Sailing World Cup: Silver for Maloney and Meech at Enoshima

Alex Maloney / Molly Meech (NZL) - 49erFX - Enoshima , Round 1 of the 2020 World Cup Series - August 31, 2019 © Jesus Renedo / Sailing Energy

Alex Maloney and Molly Meech achieved more than a race win and a silver medal Saturday at the World Cup Series regatta in Enoshima, they also enjoyed "redemption" after narrowly missing out on the medals the previous week.

The Olympic silver medallists went into today's top-10 shootout in fourth, with silver the best realistic outcome, and the race panned out almost perfectly. They got off to a terrific start and moved into the lead on the second beat before cruising to a comfortable win in the 12-18 knot conditions.

It was the perfect tonic after the pair felt they let a medal slip away when they finished fourth at last week's Olympic test event at the same venue.

"It was really cool to execute the medal race," Meech said. "It was a little bit of redemption for us after the test event and it was nice to finish the week on a good note. With only five races [before the medal race] it was a really short regatta so it was nice to sneak into the medals today.

"Whenever you're on the podium here at Enoshima, it's a good reflection on how you are sailing. We have a bit more to learn about the Olympic venue but we've got one more year and a lot of time to come up here."

It was Maloney and Meech's third silver medal of the year, following on from their second placings at the Miami World Cup Series and Princess Sofia regattas, and repeated the silver they claimed at last year's Enoshima World Cup Series event.

Matt Steven, Alex Maloney, Nathan Handley, Molly Meech (NZL) - 49erFX - Enoshima , Round 1 of the 2020 World Cup Series - August 31, 2019 - photo © Jesus Renedo / Sailing Energy

The gold was won today by Dutch combination Annemiek Bekkering and Annette Duetz, with Julie Bossard and Aude Compan of France only one point behind the Kiwis.

Four other New Zealand boats will compete in their respective medal races tomorrow but are all out of contention of finishing on the podium. Susannah Pyatt and Brianna Reynolds-Smith are seventh in the women's 470, Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox ninth in the men's 470 and Sam Meech and Tom Saunders sixth and seventh respectively in the Laser.

Liv Mackay and Jason Saunders were 10th in the Nacra 17 medal race and finished 10th overall in their first regatta together.

It has been a particularly impressive comeback for Meech, who has finished in the top 10 in the last five races, including a first and second, after being 20th overall after the first five races.

He was 10th, fifth and second in today's three races, being pipped for the win by Great Britain's Michael Beckett by less than a boat length in the final race.

Liv Mackay / Jason Saunders (NZL)- Nacra 17 - Enoshima , Round 1 of the 2020 World Cup Series - August 31, 2019 - photo © Jesus Renedo / Sailing Energy

"It was good fun, great conditions today, good solid breeze and some pretty good waves downwind," Meech said. "I'm pretty happy with the last two days. It's just a bit of a shame about the first two but I'm pretty knackered.

"I just don't have a lot of firepower in those critical moments making crosses. It's the end of a very long season. I'm happy from where I started after the first two days just to make the medal race and it's going to be good to have made all the medal races so far [this year]."

Joining him in the race will be Saunders, who has also had an up-and-down regatta but moved up three places overall today to seventh.

Susannah Pyatt and Brianna-Reynolds-Smith qualified for their first medal race together in the women's 470, which is an important milestone in their fledgling partnership, and Snow-Hansen and Willcox will look to finish three consecutive regattas in Enoshima off on a high note in the men's 470 medal race.

Results and standings after Day 5 of the Hempel World Cup Series regatta in Enoshima, Japan, today:

Men's 470 (32 boats)

1st: Mathew Belcher / Will Ryan (AUS) 5 1 1 2 1 3 2 (8) 1 1 - 17 points 2nd: Jordi Xammar / Nicolas Rodriguez (ESP) (25) 3 5 1 9 5 1 4 2 3 - 33 pts 3rd: Kazuto Doi / Naoya Kimura (JPN) 2 14 3 6 5 2 (15) 1 6 2 - 41 pts

9th: Paul Snow-Hansen / Dan Willcox (NZL) 1 10 14 18 12 (21) 5 10 5 11 - 86 pts

Women's 470 (21 boats)

1st: Nia Jerwood / Monique de Vries (AUS) (10) 4 2 2 2 6 7 3 6 1 - 33 pts 2nd: Silvia Depares / Patricia Cantero (ESP) 2 7 5 (10) 1 5 9 2 2 3 - 36 pts 3rd: Elena Berta / Bianca Caruso (ITA) 13 6 1 6 3 1 5 (14) 4 2 - 41 pts

7th: Susannah Pyatt / Brianna Reynolds-Smith (NZL) 8 3 4 8 4 9 (17) 8 13 13 - 70 pts

49er (37 boats)

1st: James Peters / Fynn Sterritt (GBR) 13 1 15 11 (38 BFD) 1 4 4 - 49 pts 2nd: Benjamin Bildstein (AUT) 16 7 8 3 (21) 8 1 6 - 49 pts 3rd: Tim Fischer / Fabian Graf (GER) 3 6 3 6 (14) 6 8 20 - 52 pts

23rd: Logan Dunning Beck / Oscar Gunn (NZL) 32 25 10 16 (38 DNF) 13 18 - 114 pts 24th: Isaac McHardie / William McKenzie (NZL) 1 24 (38 RET) 14 38 DNF 38 DNF 16 - 131 pts

49erFX (36 boats)

1st: Annemiek Bekkering / Annette Duetz (NED) 4 9 (37 BFD) 3 3 8 - 27 pts 2nd: Alex Maloney / Molly Meech (NZL) 12 11 9 2 (37 DNF) 2 - 36 pts 3rd: Julie Bossard / Aude Compan (FRA) (11) 8 6 11 2 10 - 37 pts

Nacra 17 (32 boats)

1st: Quentin Delapierre / Manon Audinet (FRA) 9 1 (11) 2 7 2 - 21 pts 2nd: Ben Saxton / Nicola Boniface (GBR) 1 4 (6) 1 6 10 - 22 pts 3rd: Ruggero Tita / Caternina Banti (ITA) (10) 9 1 8 1 4 - 23 pts

10th: Liv Mackay / Jason Saunders (NZL) (28) 20 13 11 3 20 - 67 pts 23rd: Gemma Jones / Josh Porebski - 21 11 27 (33 RET) 11 - 70 pts 26th: Micah Wilkinson / Erica Dawson (NZL) 26 16 20 (33 UFD) 18 - 80 pts

Laser (51 boats)

1st: Pavlos Kontides (CYP) 2 9 1 5 2 5 5 4 3 (11) - 36 pts 2nd: Matthew Wearn (AUS) 18 (19) 2 2 16 4 1 3 7 4 - 57 pts 3rd: Jean Baptiste Bernaz (FRA) 3 12 4 (52 RET) 4 19 3 2 2 13 - 62 pts

6th: Sam Meech (NZL) 23 (31) 10 12 28 1 6 10 5 7 - 97 pts 7th: Tom Saunders (NZL) 26 (33) 6 14 3 22 3 16 8 6 - 103 pts 41st: George Gautrey (NZL) 45 15 22 30 21 (52 DNC) 52 DNC 52 DNC 52 DNC 52 DNC - 341 pts

Laser Radial (49 boats)

1st: Emma Plasschaert (BEL) 1 10 8 (15) 7 7 1 10 8 2 - 54 pts 2nd: Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) 13 12 1 13 2 3 (40) 5 5 3 - 57 pts 3rd: Alison Young (GBR) (33) 22 4 12 1 2 6 4 12 1 - 64 pts

29th: Olivia Christie (NZL) 26 (45) 34 40 31 27 14 35 26 11 - 244 pts 37th: Annabelle Rennie-Younger (NZL) (47) 44 30 32 36 28 19 38 33 31 - 291 pts 49th: Courtney Reynolds-Smith (NZL) 45 (48) 42 43 41 43 43 43 45 41 - 386 pts

Women's RS:X (24 boards)

1st: Yunxiu Lu (CHN) (6) 5 1 1 5 1 1 1 4 2 16 - 37 pts 2nd: Katy Spychakov (ISR) 2 8 7 3 (11) 3 2 2 3 4 8 - 42 pts 3rd: Zofia Noceti-Klepacka (POL) 7 3 (8) 8 7 5 5 3 2 3 6 - 49 pts

17th: Veerle ten Have (NZL) 22 22 (24) 13 15 17 20 15 15 20 - 159 pts

Full results click here