly sailed to the Gold Medal with a race to spare.
Naturally Devoti was not concerned with the fleet placing of Percy as he led the fleet around all marks of the course to advance into joint second place on the pointscore with Sweden's Fredrik Loof while Xavier Rohart of France remained in medal contention another 1 penalty point behind.
These results allowed Iain Percy to pull of the course and enjoy the rewards of winning the Gold Medal while Loof and Devoti set to duel for the Silver Medal as the wind continued to gust at 16 knots setting the stage for an endurance test to decide the minor Medal winners.
RESULTS Race 10 (Provisional): ITA 1, AUS 2,CRO 3, SUI 4, FRA 5, POL 6, TUR 7, CAN 8, RSA 9, HUN 10. PROGRESS POINTS (Provisional). GBR 26pts 1, ITA 40pts 2, SWE 40pts 3.
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