The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

Tricky, variable, challenging; these words were used over and over again in press conferences and interviews by the sailors who competed on Guanabara Bay. With seven racecourse areas placed around the bay, World Sailing and the IOC put together one of the most challenging regatta venues in recent Olympic memory. The Pao de Acucar course, where all medal races were contested, was one of the trickiest, situated in the shadow of Sugarloaf Mountain, causing the wind to move in unpredictable patterns at times as it swirled off the mountains and buildings nearby. The weather in Rio lived up to its reputation, delivering a handful of light and puffy days interspersed between days with 20+ knots of breeze and 4-6 meter swell. Sailors who excelled in Rio had to be comfortable taking on any weather challenge, in addition to taking on the rest of their fleets for a chance at an Olympic medal.

The difficultly of the venue was reflected in the overall score lines of even the best sailors, as was the high level of competition in the fleets. A number of top finishers, including some medalists, had UFD or DSQs on their scorecards. Most were ultimately throw outs in the end, but these penalties prevented them from tossing any higher race finishes off of their docket.

China’s Lily Xu was among those favored initially who fell to penalties, when after three DSQs involving a variety of right-of-way infringements she was in 18th overall in the fleet and shut out of the medal race. 470 silver medalists Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie from New Zealand won their podium position in the 470 while still carrying one UFD and dropping a DSQ.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

The women’s skiff was the most closely packed fleet in terms of points at the top, with the four possible medalists going into the medal race on Thursday within a single point of each other. Three were tied with 46 while the fourth had 47 points. The women’s 470 and RS:X had the most open medal races, with seven boats in each fleet able to score few enough points to medal depending upon their finish in the final race.

The Nacra 17 class had the closest podium, with gold medalists ** Santiago Lange and Cecilia Carranza Saroli** winning gold by one point over Australia’s Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin. The Aussies were in turn tied for points with bronze medalists Thomas Zajac and Tanja Frank, from Austria. Waterhouse and Darmain won silver over the Austrians due to their finish in the medal race. In the Olympics, if after the medal race two teams are tied for points, the tiebreaker is not the number of higher finishes as is in traditional regattas, but instead it’s the medal race finish order.

One of the goals of the double-points medal race format is to avoid situations where gold medals, or medalists, are decided ahead of the final contest. However, in Rio the points margins were so large in four classes that the medal race points weren’t enough to dethrone the gold medalists: New Zealand’s Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (49er), Great Britain’s Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (470 Women), Great Britain’s Giles Scott (Finn) and The Netherland’s Dorian Van Rjsselberghe (RS:X Men). A number of other sailors were also guaranteed medals going into the races, and the final contest was to determine the color. While the medal race certainly made for a nail-biting finale in the Nacra, 49erFX and Laser Radial, there are still some sailors who were so clearly dominant in their class that the high-stakes culmination of the Olympic regatta simply didn’t matter.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

New Zealand and Australia lead the total medal count with four medals each, Australia with one gold (Laser) and three silver (470 men, Nacra 17 and 49er), and New Zealand with one gold (49er), two silver (49er FX and 470 women) and one bronze (Laser).

Great Britain and the Netherlands tied for the most gold medals, with two each. Great Britain won gold in the Finn and women’s 470, and the Netherlands in the Laser Radial and men’s RS:X. Britain’s performance in Rio was not as dominant as it has been in past years, and while Team GBR’s sailing was certainly as high-level, it seems other countries, besides New Zealand and Australia who have always been right there behind Britain, are catching up in performance. Take Croatia, for example, who had the most impressive performance in Rio, with Tonci Stipanovic winning his country its first-ever medal in Olympic sailing when he won silver in the Laser class. Two days later, the 470 men, Sime Fantela and Igor Marinec, won the country’s first-ever Olympic sailing gold.

Team USA broke their medal drought that descended in London, with a bronze medal in the Finn class, won by Caleb Paine. The United States had fifteen sailors in the Olympics, in all classes, and twelve of those (including Paine) were competing in their first Games. For their first quad, 470 women Annie Haeger and Briana Provancha sailed an impressive series, culminating in a heartbreaking finale where two mistakes cost them podium position.

2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro

In the 49erFX, Paris Henken and Helena Scutt finished 10th overall in the fleet, an impressive score for two of the youngest sailors in the class. Their goal going into the regatta was to make the medal race at all, a goal they crushed. Scutt was seriously injured in a collision with another skiff during the quad, and recovered stronger than ever. There’s little doubt that these two will be back for more. But first, Henken is going back to College of Charleston to finish her undergraduate degree.

In the Nacra 17, Bora Gulari and Louisa Chafee had an impressive comeback in the final days of the regatta, gaining eight positions in the fleet in three days, but it wasn’t enough to podium. It was enough, however, to prove to the class that the American mixed multihull team were there to play. Gulari and Chafee were plagued with equipment failures on the second race day, forcing them to DNF twice, severely hurting their scores. It’s impossible to say for certain, but without those breakages these two would have likely been medal prospects. American Olympic veteran Stu McNay and coaching veteran and crew David Hughes finished fourth overall in the 470 Men’s fleet. With no chance to win a medal due to points, McNay and Hughes sailed a grand finale anyway, coming second in the medal race.

US Sailing Team wrapped up their quad with a recap video:

For full results from the entire regatta, visit sailing.org.

The post Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Wrap-Up appeared first on Sailing World.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

Nail biter. Edge of your seat. Photo finish. It was all of these and more for the 49erFX medal race in which Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze, of Brazil, battled to the last for the gold — and the only medal the host country would win in sailing at the Rio Olympic games.

It almost didn’t happen for the Brazilians who were in a three-way tie going into the medal race with Jena Hansen and Katja Salskov-Iversen of Denmark and Tamara Echegoyen Dominguez and Berta Betanzos Moro of Spain. Alexandra Maloney and Molly Meech of New Zealand were just one point outside. These four teams were duking it out for the three podium positions.

The Brazilians started in the middle of the fleet near the boat end, sticking with the Kiwis while Spain and Denmark went after each other on the right side of the course. They were in third through the race until the final leeward leg. Through the final gate, they Brazilians split alone to the left side, allowing the leading New Zealanders to get far right, which had been favored throughout the day. At the top however, Grael and Kunz crossed easily head, rounding 10 seconds ahead of the New Zealanders. On the final run, the New Zealanders cut down the Brazilian’s lead, and for a fleeting moment it appeard that Maloney and Meech might have taken the top spot from Grael and Kunze. In one final surge the Brazilians crossed the finish line right at the pin, less than two seconds before their rivals.

“When we rounded the first mark it was quite close, and by the bottom mark we had to make the decision between right and left,” says Grael. “We chose the left gate because it was closer to us and easier. On the second beat, we went with the Danish girls and crossed with the pressure, which ended up being good and allowed us to win the race.”

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

Then, the party started. Scores of Brazilian journalists and supporters jumped into the Bay with Grael and Kunze. They righted their boat and, after a victory lap, came ashore where a group of fans lifted the team and their skiff above their heads, carrying them through the crowd like queens.

“We tried to sail this regatta like we had never sailed here before,” says Grael. “We always were looking around, always watching, and paying attention. A lot of teams made a guidebook of how you should sail here, but you have to go like it’s the first day on the water and go with your feelings.”

American 49erFX sailors Paris Henken and Helena Scutt finished ninth in the medal race and 10th overall in the class. “We’re really happy with our performance, and we were proud to be a part of the medal race for Team USA,” says Scutt. “I think it was about time that women had a skiff in the Games, and I think the performances this week, with the competitive fleet we had, showed that we all belong here.”

The 49erFX was one of four classes to complete their medal race today, but it was by far the most dramatic and memorable. In the 49er, New Zealand’s Peter Burling and Blair Tuke reminded everyone why they clinched the gold medal on Tuesday, by taking a victory lap and winning the medal race. The rest of the medals were up for grabs between Australia, Germany, Denmark, France and Great Britain. At the start, it looked like Germany’s Erik Heil and Thomas Plossel put themselves directly out of contention, with a boat-end start gone wrong with a near-capsize. They trailed the fleet with Great Britain, until the Brits capsized at the fourth mark, giving the Germans a chance to pass. As the British team, Dylan Fletcher-Scott and Alain Sign struggled to right their boat, the Germans raced down the final beat, finishing eighth and enough to secure them the bronze. With synchronized backflips into the Bay, they celebrated their medal race recovery and the first German medal in a men’s sailing class since 1936. The Australians, London gold medalists Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, won silver.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

During the 470 women’s race, it was impossible to tear anyone’s attention away from the live stream as Annie Haeger and Briana Provancha, let a silver medal slip from their grasp one leg at a time. With an excellent mid-line start, the American’s sailed the first beat with tactical precision, leading in to the first mark and defending it down the first run. At the first gate, the rounded the lefthand mark (looking upwind) and eventually lost their grip on the lead when the New Zealanders pinned them outside the top mark, dropping them back in the fleet. The New Zealanders beat them into the mark, essentially surrendering silver, and suddenly they were sailing for bronze against the Japanese. At the bottom of the run, however, they fouled Japan in a port-starboard crossing, forcing them to drop their spinnaker and take penalty turns. They rounded the final mark without a spinnaker and sailed the last reach leg to the finish under main and jib alone.

“We had a really tricky second beat and the wind was really patchy,” says American crew Provancha. “The fleet split, so we were forced to kind of go in one direction, and unfortunately, when it converged the fleet was all one tight-knit group and on the downwind we got a little bit out of pressure and got too greedy and fouled near the mark.”

Onboard cameras showed the heartbreaking moment when Haeger and Provancha crossed the line, Haeger in tears. Provancha is reflective. “I think there’s a lot still to play for,” she says. “Obviously, we were disappointed that we didn’t perform today. But, we really gave it our all and fought really hard. It’s just not our time right now. It doesn’t take away how proud I am of what we’ve done and how awesome this team has been.”

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, from Great Britain, clinched the gold before the 470 women’s medal race, and enjoyed the confirmation and celebration on the beach. They were followed by New Zealand’s Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie with silver, and France’s Camille Lecointre and Hélène Defrance rounding out the podium in bronze.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

For the 470 Men, the top three were decided, but the question was the color of their hardware at the end of the day. Croatia’s Sime Fantel and Igor Marinec prevailed, after leading through the entire week, winning their country’s first gold medal in sailing, just two days after Tonci Stipanovic won the country’s first-ever sailing medal in the Laser. Australia’s Mat Belcher and Will Ryan finished the regatta with a silver medal, and Greece’s Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis** won bronze. The American men, Stu McNay and Dave Hughes put in a solid final effort, finishing second in the medal race and fourth overall.

As the winter sun sets over Rio, when the medal ceremonies and press conferences wrap up and cheering fans have finally relinquished their spots on Flamengo Beach, the Rio 2016 Olympic sailing regatta will officially come to a close.

For some of the athletes, their sights are already set on Tokyo, the next site of Olympic sailing, in 2020. For others, Brazil was their last hurrah, and they’re ready to move on to their next sailing project or perhaps retire from the sport. Many more still are undecided on the next Games. The Olympic regatta on Guanabara Bay was one of the trickiest venues that many can recall, testing patience, strength and skill all at once. Though every sailor who competed in Rio is at the pinnacle of the sport, there’s no doubt that the best sailors in each of the ten classes are those taking home a new piece of metal — be it gold, silver or bronze.

Full results from all races are available on sailing.org.

The post Olympics Daily Debrief, Day 11 — Saving the Best for Last appeared first on Sailing World.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

The regatta was nearly over for the men’s and women’s 470 classes. The forecast looked good, the breeze on the horizon, but it simply didn’t come through. Race Committee called off the men’s class at about 1500 and the women’s class at 1615, bumping their medal race to Thursday. It will be held on the Pao course on the same day as both skiff classes’ medal races.

With no racing to report on, Sailing World looks back — way back, in some cases, to how medalists from past Olympic games have fared here in Rio. Important to note is that many Olympians from past Games are in coach or organizational support roles in Brazil, but this gallery reviews only the current competitors. Sailors are listed based on their current class.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

Laser

Robert Scheidt, Brazil. Gold medals in the Laser in Atlanta (1996) and Athens (2004), silver in the Laser in Sydney (2000), and silver medals in the Star in Beijing (2008) and London (2012). He came into the regatta as the face of Brazilian sailing, with hopes to medal again and break the individual sailing medal record by winning his sixth. His entire regatta was up and down, and Scheidt finished the regatta in fourth overall. His final shining moment was a win in the medal race, but it wasn’t enough to get him the hardware.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

Laser Radial

Marit Bouwmeester, Netherlands. Silver medal in the Laser Radial in London (2012). Bouwmeester had a less than perfect start to the regatta, scoring a 14th on the second day of racing. She rallied, finishing the medal race in seventh, enough to win her the gold medal in Rio. She wasn’t certain she had won at first, but when her coach confirmed her gold medal victory, she celebrated by hugging the silver and bronze medalists before taking a victory lap with the Dutch flag.

Lilly Xu, China. Bronze medal in the Laser Radial in Beijing (2008) and gold medal in the Laser Radial in London (2012). Xu was plagued with three DSQs involving right of way situations with other sailors during preliminary racing, and finished 18th in the fleet. Xu sailed in Rio with a shoulder injury that had her cradling her injured arm at the end of each day of racing.

Evi Van Acker, Belgium. Bronze in the Laser Radial in London (2012). Van Acker had a rocky start to the Rio regatta, and after the first reserve day seemed to rally. Her team made a statement naming a gastrointestinal illness contracted in July for her lethargy and inability to perform well. Van Acker briefly rallied in the regatta before finishing the medal race in sixth, placing her in fourth overall and off the podium.

Gintare (Volungevičiūtė) Scheidt, Lithuania. Silver medal in the Laser Radial in Beijing (2008). Scheidt won her silver medal under her maiden name before marrying Brazilian Laser sailor Robert Scheidt. She started off the regatta in Rio with a starting penalty, following it up with a hopeful race win in a startlingly similar scorecard to her husbands’ after the initial day of competition. Gintare Scheidt was unable to continue her winning streak, finishing seventh overall.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

Finn

Vasilij Zbogar, Slovenia. Bronze medal in the Laser in Athens (2004) and Silver in the Laser in Beijing (2008). Zbogar transitioned to the Finn for the Rio Olympics, and added a Silver medal in the class to his already impressive collection. Zbogar announced on Tuesday, after the medal race, that Rio would be his final Olympic appearance.

Jonas Hogh-Christensen, Denmark. Silver medal in the Finn in London (2012). Hogh-Christensen couldn’t quite get it together in Rio. After the first day he complained of his perceived incompetence of the race committee for finishing a race despite dying breeze. The next day, he seemed to be rallying when the clew ring tore out of his mainsail, forcing him to DNF. In the final days of the regatta he was unable to score anything in the single digits, finishing outside of the medal race in 16th.

Jonathan Lobert, France. Bronze medal in the Finn in London (2012). Lobert did very little talking to the media during the Rio games. With one bullet and the rest of his race scores seven or higher, Lobert finished outside of the medal race, in 14th overall.

Max Salminen, Sweden. Gold medal in the Star class in London (2012). Making the transition from a two person boat to one is a challenge, but Salminen trained with class veteran Jonathan Lobert, France, to get up to speed. He had moderately strong results in Rio, finishing sixth overall at the end of the regatta.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

RS:X Men

Dorian Van Rijsselberghe, Netherlands. Gold medal in the RS:X London (2012). Van Rijsselberghe officially had the gold medal wrapped up with a race to spare, but in his performance through the week he would have been a safe bet much earlier. He jockeyed with Nick Dempsey a few times, but with seven bullets out of twelve preliminary races, it was no surprise that he repeated his London gold.

Nick Dempsey, Great Britain. Silver medal in the RS:X in London (2016), Bronze in the RS:X in Beijing (2008) . It wasn’t just deja vu, Dempsey and Van Rijsselberghe indeed did repeat the top two tiers of podium as it was in London. For Dempsey, his silver in Rio made him the most decorated Olympic windsurfer in history with three medals.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

RS:X Women

Marina Alabau, Spain. Gold medal in RS:X in London (2012). In a seven way battle for medals in the women’s RS:X here in Rio, Alabau was in good position. She carried a DSQ on her scorecard which, while discarded, kept her from discarding any other high finish to possibly win the bronze medal. By finishing fifth in the medal race she ended up fifth overall.

Bryony Shaw, Great Britain. Bronze medal in the RS:X in Beijing (2008). In the later days of the Olympic regatta, Shaw looked like she might have recovered from her difficult start and have a chance at a medal. With the rest of the top of the class performing consistently on top, Shaw was out of podium contention before the medal race began, finishing in ninth overall.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

470 Men

Lucas Calabrese and Juan de la Fuente, Argentina. Bronze medal in the 470 London (2012), de la Fuente also won bronze in the 470 in Sydney (2008) with Javier Conte. The London medalists did not have a strong performance in the regatta, finishing the preliminary racing with a DNE penalty (cannot be thrown out) for failing to do a penalty turn in a port-starboard conflict with another boat, and failing to show up to their protest hearing that evening. The official decision can be found here. Calabrese and de la Fuente will finish 16th overall and not sail in the medal race.

Mathew Belcher, Australia. Gold medal in the 470 London (2012) with Malcom Page. Belcher now sails with Will Ryan. Belcher and Ryan are in medal contention, for any material, going into the medal race for the men’s 470 scheduled for Thursday. They’re one of three teams in contention for medals. They currently are in third place with 40 points, 13 points behind class leaders.

Luke Patience, Great Britain. Silver medal in the 470 London (2012) with Stuart Bithell. Tied with the Swedish team in points going into the medal race, Patience and his current crew Chris Grube are out of medal contention in fifth place. With a UFD, a 20 and a 21 on their score sheet, the British 470 men had an uphill battle to even get into the medal race. They are currently in sixth, outside of medal contention.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

470 Women

Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie, New Zealand. Gold medal in the 470 in London (2012). In an incredible rivial of their scores, Aleh and Powrie started the Olympics with a DSQ in their first race and a UFD in the sixth, forcing them to carry one of the penalty scores in their final points count. They also posted four bullets in ten races, putting them in second place overall going into the medal race and defending the silver medal against the teams below them.

Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, Great Britain. Silver medal in the 470 in London (2012). With incredibly consistent top-of-the-fleet results through all five days of preliminary racing, Mills and Clark clinched the gold medal in Rio before the medal race. They’ll sail their victory lap on Thursday, weather permitting.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

Nacra 17

Isabel Swan, Brazil. Bronze medal in the 470 in Beijing (2008) with Fernanda Oliviera. Sailing in the mixed multihull with Samuel Albrecht, Swan just held on to medal race position in the fleet before finishing 8th in the medal race and 10th overall. They had their moments of brilliance on the race course, but a mainsheet malfunction in the first day and hitting a submerged object during the medal race put them back further in the fleet.

Allan Nørregaard, Denmark. Bronze medal in the 49er in London (2012) with Peter Lang. Finishing outside of medal race contention, Norregaard and crew Anette Viborg stayed in the middle of the fleet for most of the regatta before and 11th and 15th in the last day of preliminary racing relegated them to 12th overall.

Santiago Lange, Argentina. Bronze medal in the Tornado in Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008) with Carlos Espinola. Lange and crew Cecilia Carranza Saroli were the human-interest story of the Rio Games. Lange, sailing in his sixth Olympics, was diagnosed with cancer last year and had half of a lung removed before qualifying and ultimately winning the gold medal with Saroli in the Nacra. Lange was the oldest Olympic sailor competing in Brazil, at 54. His sons, Klaus and Yago, sail in the 49er. Lange has not ruled out a seventh Olympics.

Sofia Bekatorou, Greece. Gold medal in the 470 in Athens (2004) with Emilia Tsoulfa, and bronze medal in the Yngling in Bejing (2008) with Virginia Kravarioti and Sofia Papadopoulou. Bekatorou and crew Michalis Pateniotis never quite got a hold of the Nacra 17 fleet in Rio, starting the regatta with a DNF and a DSQ, and scoring a UFD on the final day of preliminary racing, the duo fell to 18th overall and outside medal race contention.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

49er

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, New Zealand. Silver medal in the 49er in London (2012). Burling and Tuke dominated the 49er scene, winning every regatta since London until a few weeks before the Olympics where they finished third in the South American championships. They came into the Games hot, scoring two bullets on their first day and holding the lead on the fleet from then on. Burling and Tuke, who are teammates with America’s Cup challenger Emirates Team New Zealand, clinched the gold medal before Thursday’s medal race.

Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen, Australia. Gold medal in the 49er in London (2012). Though they’ve lost the gold medal spot for Rio, the America’s Cup Artemis Racing teammates are in third overall with a chance at silver or bronze in the medal race to be contested on Thursday.

Jonas Warrer, Denmark. Gold medal in the 49er in Beijing with Martin Kirketerp. Despite a rollercoaster of a preliminary series, including a DSQ and a bullet, Warrer and Christian Peter Lübeck will go into Thursday’s medal race in fifth, just outside of medal contention by two points.

Full results for all classes are available at sailing.org

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The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

The Olympic Regatta is a culmination of a week’s worth of sailing, and while medalists can be decided before the final race, the double-points, all-stakes on the table finals are still the most heart-pounding moments in Olympic sailing.

Laser

Australia’s Tom Burton was the only person who could take away gold from Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic today in the Laser medal race, and Stipanovic knew it. In the prestart, Stipanovic attacked Burton, sailing in front of him and backing his sail, forcing Burton to sit behind him. Stipanovic needed at least six boats to finish ahead of Burton to secure his gold medal, and his maneuver was meant to prevent Burton from starting before he was at least that far behind in the fleet. However, Burton was not so easily defeated. Stipanovic left space between his boat and the starting line, enough to ensure he himself didn’t OCS. Seeing the space, Burton sheeted in and sailed to leeward of Stipanovic, forcing Stipanovic to tack away to avoid contact as the windward boat. In this split-second maneuver, Burton forced Stipanovic to tack well around, and in doing so delaying his start. The Australian took off on the first beat, tailed by Sam Meech from New Zealand, andRobert Scheidt from Brazil. He finished third to Stipanovic’s ninth, winning the gold.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

“It’s the first medal in sailing in history of Croatian sport which is really key,” says Stipanovic. “Today I was trying to stay in first place, but it didn’t happen. I’m a bit disappointed, but as it settles in, I’m and more happy with my silver medal.”

Scheidt, who was sailing for bronze, did manage to win the medal race, but Meech’s fourth place win assured him the bronze over the famous Brazilian. Scheidt failed to win his record-breaking sixth Olympic medal.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

Laser Radial

On the second beat of the Laser Radial medal race, Netherland’s Marit Bouwmeester was losing the gold. Ireland’s Annalise Murphy was leading her by four boats, enough to steal away Bouwmeester’s spot atop the podium. Then, the fleet split into two distinct packs on the final run, with Bouwmeester leading the pack behind, fighting to make it up to the front. As they eased and trimmed downwind, Murphy was nearly within reach of gold when boats started to pass her. Murphy sailed the final downwind leg beautifully, but her boatspeed was lacking. She slipped back in the pack, putting Bouwmeester ahead of her in points. Murphy finished fifth to Bouwmeester’s seventh, earning herself the silver medal.

For Murphy, Rio was a vindication of her disappointment in London, where she led for most of the Regatta before finishing off the podium, in fourth, overall.

“It’s incredible, I was pretty heartbroken after London,” says Murphy. “I had been in medal position all week. So this week, to be in medal position again, it’s been incredible. I didn’t think six months ago I would be a medal contender here so to be able to come back in the past couple of months has been a dream come true.”

When Bouwmeester crossed the line, she looked to a support boat for confirmation, mouthing “Me?” and pointing to herself. When she was answered in the affirmative, she raised her hands above her head in triumph. She sailed over to Murphy and bronze medalist Anne-Marie Rindom, from Denmark, to offer her congratulations, and while Bouwmeester took a victory lap with the Dutch flag, Murphy and Rindom jumped in the water to celebrate their win.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

Finn

While the gold medal was already in the bag for Great Britain’s Giles Scott before the medal race, the silver and bronze were up for grabs among the top two thirds of the fleet. For USA’s Caleb Paine, the pressure was mounting. He entered the Olympics after a stressful national trials that came down to the final race of the final event against Zach Railey, who he trained with when Railey went to London in 2012. In the Olympics, Paine had a new series of ups and downs, including an amazing second place finish comeback that was protested. He was scored a DSQ, dropping him well below medal race contention. The next day, video evidence convinced the jury to overturn the penalty, and Paine’s scores were restored, sending him into the medal race in fourth overall.

For Paine, the entire medal race was intense. He took the lead from the start, starting on the boat end and seeing a right side shift over his shoulder, grabbing it first. He took the lead and extended it, leg by leg, ultimately crossing the finish line more than 80 meters in front of gold medalist Giles Scott. There was never a doubt through the entire medal race that Paine could possibly lose the lead, he was simply too far ahead.

“It was a tough push and a hard medal race, but it makes it easy when you make the right move right off the bat,” says Paine. “The rest of the race was making sure I didn’t mess it up. I knew I had to stay certain points ahead of certain people, but I knew if I got out in front and won the race things would become a lot easier due to the fact that it would add stress to the people behind and maybe cause them to make erratic decisions.”

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

Silver medalist Vasilij Zbogar, from Slovenia, confirmed that this was his last Olympics at 40 years old. “I feel relief that it’s over and that it went well,” he says. “I was only dreaming of this a week ago. My first two medals were in Lasers, this is the Finn, and as the oldest sailor in the fleet it was even more difficult. I was struggling for the last few years, and continued to push myself. Fortunately, my mind is still 20 years old. I tried to sail as smart as possible, especially because strong breeze is difficult for me. I tried to survive the strongest wind, and I did survive. All I wanted was to challenge for the medals.”

As Zbogar ascended the podium to collect his silver medal, his countrymen chanted his name. He pumped his firsts above his head in time, medal around his neck, and took his final Olympic bow.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

Nacra 17

On-water umpiring saved the day for Nacra fans, as the race was dotted with penalties and it could have been an extremely late night while juries sorted out the chaos. Fortunately, there are no outstanding protests in the fleet, so the medals do stand.

Even with two penalties against them, Argentina’s Santiago Lange and Cecilia Carranza Saroli finished sixth in the medal race, winning the gold medal. For Lange and Saroli, it wasn’t the actual finish of the race that was the defining moment, but the meaning behind their journey to get there.

Lange proved that his age (54) didn’t limit his ability to win an Olympic medal. Nor did cancer, losing half of a lung, or the challenge of a brand new boat and team. None of the medals were locked away in this class, but with a clean race and a 6th place finish in the medal race, Lange and Saroli beat out Australia’s Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin who took home silver.

“I started this Olympic cycle as a coach for my sons,” says Lange. “In the summer, I was running on the beach in Brazil and decided it was too much responsibility to coach my own sons.”

Intrigued by the challenge of a new multihull (Lange’s medals from 2004 and 2008 are in the Tornado catamaran) and the mixed-gender boat, Lange teamed up with Saroli to see how they’d do. Lange says that two days into sailing together, they had already set their sights on the Olympics.

Lange was diagnosed with cancer in 2015. Though his speedy recovery following the removal of a portion of his lung is impressive, Lange prefers to focus on the sailing. “This may help to give strength to many people who are going through what I’ve been through,” says Lange of his illness. “But, I prefer to focus on what we did athletically. The disease has nothing to do with it, it was a stone in the road. I became obsessed with getting to Rio very well prepared and we did.”

With a gold medal around his neck, and two more at home, Lange still isn’t finished. “I still have a dream,” he says. “If I feel like I have a good project and chances to do well, I will go to Tokyo. I will try. As long as I can do it and my knees survive, my back, I will keep doing it.”

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

Beyond the Pao medal racecourse, which was the epicenter of attention today, the skiffs and 470s both completed their preliminary races. New Zealand’s Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, in the 49er, clinched the gold medal before the medal race, scheduled for Thursday. The 49erFX is the opposite, with the top three teams tied for points and the fourth one point behind. Spain, Brazil, Denmark and New Zealand will be battling for all three medals between them, as teams outside of the top four are simply too far below in the count.

Interestingly, the 470 fleets have a similar theme. On the men’s side, the top three have closed themselves into a battle for medals, while on the women’s side eight teams have a chance to medal. Great Britain’s Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark have squared away gold if they can sail a clean medal race, but silver and bronze could go to any of the other seven teams. New Zealand’s Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie have climbed back from a terrible start to the week to second place, but they’ll be in serious defense mode on Thursday to keep their place on the podium.

Full results from the regatta are available at sailing.org

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The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

Today was truly Super Sunday for the Great Britain sailing squad. With Nick Dempsey‘s record-breaking silver in the RS:X (he now has three RS:X medals, the most in history) and Giles Scott securing Finn gold with an unassailable lead going into Monday’s medal race, the Brits pulled into second place in the overall Olympic medal count — quite a feat for the small nation.

Dempsey was beat out of the top spot before the medal race even began, by Netherland’s Dorian Van Rijsselberghe in a carbon-copy repeat of the 2012 Games, but had himself secured silver in the same manner. If Van Rijsselberghe didn’t make enough of a statement securing gold before the final, he won the medal race, too.

“We had a wonderful week sailing and today it was only just for show, but I’m glad that I pulled off another first place and win,” says Van Rijsselberghe. “I’m very fortunate.”

Immediately after finishing the medal race, Van Rijsselberghe boarded a nearby spectator boat to be congratulated by none other than the Dutch royal family. Both Van Rijsselberghe and Dempsey eluded today that they would not be returning for the next summer Games, in Tokyo in 2020. But, if “retired” athletes like Michael Phelps have taught us anything about the Olympics, don’t believe it until qualification is over. If it’s indeed true, the RS:X men’s fleet will wide open in four years time.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

Scott’s performance in the Finn is certainly worthy of his secured gold medal. Even before the regatta, he had been sailing in Great Britain’s Finn star Ben Ainsle“s shadow since before the London Games, and when Ainsle retired it was uncertain if Scott would be able to carry the gold medal torch. In Rio, he started the regatta on about as wrong a foot as he could, with a 17th place finish in the first race. Rallying with a third, then a 1-2 in the second day, he again slipped with an 11th in the third day before shaking whatever start-line gremlin which had been bothering him through the regatta to secure his gold in the final four races, over two days.

“Coming down the last reach in that last race, I didn’t quite know what to make of it,” he says. “I’m not the emotional sort, but started crying. It’s such a weird, but amazing thing to go through. It’s incredible.”

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

It was a great day to be French, too. The French Olympic squad put away two medals themselves, with RS:X sailor Charline Picon winning gold on the women’s side and Pierre Le Coq winning bronze on the men’s side.

For Le Coq, his race truly was a battle for bronze, and he just got it by beating Poland’s Piotr Myszka by two places (four points) in the medal race. Myszka made the fatal mistake of going right on two downwind legs on a course where the left was extremely favored, the first move giving Le Coq the lead and the second letting the now-bronze medalist pull away and allowing Greece’s Byron Kokkalanis to get between the two, securing Le Coq the medal.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

The Finns and Nacras both completed their final day of preliminary racing today, with the top ten from each fleet going into Tuesday’s medal race after a well-earned break.

For the Finns, the winner is decided, and the silver medal comes down to three — Slovenia’s Vasilij Zbogar, Croatia’s Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic, and USA’s Caleb Paine. Gaspic lead the fleet after day one, but has struggled in the seabreeze as the Finns have raced further out in the bay. At 40 years old, he says he’s much lighter than his competitors which makes him a great contender in light air, but he struggles to sail as hard in the bigger stuff. The medal race course is the Pao du Acucar, which has been light every day since the Olympic regatta, which could give Gaspic the advantage over young and super-physical Zbogar. Even so, if there’s anything these athletes have learned about Rio during training and the Games, the weather is completely unpredictable.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

USA’s Caleb Paine will have to win the medal race and Zbogar finish last to win a silver, but stranger things have happened in the Olympics. If this were the case, they’d be tied with 76 points, but the tiebreaker in this regatta goes to the higher finish in the medal race. For Paine, the road to the final has been bumpier than most. Though he was temporarily DSQ after a second place finish, video evidence came to light the next day that prompted the jury to overturn the DSQ. Without that change, Paine wouldn’t have made the medal race. With his confidence restored, Paine could bring the USA their first sailing medal since 2008.

Racing immediately after the Finns, Argentina’s Santiago Lange and Camille Saroli lead the Nacra fleet, but only just. At 54, Lange’s two bronze medals in the Tornado in 2004 and 2008 have given this multihull master a slight edge over the class. “We haven’t done anything yet,” says a modest Lange when asked about their medal opportunity. “The competition we are facing are really good sailors and the Nacra fleet is very close, which is why we’re so inconsistent.” Lange is looking forward to the rest day, especially taking the time to rest (Lange had surgery last year to remove a lung) and to watch his sons, Klaus Lange and Yago Lange, compete in the 49er. There are seven boats, including the Argentinians, who have a chance at a gold medal on Tuesday, and all ten could medal at some place. Lange and Saroli are not guaranteed a medal of any variety due to the closeness of the class.

Full results are available at sailing.org.

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The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

It hasn’t quite hit Toni Stipanovic yet that on Monday he’ll be standing on a podium with a medal around his neck. In the media zone, he rubs his chin pensively as the enormity of his accomplishment is laid in front of him by questioning reporters.

“It was a long journey from the first day,” he says. “I know that I sailed a really good regatta from the beginning and, whew, it’s really good. It’s huge to win this for Croatia. I don’t think I yet understand what I did, but it will come.”

Australia’s Tom Burton, who is guaranteed bronze himself, is the only sailor within striking distance of taking gold from Stipanovic, but the Croatian is guaranteed silver with his point margin (48) ahead of third place Sam Meech from New Zealand.

“The eight points I gave away the other day really came back to get me,” says Burton. “It’s great to lock a medal away, but I’m sure Tonci will have a plan to lock gold away. I haven’t made the plan yet, it’s still sinking in right now what we’ve done.”

Burton is guaranteed at least a bronze, but there’s a spot open on the podium for a handful of others, including Brazil’s Robert Scheidt who is going for a record sixth Olympic medal. The Lasers will contest their medal race on Monday on the Pao de Acucar course.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

In the Laser Radial, there are no factual guarantees, but for Netherland’s Marit Bouwmeester to lose a podium place would be one of the most major surprises in the history of Olympic sailing. She’s 19 points ahead of Belgium’s Evi Van Acker, who currently sits in fourth after a serious comeback day today. Van Acker contracted a gastrointestinal illness in July that the Belgian Olympic Committee says she has yet to fully recover from, pointing to the water in Guanabara Bay as a probable culprit. As a result, Van Acker was unable to physically exert herself over extended periods of time. Yesterday, the Radials had a day off from racing and it appears that it did the trick for the London bronze medalist who posted 2-1-5 on her scorecard today.

Denmark’s Anne-Marie Rindom lost a hold of her fleet dominance today to Bouwmeester, after a bad start in the first race and a bad call on the second beat to separate from the pack landed her in 22nd. “I made a mistake, and that’s it,” she says. “I haven’t made many mistakes this week and sometimes you just have to make one, apparently, and that was my race.” In the second, she also had a bad start, but due to a plastic bag snagging on her centerboard. But, on the second downwind leg, she found her speed, and by the last beat she was “sailing her ass off and hoping for the best.” She found it, and goes into the medal race in second overall.

The Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition

If there were a ‘race of the day’ award in the Olympics, it would go to USA’s 49erFX team, Paris Henken and Helena Scutt today. Starting off with a 14th in the day’s first contest, they made great use of their time on the live-streaming second race to dial in their speed and fly around the course, taking the lead early and holding on. They fended off Brazils’ Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze in the final run to cross the line 16 seconds ahead of the hometown sailors.

That race was nearly a disaster, though. At the start of what would have been race five, Henken and Scutt were on the line when the British team came down on them and hit the American boat. Capsized on the line, Henken and Scutt scrambled to right their boat. In a stroke of luck, there was a general recall, and the Americans were given reprieve. They set back up for the new start, and from there it was all over for the rest of the fleet.

“We had a really good start, got a punch off the line, and it was pretty easy after that,” says Henken. “From there it was standard covering skills, making sure we didn’t make moves too early to give [Brazil] a chance to get between us and the next mark or the finish.”

Henken called the day her picture-perfect sailing day. “We had some waves, so we were pumping the kite downwind and really moving our bodies, playing with it,” she says. “Upwind, we could see the puffs coming and could trim the sheet in and out and float our bow higher and higher. It was really a great day to get in tune with the boat. It was fast and fun.”

The duo currently sits in ninth overall after six races. They’ve got a reserve day on the books for tomorrow before their last two days of racing.

For full results from the day and remaining fleets, visit sailing.org

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