Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (August 16, 2016) – After a shaky forecast and a fear of lack of wind, the Pão de Açucar course delivered excellent conditions for four nail-biting Medal Races. The oldest man in the competition, recently recovered from cancer, won a gold medal. Croatia won its first ever Olympic medal in sailing. And that's just the start of it. Two gold medals have been decided with a day to spare and the 49erFX Medal Race is set to be a humdinger.
Men's One Person Dinghy - Laser – Medal Race
Tom Burton (AUS) has won Olympic gold in the Men's One Person Dinghy after a tense pre-start battle with Tonci Stipanović (CRO), winning Croatia's first ever medal in Olympic sailing, the silver. Sam Meech (NZL) took bronze.
Women's One Person Dinghy - Laser Radial – Medal Race
Marit Bouwmeester (NED) has won the Laser Radial gold medal that eluded her four years ago. Silver went to Annalise Murphy (IRL), a sweet reward after finishing an agonizing fourth place at London 2012. Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) took bronze. Paige Railey (USA) finished 10th in the medal race today, but with 22 points, due to a discretionary penalty that was imposed on her.
Heavyweight Men's One Person Dinghy - Finn – Medal Race
Giles Scott (GBR) had already wrapped up the Finn gold medal before contesting the Medal Race today, but Vasilij Zbogar (SLO) secured silver, the third Olympic medal of his career, while Caleb Paine (USA) sailed a great race to clinch bronze.
Mixed Multihull – Nacra 17 – Medal Race
Santiago Lange and Cecilia Carranza Saroli (ARG) have won gold after a heart-stopping Medal Race in the Nacra 17 Mixed Multihull. Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AUS) took silver and bronze goes to Thomas Zajac and Tanja Frank (AUT).
Men's Two Person Dinghy - 470
A remarkable battle for the medals in the 470 men will feature a three-team shoot out on Wednesday. Remaining firmly in first overall are Croatia’s Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic, with an 11 point advantage over Panagotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis (GRE). Stu McNay and Dave Hughes (USA) had a great first race today, winning Race 8, their best race of the series. They end up in fourth place overall going into the Medal Race. Jacob Chaplin-Saunders and Graeme Chaplin-Saunders (CAN) are in 23rd overall, not qualified for the Medal Race.
Women's Two Person Dinghy - 470
Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR) extended their lead from 4 points after 7 races, to a gold medal winning 20 points after the 10th race of the opening series. Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (NZL) climb to 2nd overall, up from 7th. The battle will now unfold for silver and bronze. Annie Haeger and Briana Provancha (USA) had 9’s in all three races today, dropping them in the standings to fourth overall with 51 points, still in the medal hunt.
Women's Skiff - 49erFX
Tamara Echegoyen and Berta Betanzos (ESP), Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze (BRA), Jena Hansen and Katja Salskov-Iversen (DEN) and Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (NZL) are on equal footing for the medal race. Paris Henken and Helena Scutt (USA) had 12, 12, 6 place finishes today. They will be racing in the medal race, having finished 9th overall in the qualifier series. Erin Rafuse and Dannie Boyd (CAN) are placed 16th overall, and do not make the cut for the medal race.
Men's Skiff - 49er
Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) have won the 49er Men's gold medal with the Medal Race to spare. Behind them the battle rages on, with Erik Heil and Thomas Ploessel (GER) holding second place in front of Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS). Thomas Barrows III and Joseph Morris (USA) had finishes of 6, 13, 17 today, the sixth place finish was their best race of the regatta. They do not make the cut for the medal race, as their overall is 19th place. - Full Report.
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