Sydney 2000 - Olympic Sailing Day Four

TEAM GB SAILORS ENJOY FIRST GOOD BREEZE TO GRACE OLYMPIC SAILING REGATTA

While Team GB's Soling representatives Andy Beadsworth, Richard Sydenham and Barry Parkin guaranteed their place in the Soling match racing regatta, Ben Ainslie, Shirley Robertson and Nick Rogers & Joe Glanfield each walked away from their first day of racing with at least one top four result in their opening two fleet races in the bag.

Shirley Robertson, Sailing Team GB's most experienced sailor having represented Great Britain in 1992 and 1996 Games in the Europe class, leads the women's single-handed discipline after two races. Although 1996 Olympic Silver medallist Margriet Matthijsse (Netherlands) won the first race quite convincingly (by 21 seconds), Shirley's all round performance in the 8-14 breeze on course area B proved to be the most consistent in the twenty four boat fleet as she finished fourth in race one and third in race two. She heads into races three and four tomorrow at midday with a two point lead over Sari Multala (Finland). "There's still a long way to go but I'd prefer to be lying first than twelfth and I haven't used any of my discards yet which is always nice" commented Shirley after racing.

A fourth and thirteenth in the final two Soling fleet races assured Andy Beadsworth, Richard Sydenham and Barry Parkin a place in the Soling match-racing regatta where the medals will be decided. Their seventh place overall was just one point away from a 'bye' through to the second round robin. They will now face Jesper Bank (Denmark), Philippe Presti (France), Jochen Schumann (Germany), Hans Wallen (Sweden) and Sergei Pichugin (Ukraine) in the six boat first round robin with only the top three progressing into round two.

"Essentially we're treating this as two separate regattas. We've now finished the first one and have two days off before we start the next. We're happy to have qualified comfortably and it would have been nice to come sixth but who knows if that would be a good thing or not bearing in mind the competition," commented bowman Barry Parkin. "We've beaten everyone in our round robin and at some stage they've beaten us. There's no easy ride for anyone from now on," added Barry.

For Ben Ainslie, a disappointing first race in which he finished twenty third across the line was quickly blown away as he won the second race of the day in convincing fashion. He ends the first day in eighth overall while archival Robert Scheidt (Brazil), the reigning Olympic Gold Medallist and four time world champion, leads the fleet after a first and second. "I was pretty disappointed with the first race. It's a terrible way of starting such a big event as the Olympics but I was obviously pleased to pull myself together and win the second race because it gives me real confidence for the rest of the regatta," commented Ben.

Europe:

Men's 470:

49er:

Laser:

More results to follow soon !

More Information:

• YachtsandYachting.com Olympic Sailing Page
• Official Sydney 2000 Website with full results