Young windsurfer wins Britain's first medal at Youth Olympics
by British Sailing Team Media 12 Oct 2018 21:48 PDT
6-18 October 2018
Finn Hawkins (GBR) © Matias Capizzano / World Sailing
Teenage windsurfer Finn Hawkins won Great Britain's first individual medal at the Youth Olympic Games, taking home bronze in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Friday.
The 15-year-old from St Austell, Cornwall, secured the medal by finishing third in the 13th and final race of the boy's windsurfing class.
Hawkins finished the regatta ten points behind silver medallist Nicolo Renna of Italy, but ten ahead of fourth-placed Tomer Vardimon from Israel.
The gold medal was won by Kalpo Kalpogiannakis from Greece.
In a display of consistency, Hawkins only finished outside of the top five of the 24-entry Techno 293+ windsurfing competition twice during the six days of action on the Rio del Plata.
Incredibly Hawkins has only windsurfed for four years after his parents bought him a board for his 11th birthday – but he has quickly established himself as a serious talent.
His bronze Youth Olympics medal tops a stellar season that also saw him take third at the Techno 293+ youth world championships.
"I'm feeling amazing," Hawkins said. "It's a surreal feeling. My plan for the week was to be consistent. I did that, and today I knew I had to just stick in the front group to secure bronze.
"I didn't have the greatest start but I managed to come back and cross the line third. When I finished the race and realised I had won bronze I couldn't have been happier."
Hawkins' counterpart Islay Watson, the reigning youth world champion, narrowly missed the ten-athlete medal race in the girls' competition finishing 11th overall.
However Watson's disappointment will be tempered by the announcement this week that she has been picked for the British Sailing Team.
Hawkins and Watson were among 42 British athletes aged between 14 and 18 chosen to compete in 17 sports over 12 days of action.
The pair are products of the Royal Yachting Association's British Youth Sailing programme, which aims to identify and develop the world's best young racing sailors.
The pair were supported at the Youth Olympics by British Youth Sailing coach Oli Woodcock, an experienced windsurfer with a proven track record for nurturing young athletes.
The 2018 Youth Olympics, which continues until October 18, will feature almost 4,000 of the world's most talented young athletes from 206 nations and is the third edition of the Games following Singapore 2010 and Nanjing 2014.
"What a year it's been for both Islay and Finn," Woodcock said. "Islay has worked so hard and won the youth worlds but unfortunately this week it wasn't to be. Finn has also worked his socks off – to get a podium at the Techno 293+ youth worlds was amazng and it was the start of the process getting to the Youth Olympics. He's done a great job here in Buenos Aires, and a bronze medal is a well-deserved reward."
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