Mills and Clark looking for more of the same
by Imogen Stanley 14 Aug 2016 17:07 PDT
8-18 August 2016
Hannah Mills & Saskia Clark (GBR) lead the Women's 470 class after day 7 at the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition © Sailing Energy / World Sailing
Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark will be looking for more of the same as they bid to keep their Rio medal charge on track on Monday.
The Brits followed up a first race eighth with a victory in the two of the three races that the 470 Women were scheduled to contest today to remain at the top of the leaderboard, with Annie Haeger and Briana Provancha (USA) four points behind.
But having enjoyed the stable breeze outside of Guanabara Bay on the Copacabana ocean course today, the class is now set to move back inside the bay onto the Escola Naval course for another three races tomorrow.
Despite heading the pack, Mills and Clark only have their eyes on the next race.
Clark said: "We were pleased with our day overall. We made a bit of a mistake in the first one; we really knocked in a really solid race but went to the finish line instead of the leeward gate. But we were actually really pleased with how we got our heads around that and got our heads back in the game for the final race and got a first.
"It's a big day tomorrow, three races so that's another 60 points it is possible to get on the scoreboard. We're on the Escola Naval course, which is tight, tricky racing so we will keep our heads down, try to stay solid and see what we leave the day with.
"The chasing pack aren't that far behind and everyone really wants this badly so we have to just keep to what we know, keep doing our processes and go from there."
Mills and Clark were racing out on the ocean at the same time that British teammate Giles Scott was winning his first Olympic gold in the Finn on the next racecourse, and Clark was quick to pay tribute to his achievement.
She added: "We are so excited for Giles, everyone on our team all thought it was obvious but he never did. He had a tricky first day and just fought and fought and it's just amazing."
The 470 Women's class is scheduled to contest an 11 race series, with two races per day on 10, 11, 12, 14 and 15 August before the final one off medal race on Wednesday 17 August.
To follow the team's fortunes at Rio 2016 visit www.rya.org.uk/Rio2016, follow @BritishSailing on Twitter and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/britishsailingteam