Matt Wearn demonstrated why he holds an Olympic gold medal and two world championships titles by delivering an outstanding performance in the Men’s Dinghy opening series.
He secured a 14-point lead over Cypriot Pavlos Kontides after eight qualifying races and sits in gold medal position, his impressive week also ensures that Matt will leave Paris 2024 with at least a silver medal.
However, Matt is determined to achieve back-to-back gold medals and continue the amazing gold medal streak for Australia in the Men’s Dinghy.
The streak started with Tom Slingsby winning gold against the same Cypriot sailor, Kontides, back in London 2012 followed by Tom Burton winning Gold in Rio 2016 and Matt in Tokyo 2020.
After a long day of waiting for wind, Matt remained calm and focused sitting comfortably at the top of the leaderboard.
“The last four days I’ve been at the top of the leaderboard, and that’s been the goal for the week, just to continue that,” he said.
“I think any points gap you can have going into the medal race is fantastic, so hopefully, I can defend the position tomorrow and see what it brings.”
Today, light winds challenged the sailors on the waters of Marseille, causing long delays and several abandoned races.
While some fleets managed to compete, others, including the Men’s Dinghy, were unable to race at all.
In the Women’s Kite, Breiana Whitehead placed ninth in her only race of the day before the lack of wind forced them to return to shore.
Meanwhile, the Mixed Multihull fleet completed all three of their scheduled races, with Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown just outside the top 10, giving them one more day to qualify for the medal race and achieve a personal best.
Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas continued to impress in the Mixed Dinghy class.
Despite their preference for windier conditions, they showed versatility over the past week, remaining in the top five in their only race of the day, which was ultimately abandoned.
Zoe Thomson concluded her Olympic campaign today, finishing 20th overall. The team is incredibly proud of her resilience throughout this week and her entire campaign.
Matt is set to compete for his second consecutive gold medal in the medal race on 6 August at 11:43pm AEST, with a light sea breeze expected to fill the bay.
Day 11 will also mark the penultimate day of racing for the Mixed Dinghy and Mixed Multihull classes, while the Kitesurfing fleets will continue their opening series racing with two more days to go. These events will commence at 8pm AEST.
Lisa Darmanin
