Medallists Crowned at World Cup in Miami

Eight Olympic class events raced for medals on Saturday’s finale of the 2013 ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami. Once again, conditions on the emerald waters of Biscayne Bay mixed with the high level of competition and medal race urgency, allowed these sailors to evaluate their abilities and determine where they rank among the world’s best.

In the 470 Women and making another serious run at her fifth Olympic Games is Fernanda Oliveira. The Brazilian skipper is a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist. Oliveira and Ana Luiza Barbachan captured gold here in Miami this week. They finished second in today’s medal race and won by 15 points. The Chinese teams performed well in the Women’s 470. Xiaoli Wang and Xufeng Huang won the silver medal and Xiaomei Xu and Chunyan Yu will take home bronze.

Like so many Brazilian sailors, Oliveira is eager to compete for Olympic gold in her home country in Rio 2016. “This is different for me because I did four Games, each time with a different crew, but now I’m with the same crew,” she explained. “It starts easier for us, but we don’t live in Rio, so we need to go there often to train and we have a lot of work to do. It’s a difficult place to race and the conditions are special.”

470 Women Medallists © Walter Cooper

Americans Stuart McNay and David Hughes finished strong in the Men’s 470 medal race. Their second place result granted them the gold medal. McNay and Hughes won by a five point margin over medal race winners and silver medalists Matthias Schmid and Floran Reichstaedter (AUT). Another Austrian team reached the podium, as David Bargehr and Lucas Maher claimed the bronze.

“The bottom line was that we were trying to stay close to the Austrians today,” said McNay. “We got a good start on the pin, but they still had an early lead. Some tacking ensued that drove the action back into the fleet, so we had to fight for our regatta win.”

470 Men Medallists © Walter Cooper

Footage from the final day Medal Races - 470 footage is from 3 minutes 40 seconds onwards.

More Information:
470 Results
Event Website
ISAF Sailing World Cup News

Top image: Stuart McNay/David Hughes (USA) © Walter Cooper