Australian sailors have won two Gold medals and a Silver medal on an exciting final day of racing at the sixth round of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Weymouth, England.
Australian sailors have won two Gold medals and a Silver medal on an exciting final day of racing at the sixth round of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in Weymouth, England.
Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen won Gold in the 49er class, with team-mate Tom Slingsby winning Gold in the Laser class, while Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page brought home Silver in the 470.
Australia’s 49er and Laser crews continued their dominance at the 2012 London Olympic Games venue with both crews winning their third straight Gold medals in Weymouth.
Saturday’s three medals took Australia’s tally for the week to five, following the Gold and Bronze medal efforts in the Skud 18 Paralympic class on Friday.
Outteridge and Jensen headed into the final race in a familiar position for them in Weymouth, with a handy 16 point lead over the second placed French team.
The pair had to restart the race after believing they jumped the start and then proceeded to power their way through the fleet, eventually finishing second behind fellow Australians Will and Sam Phillips.
“We just tried to make a conservative start, as well as trying to hassle the French a bit,” said Outteridge. “There was an individual recall and went back because it wasn’t worth risking it and then we found ourselves deep in the pack, trying to avoid the Great Britain crews as this is a major Olympic selection event for them.
“We managed to fight our way back to second in a brilliant race for us, it shows we have good boat speed and it was really good to see our fellow Aussies winning the race,” he said. “It’s great to win three in a row here, we love sailing here as it suits us really well and we’re working out the conditions every time we come here so we’re in a good position heading into the Olympics next year and hopefully we can keep on coming back here and continue the way we’re going.”
Tom Slingsby’s win in the Laser class was not only his third straight in Weymouth but back-to-back World Cup wins following his Gold medal two weeks ago in Holland, taking his run to nine straight World Cup round podiums.
The triple World Champion had plenty to do to secure the Gold medal with New Zealand’s Andrew Murdoch and Great Britain’s Paul Goodison hot on his heels, just eight and nine points behind him respectively.
Slingsby sailed a great medal race on Weymouth harbour, crossing the line second to take the Gold medal by 16 points.
“I’m feeling really confident now, this is a new boat and I felt a bit uncomfortable at the start of the week but I’m just trying to adapt to different types of boats and I’m feeling great,” said Slingsby. “Three wins from three starts here is pretty good and I’m looking forward to coming back for the Olympic Test Event in a few weeks.”
Reigning 470 World Champions Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page went into Saturday’s medal race second overall, five points behind the leading French team.
The pair had a tough medal race, crossing the line 10th, but had done enough earlier in the week to secure their Silver medal.
“The medal race didn’t go quite as planned but that’s a part of racing and it’s good experience for us as we get closer and closer to the Games,” said Belcher. “Overall we’re really happy to bring home the Silver medal, our second straight Silver here.
“From here we’ll have a couple of days off then we head to Germany for the final round of the World Cup before a short break and then back here to prepare for the Test Event,” he said.
Victorians Will and Sam Phillips went into their first ever 49er European medal race fifth overall and dominated the race from start to finish, having a comfortable win to move up to fourth overall.
The Phillips brothers had a great week’s racing, consistently at the front of the fleet in a range of conditions and next head to Germany for the World Cup round before traveling to Finland for the European Championships.
Tom Burton was also competing in his first European medal race and finished sixth overall in the Laser fleet, with a seventh in the final race. Burton shot up the leader board in the final two days, after going into the final two fleet races 11th overall.
Yachting Australia
