Weymouth and Portland International Regatta - Women's Match Racing

by International Sailing Federation on 2 Aug 2011 Weymouth and Portland International Regatta is being held from 31 July to 13 August 2011 and is the London 2012 Olympic Test Event.

The Women’s Match Racing competition will be the first Olympic Sailing Event to set sail at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta when the Round Robin stage commences on Tuesday 2 August.

Twelve teams from Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and USA will all sail against each other in the Round Robin. The top eight move to the Quarter Finals and their results will determine seeding. For the remaining teams their result in the Round Robin determines their place from nine to twelve overall.

The winner of the Quarter Finals advance to the Semi Finals and the losers move to a sail off to determine fifth to eighth place. The winners of the semi-finals then advance to the Final on 11 August after the Petit Final on 9 August.
ISAF Sailing World Cup Women’s Match Racing title winner Anna Tunnicliffe misses out on the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta after Sally Barkow was selected ahead of her. Barkow was impressive throughout the ISAF Sailing World Cup and recorded four podium finishes including a gold medal at Trofeo S.A.R. Princess Sofia Mapfre.

The Weymouth and Portland International Regatta will also feature US Sailing’s Rolex Miami OCR gold medallist Claire Leroy (FRA), Semainé Olympique Française victor Lucy Macgregor (GBR) and Kieler-Woche winner Ekaterina Skudina (RUS).

In the 49er Australia’s Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen will be the pair to beat following their regatta wins at the Open Europeans and at Skandia Sail for Gold. The duo won gold at the 49er World Championship in 2009 before finishing behind Spain’s Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez in 2010.

The Spaniards, who won 49er gold at Athens 2004 and silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, will also fancy their chances at the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta one year ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition.

World number one 49er pair Nico Delle-Karth and Nikolaus Resch (AUT) will sail at the Weymouth and Portland Regatta. The Austrians won the ISAF Sailing World Cup 49er title by six points over Denmark’s Peter Kruger-Andersen and Nicolai Thorsell. En-route to the title the Austrians won gold at Sail Melbourne and finished third on the podium at Trofeo S.A.R. Princess Sofia Mapfre and Kieler-Woche and head into Weymouth full of confidence.

Kruger-Andersen and Thorsell were not selected for the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta. Denmark’s representatives will be in the form of Jonas Warrer and Soeren Hansen. Warrer won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games with crew Martin Kirketerp Ibsen.

The 49ers begin sailing on 6 August with the Medal Race on 13 ISAF website