Australian sailors at 2020 ILCA Laser Radial Women's Championship - Overall
by Michael Martin 28 Feb 2020 23:15 AEDT
21-28 February 2020
Michael Compton - 2020 ILCA Laser Radial Women's Championship, final day © Jon West Photography
17-year-old Aussie Michael Compton has held off fast finishing compatriots including Brody Riley and Stefan Elliott-Shircore to claim second overall after six days of exciting racing at the Laser Radial World Championships.
With lighter than expected winds persisting on the final day at Sandringham Yacht Club, the men's competition was restricted to one race meaning that despite Compton's three points he couldn't do enough to move past Russian Daniil Krurskikh to claim first.
"It was very shifty out there today. The front came through and the wind dropped right off, but that was good for me being one of the lighter ones of the fleet which gave me a chance to make my move and I got a clear lane," Compton said. "It's been awesome to get the sort of competition I got out there, I've been able to learn so much already and with all the shifts we've had I've enjoyed putting it all together,"
Krusrskikh's final race of the regatta was his worst, but his dominance right throughout the competition meant he could take advantage of discarding his only double figure score.
With just one race for the day, neither Riley nor Elliot-Shircore were able to snare the bronze from Slovenian Nik Pletikos.
The gentler conditions on day six finally favoured Australian Sailing Team member Mara Stransky. The Queenslander posted a 10th in her only race of the day, but was left to lament her disappointing performances yesterday which meant she finished the regatta in 18th overall.
"Not really having a great day yesterday meant I really needed to get in three races to work my way back up again," she said. "But I was pretty happy with the race we did have. It was super light and pretty patchy, I got a few things wrong early but did manage to catch up to tenth."
But this regatta really belonged to Dutch champion sailor Marit Bouwmeester right from day one.
The four-time World Champion showed her class across nine of the ten races cementing her top spot ahead of countryman Maxime Jonker and Line Flem-Host of Norway.
Final Results:
Laser Radial Women's (105 entries)
Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Squad (ASS) entries:
18th: Mara Stransky (AST) 5, (22), 8, 5, 14, 5, (44), 20, 28, 10 - 95 pts
39th: Elyse Ainsworth (ASS) (32), 11, 20, 8, 24, 15, 39, 22, 37, (47) - 176 pts
Other Australians in the Top Forty:
24th: Zoe Thomson (AUS) 10, 14, 28, 14, 15, 19, 17, 7, (47), 16 - 112 pts
Laser Radial Men's (66 entries)
Australians in the Top Ten:
2nd: Michael Compton 2, 3, (14), 5, 4, 4, 10, 11, 3 - 42 pts
4th: Brody Riley (18), 8, 5, 3, 3, 6, 3, 7, (DSQ) - 53 pts
5th: Stefan Elliott-Shircore 7, (30), 7, 7, 10, 1, 5, 6, 15 - 58 pts
7th: Zac Littlewood 25, 5, 1, (DSQ), 1, 22, 16, 1, 5 - 76 pts
9th: Zac West 4, 23, 23, 18, 7, (31), 7, 13, 2 - 97pts
For more information on the 2020 ILCA Laser Radial Women's World Championship and full results visit the event website.