10 Jun 2011
Medal Race Contenders Decided
The weather contrived to throw everything at the sailors, with a gentle start in just five to six knots before increasing to nearer 15 knots. Everyone was jostling for position going into the final day and making it to the top 10 to proceed through to Saturday’s all-or nothing medal race.
470 Men
The French team of Pierre Leboucher and Vincent Garos posted a ninth and a first to hold onto the overall lead. But it’s now a charging Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page, the Australian World Champions, who are in second after scoring two thirds today. The gap is a very close five points and the Aussies will have the bit between their teeth as either one of these teams can claim the gold. For the Aussies a win would ensure them selection for the 2012 Olympics, with just the matter of qualifying Australia at one of the two qualification events (Perth 2011 or 2012 470 Worlds) to then achieve, which we can be certain will be achieved.
In third are Israel’s Gideon Kliger and Eran Sela – but they are 24 points off the lead and will be in defensive mode in the medal race – just wanting to hold tight to claim their bronze medals.
The biggest losers of the day were Sweden’s Anton Dahlberg and Sebastian Ostling, who dropped from third to ninth after picking up a 36th and 30th. They are now totally out of medal contention but can still improve their position within the top 10.
Great Britain's Nick Rogers and Chris Grube have made an impressive climb. They went into this critical day in eleventh overall, shifting up to sixth overall after race 9 which was further consolidated by a move up to fifth overall in race 10. Whilst they have no hope of the Gold, there is a possibility of bronze if the positions of themselves and other teams work in their favour tomorrow.
A big disappointment for Nicolas Charbonnier and Jeremie Mion (FRA) who were sitting fairly comfortably in the medal race zone after race 9, but lost it in race 10. Shifting up a gear to claim the slot were New Zealand's Paul Snow Hansen and Jason Saunders, who make this their second Medal Race appearance this season.
There will be teams from 9 nations contesting the 470 men Medal Race.
470 Men - Top 10 Medal Race Teams
| Pos | Nat | SailNo | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | Pts |
| 1 | FRA | 44 | PIERRE Leboucher | VINCENT Garos | 6 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 1 | -13 | 9 | 1 | 36 |
| 2 | AUS | 11 | BELCHER Mathew | PAGE Malcolm | -17 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 41 |
| 3 | ISR | 7 | KLIGER Gideon | SELA Eran | 1 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 2 | -30 | 6 | 60 |
| 4 | GRE | 1 | MANTIS Panagiotis | KAGIALIS Pavlos | 5 | 9 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 10 | 13 | 7 | 6 | -22 | 64 |
| 5 | GBR | 858 | ROGERS Nicholas | GRUBE Chris | 10 | 5 | 6 | 15 | 2 | 6 | -21 | 14 | 4 | 9 | 71 |
| 6 | ESP | 9 | BARREIROS Onan | SARMIENTO Aaron | 1 | 12 | 2 | -30 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 17 | 15 | 78 |
| 7 | POR | 1 | MARINHO Alvaro | NUNES Miguel | 3 | 4 | 13 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 16 | -39 | 13 | 78 |
| 8 | GBR | 844 | PATIENCE Luke | BITHELL Stuart | 4 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 17 | 15 | -19 | 80 |
| 9 | SWE | 346 | DAHLBERG Anton | OSTLING Sebastian | 9 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 5 | -36 | 30 | 82 |
| 10 | NZL | 212 | SNOW-HANSEN Paul | SAUNDERS Jason | 16 | 17 | 4 | 16 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 21 | -33 | 4 | 87 |
470 Women
The 470 Women delivered just as tough a contest, and were so keen to get going in today's opening race 9, that there were three general recalls before the race finally started on the fourth start.
| Gil Cohen and Vered Bouskila (ISR) |
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Today it was the Kiwi pair of Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie - who again took control and having been so dominant in the breeze of the past few days - showed they can sail in the trickier stuff as well with a seventh and a second. They go into the medal race with a 16 point advantage over the French team of Camille Lecointre and Mathilde Geron. The Kiwis are guaranteed either the gold or silver medal – so will be sleeping comfortably tonight as they are likely to come out of Skandia Sail for Gold as the top performing Kiwi team. Lecointre and Geron pushed the leaders from earlier in the week, Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark into third, another six points adrift. There are 9 nations represented in the Medal Race.
A shock omission from the medal race are the current World Champions, Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout (NED) who have finished the series in #17 overall.
The American pairing of Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar are delighted with today's performance. Skandia Sail for Gold is the first of two selection events for the US team – so they are looking positive so far. By being the top placed American team, they have now qualified themselves to represent America at the 2011 Olympic Test Event which will be held in Weymouth in early August. Watch the video and catch up with their thoughts:
470 Women - Top 10 Medal Race Teams
| Pos | Nat | SailNo | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | Pts |
| 1 | NZL | 75 | ALEH Jo | POWRIE Olivia | 6 | (DSQ) | 2 | 7 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 42 |
| 2 | FRA | 9 | LECOINTRE Camille | GERON Mathilde | 7 | -23 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 58 |
| 3 | GBR | 847 | MILLS Hannah | CLARK Saskia | 1 | 20 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 16 | 8 | 1 | -34 | 64 |
| 4 | ISR | 311 | COHEN Gil | BOUSKILA Vered | 11 | 11 | 15 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 5 | -24 | 69 |
| 5 | ESP | 696 | PACHECO Tara | BETANZOS Berta | (DSQ) | 6 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 12 | 14 | 3 | 22 | 84 |
| 6 | ITA | 23 | CONTI Giulia | MICOL Giovanna | 13 | 1 | 4 | 18 | 13 | 10 | 2 | 18 | 10 | -31 | 89 |
| 7 | USA | 1757 | MAXWELL Erin | K. FARRAR Isabelle | 9 | 3 | 8 | -24 | 15 | 17 | 22 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 95 |
| 8 | DEN | 143 | KOCH Henriette | SOMMER Lene | 4 | 14 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 20 | -30 | 20 | 9 | 1 | 102 |
| 9 | GBR | 850 | CLARK Penny | HUGHES Katrina | (DSQ) | 17 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 26 | 4 | 32 | 6 | 105 |
| 10 | GER | 21 | KADELBACH Kathrin | BELCHER Friederike | 2 | -31 | 21 | 2 | 18 | 18 | 3 | 23 | 6 | 14 | 107 |
There will be live tracking for all Medal Races tomorrow. First up will be the 470 Men who will move to the pit lane for 0940 hours with launch at 1000 hours and racing starting at 1035 hours. The 470 men will take to the stage at 1040 hours into the pit lane, launch at 1100 hours and race start at 1135 hours.
Complimenting the tracking will be live radio commentary.
Check out our 470 Photo Gallery on Facebook courtesy of Thom Touw.
More Information:
Event Website
Results
Top Image: 470 Women downwind action © All images Thom Touw