Please select your home edition
Edition
Rooster 2025

49erFX field wide open at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Sailing Competition

by Andy Rice, World Sailing 21 Jul 2021 07:48 PDT 27 July - 2 August 2021
Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze © World Sailing

The 49erFX made its first Olympic appearance at Rio five years ago, when the battle for gold and silver remained in the balance until the final stages of the Medal Race.

The gold and silver medallists from Rio 2016 - respectively Brazil's Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze and New Zealand's Alex Maloney and Molly Meech - will again be in contention for the podium. They're not the stand-out favourites, however. No one is. This field appears to be wide open to a number of contenders.

Spain's Tamara Echegoyen and Paula Barcelo sailed a really smart series to win the 2020 World Championship in Australia. Echegoyen knows how to win at the Olympics, having taken gold as helm of the Spanish entry in the women's match racing event at London 2012. She also went to Rio 2016 as the reigning 49erFX World Champion, but just missed out on the Olympic podium, finishing in the dreaded fourth place.

Arguably the most consistent performers over the past five years since Rio are the ever-smiling Dutch duo of Annemiek Bekkering & Annette Duetz, who won back to back World Championships in 2018 and 2019.

Duetz recalls when they first came across each other as keen youth sailors in the 29er skiff, the junior go-kart version of the bigger 49erFX, "There was this superstar, we met at training sessions, we sailed a few times together, but not knowing we would one day sail together all the time!"

Bekkering can't speak highly enough of her tall crew, "Annette, she can do anything. She's amazing. We really like the windy conditions, we still keep on racing, pushing through the big waves. It doesn't matter what happens, Annette is always the same emotions, - keep going, keep fighting - that's a really good strength to have in the boat."

Duetz returns the compliment, "You're really on it, if there are any gains to be made on the race course, you find them!"

The team needed all of their composure to bounce back from a difficult start to their qualification trials after being outsailed by their Dutch rivals, Odile van Aanholt and Marieke Jongens, at a really light and fluky Hempel World Cup Genoa regatta in early 2019.

Bekkering and Duetz pretty much needed to win the next qualifying event, the 49erFX European Championships in Weymouth a month later. When the pressure was on, they executed the plan and won the event and with it, selection for Tokyo 2020.

They will be leaning on that experience when they start racing at their second Games together. "There was a lot of pressure on us to sail those European Championships well, and we did," says Bekkering, looking to do much better than their seventh in Rio five years ago.

"It was a good experience to compete at the Games, but we struggled with the whole Olympics. In some ways it was not the nicest Games, didn't enjoy it as much as we hoped, but it was super useful to do Rio. We're super keen to do a great event this time and make the most of it, to get the best out of ourselves."

Of course, every Olympic athlete believes that competing at the Games is a dream come true, but no team will appreciate that feeling of arriving at the venue and getting that buzz than the German 49erFX crew. Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke have dreamt of this moment for most of their lives, and have been sailing together as a team since 2007. After narrowly missing out on selection for London 2012 and Rio 2016, when they finally earned selection for Tokyo 2020 it was a huge release of emotions for the two friends. It happened at the European Championships in Austria, one of the few events that actually managed to take place in late 2020. The German team found they had boat speed to burn, and if they can carry that speed edge from the smooth fresh waters of Lake Attersee to the salty swell of Enoshima, then they will be right up there in the fight for gold. It was Lutz and Beucke's first major regatta win having finished fifth and ninth in the two most recent World Championships.

A few short years ago, Stephanie Roble was an incredible match racer in keelboats but when she stepped aboard the 49erFX she discovered that it was a much more wobbly platform than she was used to. Hundreds of capsizes and nosedives later, Roble and her crew Maggie Shea have emerged stronger from the all the bruises and moulded themselves into serious skiff contenders who seem to be able to come out on top in marginal situations. They had a battle on their hands to beat USA rivals Paris Henken and 2008 Radial Olympic Champion Anna Tobias (née Tunnicliffe), but Roble and Shea passed the test with flying colours, taking bronze at the 2020 World Championships.

The crew that finished just ahead of the Americans at those Worlds in Geelong is Great Britain's Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey who competed at Rio 2016 as rivals in separate boats. Dobson, crewed by Sophie Ainsworth, finished eighth in Rio while Tidey, sailing for Ireland with Andrea Brewster, were 12th. Born to an Irish mother and English father, Tidey took a lot of heat from some Irish quarters for switching flags to Great Britain ("the hardest and probably one of the most controversial things I'll ever do in my life"), but as a sailing partnership Dobson and Tidey worked almost straight away. They have always been strong in the breeze, Tidey standing 1.88m tall helps, but they've worked hard over the past two years to iron out any weaknesses at the lighter end of the wind spectrum. Now Dobson and Tidey look like the full package and have every right to expect a medal from Tokyo.

The Scandinavian nations have a strong history in the 49erFX and Denmark, Sweden and Norway are all ones to watch. Ida Marie Nielsen and Marie Olsen (DEN) have been at or near to the top end of the FX fleet since competition in the women's skiff began back in 2013 when they won the first European Championship. A third place at the 2019 World Championship is the high point of more recent years for this tight-knit crew.

The daughter of five-time Olympic medallist Torben Grael, can Martine Grael along with Kahena Kunze repeat their gold from Rio 2016? The Brazilians continue to reach the podium on a regular basis, most recently at two winter regattas in Lanzarote. Grael and Kunze seem to thrive on the big occasion, and they won on Olympic waters at the Test Event two years ago.

Having been beaten by the Brazilians by the tightest of margins five years ago at Rio 2016, perhaps this time it will be the Kiwis' opportunity to turn the tables on their long-term rivals. Alex Maloney and Molly Meech have been sailing together now for nine years, experience which should count on their favour at such a unique event. "I think as a team we can feel pretty confident that we're in good shape," says Maloney. "It will be a case of who executes on the day."

The fact that the Games is going ahead at all is something to celebrate, says Meech. "I think that with everything that has been happening over the last year and coming to an Olympics that was postponed, it feels quite special," she says. "It feels quite different to Rio. You were racing and seeing your competitors quite a lot in the build-up to Rio. This feels quite fresh. It's exciting.

"It's also really cool to finally be back in Japan. Getting the bus across the bridge [to the yacht club] the other day actually felt like coming back to somewhere really familiar."

Racing in the Women's Skiff - 49erFX starts on Tuesday 27 July. The 21-boat fleet will start the first of 12 fleet races on the Enoshima course area at 1200 JST. They will finish racing on Monday 2 August with their Medal Race.

A full list of competitors is available here.

Related Articles

World Sailing announces split venues for LA28
The boards will be at Long Beach, with the dinghy events at the Port World Sailing has said it welcomes the confirmation of sailing venues for the Olympic Games LA28 the boards will be at Long Beach, with the dinghy events at the Port. Posted on 30 Jun
Bronze breakthrough for Liddell and Brown
Nacra 17 duo claim their first international podium at Kieler Woche Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown have claimed their first international podium in the Nacra 17 class, securing bronze at Kieler Woche, the third Sailing Grand Slam event of the season. Posted on 30 Jun
Sail Canada introduces Canadian Sailing Team
21 athletes were selected based on the Canadian Sailing Team Sport Canada Carding Criteria Sail Canada is pleased to announce the list of sailors who will be part of the 2025-2026 Canadian Sailing Team. Posted on 26 Jun
Hamilton Island Race Week Olympic sailing showcase
40th anniversary celebrations are hotting up Hamilton Island Race Week's 40th anniversary celebrations are hotting up, with more than 160 entries confirmed for the annual sailing regatta to be contested from 16-23 August in the glorious Whitsunday Islands. Posted on 26 Jun
Aussies Break into Top 10 at Kieler Woche
Put to the test from light air to heavy breeze The first half of Kieler Woche has wrapped up in Germany, with Australian sailors putting themselves to the test in five Olympic classes. Kiel delivered a complete spectrum of conditions for athletes to sharpen their racing skills. Posted on 26 Jun
Kieler Woche Day 6
Double gold for France in Olympic classes Perfect sailing conditions marked the final of Kieler Woche in the Olympic skiff, dinghy, and surf classes: On Wednesday, June 25, the waters off Schilksee offered fresh to strong, challenging winds with flat waves. Posted on 25 Jun
Kieler Woche Day 5
Tuesday served as a warm-up for the hot finale of Kieler Woche Sophie Steinlein and Catherine Bartelheimer from Bavaria in the skiff, as well as Kiel native Fabian Wolf on the foiling windsurf board, will enter Wednesday's (June 25) medal races as leaders. Posted on 24 Jun
Kieler Woche Day 3
A Tough Test for Athletes and Equipment Fresh to strong south-westerly winds with stormy squalls pushed participants to their limits on Monday at Kieler Woche. Posted on 23 Jun
Kieler Woche Day 2
The Olympic skiffs sorted themselves into gold and silver fleets after four daily races Subtropical sailing conditions with a light but sufficient breeze delighted the athletes on Sunday (June 22) on the second regatta day of Kieler Woche. Posted on 22 Jun
Kieler Woche Day 1
German frontrunners in the 49er and 49er FX classes Fantastic summer weather with light but quite variable winds meant a reduced sailing program for more than 2000 participants at the start of Kieler Woche on Saturday (21 June). Posted on 22 Jun
Hyde Sails 2024 - One DesignCyclops Marine 2023 November - FOOTERMaritimo M50