Stransky secures race victory at ILCA 6 Worlds
by Lisa Darmanin 6 Dec 2021 16:55 AEDT
1-6 December 2021
2021 ILCA 6 World Championships in Oman day 5 © Sander van der Borch / Lloyd Images / Oman Sail
Tokyo Olympian Mara Stranksy finally found her form on day 5 of the ILCA 6 World Championships in Oman. The young Queenslander shot up the rankings to 6th overall after three solid races including a win in the last race of the day.
"It was so much easier racing in front of the fleet and being able to sail my own race rather than battling in the doldrums" Stransky laughed.
Wind conditions continued to challenge the sailors on the penultimate day of racing, but unlike the previous two days there was just a small delay before the race committee fired off three races on the Gulf of Oman.
Australian Sailing Team Coach, Rafa Trujillo described it as "Another hard day of sailing.
"There was a 25-degree wind shift in race one catching out the Australian contingent on the wrong side of the course," Trujillo continued. "It was a great comeback from Mara and Zoe and we had another two races with a bit more wind strength, but it was still extremely patchy and shifty."
WAIS athlete Zoe Thomson also moved up in the standings to 13th overall as she edges closer to the top ten before the final day. Fellow Western Australian Elyse Ainsworth struggled in today's racing dropping to 25th overall.
Victorian and Australian Sailing Squad member Casey Imeneo has battled to put things together during this week's racing as she sits towards the bottom of the rankings along with the other Australian entrants.
Despite the mixed results the Australian Sailing Team ILCA 6 squad has formed a strong bond and knows the importance of working together as they move towards Paris 2024.
"I'm really lucky to be part of such a strong, supportive squad," Stransky shared. "We all grew quite close during the domestic training camps and I'm so proud of how far we've come as a squad and owe a huge amount of my development both on and off the water to the girls."
The Australian ILCA 6 squad was fortunate to be able to train amongst the men's ILCA 7 squad during the domestic grounding as a result of the Covid pandemic. The athletes saw first-hand how important squad cohesion and development are to group success.
"By working together and utilising our different strengths I am confident we will achieve more on our road to Paris than any of us would alone, and couldn't pick a better group to share that road with," finished Stransky.
As the regatta is still behind schedule three races are planned for the final day to conclude the 2021 ILCA 6 World Championships.
Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Squad (ASS) and other Australian (AUS) entries:
6th Mara Stransky (AST) 12, 33, 11, 6, 13, (47), 21, 9, 1 - 106 pts
12th Zoe Thomson (ASS) 26, 18, 17, 9, (33), 17, 22, 16, 16 - 141 pts
25th Elyse Ainsworth (ASS) 22, 3, 19, 12, (50), 30,33, 41, 33 - 194 pts
42nd Evie Saunders (AUS) 53, 26, 40, 18, 47, 54, 35, 7, (BFD) - 280 pts
45th Paige Caldecoat (AUS) 48, 34, 35, (BFD), 22, 29, 47, 47, 27 - 290 pts
56th Casey Imeneo (ASS) 39, 56, 43, 41, 42, (59), 56, 43, 25 - 345 pts
View the full results here.