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Day five -
Ainslie eases out a useful lead
For the first time on the Finn
course, there was initially a significant delay in getting the first race
underway because of too little wind, and then a cancellation of the second
race as conditions deteriorated even further.
Even though the 470s and 49ers
were able to start their races almost on time on the inshore courses,
further out on Course area E, the racing was postponed for nearly two and
a half hours before finally being able to get underway. Ivan Kljakovic
Gaspic (CRO) dominated the race, but Ben Ainslie (GBR) placed second to
extend his lead at the top.
Hoping for a break in the tough
conditions at some point, the sailors today had to cope with even lighter
winds, increased humidity and pretty low visibility. Race seven finally
got underway at 15.20 in just 5-6 knots of wind from a new direction of
140°, gradually shifting round to 160°.
After an individual recall at
the start, Nacchatar Johal (IND) thought he was over and went back.
Unfortunately it was for the 2004 silver medalist Rafael Trujillo (ESP),
who did not go back and was scored OCS.
Having only once placed inside
the top 10 so far in this regatta, the 2007 European Champion, Eduard
Skornyakov (RUS) made the best of the first upwind to lead round the top
mark followed by Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) and Emilios Papathanasiou
(GRE).
Skornyakov’s lead was short
lived as Kljakovic Gaspic took the lead at the bottom of the downwind with
regatta leader Ben Ainslie (GBR) again making a big jump downwind to
improve from seventh at the top mark to second at the gate.
However Kljakovic Gaspic now
had the bit between his teeth. He rounded clear of other boats and was the
only one to get clear air. He extended his lead to just under a minute on
the second upwind and then to just over two minutes by the finish to take
the race win. Ainslie held on to second, just ahead of Daniel Birgmark (SWE),
who again sailed a very consistent race inside the top five. By the end of
the race, the wind had decreased to 4 knots.
Second overall going into race
seven was Zach Railey (USA). Not having the best of races, he slipped to
12th at one point before recovering to seventh by the finish.
Third placed overnight Guillaume Florent (FRA) recovered from 14th
at the first mark to fourth at the finish, mainly taking places downwind,
to maintain his third place overall, while Jonas Høgh-Christensen (DEN)
kept his slim medal chances alive with a fifth place. Chris Cook (CAN)
dropped from fourth to seventh overall after a disappointing 15th.
After another lengthy wait,
race eight was postponed until tomorrow. This means that two races will be
sailed tomorrow, with the tenth now rescheduled for Friday.
Although the tough conditions
continue to plague the sailors, Eduardo Couto (BRA), who dropped from
ninth to 10th after placing 14th today, is still pretty
happy. He commented, “The conditions are very difficult, and the
positions change a lot. When you are in front it is difficult to cover
the fleet, and sometimes from behind you can have big gains too, so I
think everybody is having a hard time this week. But I am really happy
with my performance, I think I have good speed in light winds and have
sailed pretty good in some races, so I am enjoying the sailing here in
Qingdao. It is easy to have bad races, so I think you have to sail very
conservatively and not take too many risks. Right now, being in the top
10 it is really good for me. I am just disappointed to have that second
yellow flag in race three, where I was doing very good, but it is part
of the game. I just have to be careful now, and pray for the light winds
for the next few days.”
Anthony Nossiter (AUS)
commented on the weed situation, “There is more weed here than any other
sailing venue, but none compared to how it was. I’ve cleared the rudder a
few times, but the weed seems to break up at the bow and is too fragile to
hitch a ride."
One of the pre-regatta
favourites is gradually improving. Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) won the
silver medal at the test regatta last year, but so far this year has
only had one top 10 position before today. He said, "At first I sailed
too much in my own boat. I did not look enough outside the boat. Then I
changed the balance and looked more outside the boat at the bigger
picture on wind and current, but I was not able to read the wind
properly and didn't get a grip on it. For that reason I changed my
strategy to not take the initiative, but follow what happens on the
water with the fleet. I have always sailed races while taking the
initiative myself so it is hard to adjust to that but yesterday's second
place felt like a confirmation that I am still able to pull it off."
Today Postma placed 10th and moved up to 14th, just 15 points short of
the medal race zone.
Dan Slater (NZL) is another
pre-regatta favourite finally getting closer to the top 10, moving up to
12th after placing 13th today. He said, “I had a
great start and headed out towards the left hand side of the course and
really just got too greedy trying to do something special and went round
the first mark mid-fleet. Down the first run I sailed really bad
downwind but up the second beat I came back into the race and crossed
the finish in 13th. This puts me in 12th overall and looking to make the
medal race with three races to go, so I will have to pull my out finger
tomorrow.”
After seven races, Ainslie
leads on 19 points, with Railey in second on 25 and Florent still in
third on 30. Although the gap behind the leading three boats has
increased to nine points there are still four or five boats within easy
striking distance, and there is still a long way to go in this series.
[back to Olympics Micropanel]
Day seven
- Finns primed for medal race showdown
Although the 2004 silver
medalist Rafa Trujillo (ESP) won today’s only race, a second place for Ben
Ainslie (GBR) extended his lead at the top to 12 points and he is
guaranteed at least the silver medal going into tomorrow’s medal race.
While Thursday came and went
with little more than a ripple, Friday arrived looking hopeful with three
races scheduled to wrap up the qualification series before Saturday's
medal race. But hopeful was perhaps a bit optimistic. ‘Super Friday’, as
many had called it, was put on hold for a while as the wind came and went
and the sailors waited anxiously out on the water as precious time slipped
by. In the end only one race was held before the time limit expired.
After nearly a four hour wait
for the wind to co-operate, race eight got underway in 5 knots from a
direction of 20°, gradually increasing up to a maximum of 9 knots on the
first upwind leg. It was situation normal in Qingdao.
Regatta leader Ben Ainslie (GBR)
lead round the first mark for the first time in the series and extended
his lead to 30 seconds by the leeward gate. Second round, and needing a
good result to stand a chance of winning a medal was Chris Cook (CAN) with
Dan Slater (NZL) sailing his best first leg of the series to round third.
Rafa Trujillo (ESP) rounded in fourth.
Slater and Trujillo traded
positions on the downwind and then on the final upwind leg, Trujillo made
his move on Ainslie, taking advantage of a large right hand shift and
overhauling the Brit. This large shift caused lots of position changes
further down the fleet with Peng Zhang (CHN) moving from 21st to ninth,
and Ainslie’s greatest threats at the moment, Zach Railey (USA), dropping
from ninth to 19th and Guillaume Florent (FRA), fading away
from 11th to 21st.
Ainslie attacked back down the
final leg to the finish, but Trujillo had done enough and led across the
finish to take his first race win by just 8 seconds, which moved him up to
tenth overall.
Ainslie commented later, “I was
a little bit disappointed because I had a good start and a pretty good
lead at one point. It was a bit reminiscent of the first race of the
series when I let a big lead slip but fortunately second was still a good
result and it put some more boats between myself and Zach which will be
very important going into the medal race.”
With no more races possible,
Trujillo had moved up to tenth overall to take the final place in
tomorrow’s medal race on countback from Giorgio Poggi (ITA). Both of them
were on 74 points. Trujillo knew he had to perform today just to make the
medal race, so a win was a great way to do it. However, with only one race
being sailed today, his chances of a medal are now gone. Meanwhile a
seventh for Slater wasn’t enough to make the cut and an OCS for Eduardo
Couto (BRA) dropped him from the tenth spot to 13th overall.
Third place in the race went to
Cook. Lying in third place overall until race five, and now going into the
medal race in fifth place, just seven points off a medal position, Cook,
who has previously not had a great record in medal races, said, “The
conditions here are very difficult. The fleet is so close together at the
finish making every missed wave or bad tack very costly. I have had to
concentrate very hard to stay focused and calm. But I always enjoy racing
Finns, and this regatta is special because it is all the best sailors from
each country, which makes it very hard to do well, but very rewarding when
you do.”
Zach Railey blotted his
copybook for the first time in the series, and on the second beat to
dropped from ninth to 19th at the finish. However he can
comfortably discard this and has actually extended his gap on third place
to 11 points. Railey was back with Florent and made sure that the
Frenchman stayed behind him
Railey’s coach had this to say,
"Zach is feeling very good going into tomorrow's race. Today when he saw
his placing at the top mark he decided to use this race to play it
tactically for tomorrow's medal race."
Ainslie noted, “They both had a
pretty poor first leg. Zach, who’s had a very consistent series, realised
that he was never going to into a good enough position to make it count
for him so he was better off stopping and waiting for the French guy and
just make sure that he had a bad race. It was pretty good tactics really
by Zach, and good for me because it gave me a little bit more breathing
space!”
Daniel Birgmark (SWE) moved
into the bronze medal position on 44 points after placing fifth while
third placed overnight Florent dropped to fourth overall on 50 points.
Going into tomorrow’s medal
race, Ainslie is guaranteed at least the silver medal. But he is unlikely
to be happy to settle for that. The only man who can take it from him is
Zach Railey. For tomorrow, some are already forecasting an Ainslie’s style
match-race showdown between Ainslie and Railey.
Asked about his tactics for the
medal race Ainslie stated, “Stick to him [Railey] like glue I would have
thought, especially with this venue! I just hope we get some decent breeze
– I hope it’s not too light and fluky. But certainly I’ll be keeping a
very keen eye on Zach and try not to get too far away from him.”
It is also interesting to note
at this stage that if Ainslie had not lost those nine places in the
closing stages of the opening race, he would be going into the medal race
with a guaranteed gold medal.
Railey himself has almost
secured a medal, and is 11 points clear of Birgmark in third and 17 points
clear of Florent in fourth, and 18 clear of Cook in
fifth.
In the bronze medal position is
Daniel Birgmark (SWE). He is just six points clear of fourth and it is
here that the greatest interest perhaps lies. The chasing group of Florent,
Cook, Gasper Vincec (SLO) and Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) are all in with
a chance of the bronze. A late protest against Birgmark, which would have
changed things considerably, was unsuccessful. However at the current time
one protest was still pending which, if upheld, could change the sailors
in top ten. Keep an eye on the ISAF website for further developments.
Ainslie summed up the
situation, “"It’s not over yet by a long way, so I’m looking forward to
getting out there and sailing a good race.”
[back to Olympics Micropanel]
Medal race
- Ben Ainslie makes history yet again
Sailing in his fourth
Olympic regatta, Ben Ainslie (GBR) took his fourth Olympic medal in fine
style, winning gold in the Finn medal race in the best possible way.
Leading from start to finish, he was never really challenged to take the
race win. Silver went to Zach Railey (USA) after a solid race in sixth
place, while Guillaume Florent (FRA) snatched the bronze away from Daniel
Birgmark (SWE) with a fourth place race finish.
Olympic medals are
what it is all about and Ben Ainslie made it quite clear from the outset
that nothing less than gold would do. Zach Railey (USA) was the only
sailor in the 10 boat Finn medal race who could take the 2008 Olympic Finn
gold medal away from the Brit. However, it proved to be a somewhat more
arduous task than anyone suspected.
The story of this
medal race actually started yesterday with three failed attempts to get
the final race in. Twice it was postponed in the closing seconds before
the start gun, but the third time the fleet got away in 7 knots of breeze
which lasted until the last quarter of the first windward leg. Then it
started to drop, completely dying by the time the boats reached the
leeward mark.
The big question
everyone was asking before the race was would Railey bear the full brunt
of Ainslie's tactics. The answer was an emphatic 'yes'. Railey's biggest
danger however was that Ainslie would take him out of the race, while his
rivals sailed away and he would end up out of the medals altogether.
On the first failed
start Ainslie made his intentions quite clear, locking swords with Railey
at 4 minutes to go. By the time the third start got underway, Railey had
taken the battle to Ainslie and managed to escape a number of times before
starting in clear air. However thinking he was over the line early, Railey
went back – as did Ainslie and this allowed Ainslie to regain control.
Railey stood no
chance. Initially tacked on by medal contender Guillaume Florent (FRA),
Railey started to slip back and then Ainslie took control and herded
Railey to the far right side of the course. The rest of the fleet rounded
the first mark some 4 minutes ahead of Ainslie, after benefiting from
better wind on the left of the course,
At the first mark, the
fleet rounded in almost the reverse order of their overall positions: DEN,
ESP, CRO, SLO, CAN, FRA, SWE, GBR and then USA, over five minutes behind
the leader. Ainslie's plan was working perfectly, but fortunately for
Railey his two main rivals for silver, Daniel Birgmark (SWE) and Florent
were having a bad day as well. However at the gate, the leading boats
drifted round in very little wind and soon after the race was abandoned.
It was all back to square one for Ainslie.
Railey said after
coming ashore that he was prepared for the onslaught, “I think that what
Ben did given the very shifty conditions was a good play and that was
something that I was expecting. I am just trying to get in a good race
and Ben is trying to prevent that with the conditions we had today. For
tomorrow, I will go out and just try to have a good start and get in a
solid race. But for sure the race committee made the correct call
because we would not have made it back upwind and back down to the
finish with a fair race.”
Florent stated, “The
conditions were not up to an Olympic final. The racing area is already not
easy to race but this was impossible. Luckily, the race committee took the
right decision. It is not fun to do our sport in these conditions and I
suppose it is the same for the spectators. I wasn’t in good place after
the first lap but everyone stopped at the same time. Anything could have
happened!”
So, Sunday morning
arrived. Round two.
The Finns were second
up after the Ynglings in winds of 20 knots. Though the Ynglings got their
race in first, the Finns were sent back to shore as the weather and
visibility rapidly deteriorated.
You couldn't make up
this stuff. The frustration of the sailors, matched by the frustration of
journalists and viewers worldwide, was almost palpable as they headed for
home with the medal race still not completed. Some were asking would it
ever be over?
But the weather
improved and the AP finally came down again at 15.45 local time for the
fifth attempt at a start. This time it got away first time in 15-18 knot
winds and the 'O' flag raised for free pumping on downwind legs for the
first and only time in this regatta.
Ainslie waited until
the last moment before attacking and slid under Railey with about 30
seconds to go. Railey tacked off and started in last place, but in clear
air. After a few tacks being exchanged out of the start, Ainslie was
clearly keeping Railey in his sights, yet a repeat of yesterday's tactics
was not necessary as the Brit was soon in the lead. Favouring the right
hand side of the course Ainslie rounded the top mark ahead, with Florent
rounding in second from the left. Positions at the first mark were: GBR,
FRA, DEN, CAN, ESP, SLO, USA, SWE, POL and CRO. Railey was still in silver
and Florent had moved up to bronze.
Perfect Finn sailing
conditions enabled the sailors to really strut their stuff downwind.
Florent and Jonas Hoegh-Christensen (DEN) gained slightly on Ainslie on
the downwind, while Railey moved up one to sixth, keeping his main
opposition Daniel Birgmark (SWE) behind him.
Most of the fleet
favoured the left hand side of the track on the final leg with Ainslie
extending slightly to lead round the final windward mark of the regatta.
There were very few changes on the final leg. Railey was still holding
into silver while Florent was comfortably in the bronze. The only real
drama was Florent dropping to fourth and Birgmark moving up to seventh
right at the finish. In terms of points this meant that Florent took the
bronze medal off Birgmark on the result on the medal race, both finishing
on 58 points.
While Ainslie took the
gold medal in the best possible way with a race win, a sixth place for
Railey was enough for him to retain the silver medal position with ease.
Ainslie was in fact using the same hull that won him gold in Athens four
years ago, while Florent was using his six year old boat and mast.
If anyone needs a
masterclass in how to demoralise the opposition, then Ben Ainslie is the
perfect tutor, having won the gold medal by an incredible 22 points. In
four out of the nine races sailed, he turned a middle or low top ten
result into a race winning position on the downwind legs. In the first
race he was unlucky, dropping from first to tenth in the closing stages,
but his scoreline of four race wins, two seconds, a fourth and a 10th
is a graphic indication of why he was the favourite to take the gold medal
again.
What is perhaps more
remarkable about this regatta than Ben Ainslie winning his third
consecutive gold medal is the number of pre-regatta favourites who didn't
figure at all in the racing. Some of them didn't even make the medal race
including the silver medalist here last year Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) who
never really found any form, Emilios Papathanasiou (GRE), always a light
wind threat and Dan Slater (NZL), silver medalist at the worlds this year.
Meanwhile world number one Høgh Christensen and the 2004 Silver medalist
and 2007 World Champion Rafa Trujillo (ESP) went into the medal race
having lost all chances of winning a medal.
Both the medalists
behind Ainslie were given outside chances of medaling before the event,
but it is still quite a surprise to see them there at the end of what has
been a very trying and testing week.
In winning his third
consecutive Olympic gold medal, Ainslie is now the joint second most
decorated sailor at the Olympics – ever. He has also earned himself a
place in British Olympic history as the most decorated of all British
Olympic sailors, an honour that has sat with Rodney Pattisson's two golds
and a silver in 1968, 1972 and 1976 for over 30 years.
What is daunting about
this piece of trivia is that Ainslie is currently at the peak of his
career. Aged just 31, he has many more Olympiads to go and has indicated
every intention of being at Weymouth in four years time.
His medal here is also
the third consecutive Finn gold medal for Great Britain, a country, that
until Iain Percy's gold medal in 2000 broke the 48 year gap from Charles
Currey's silver in 1952, had struggled to produce any sort of form at the
Olympic Games in this class.
Ainslie said, “Today
we had a nice little rain with wind up to 20 knots. It's a lot like
sailing at home in Britain. I tried to keep my eye on the American during
the start of the race. After a little while, I just went on and tried to
sail my own race. I made some big gains during the second half of the
first leg. The last downwind was a little scary. I kept telling myself,
'don't capsize, don‘t capsize'. All in all, this is my best last race in
all of the four Olympics that I've participated in."
"This feeling is truly amazing, and
it‘s a massive relief. I could open the Champagne right now and rightfully
so."
Zach Railey's silver
medal is the first Finn medal for the United States for 16 years,
following in the wake of a long line of silver medals - Peter Barrett
(USA) in 1964, John Bertrand (USA) in 1984 and Brian Ledbetter (USA) in
1992.
Railey said later, “I was late at the start. Ben was trying to force me to
the back of the fleet, which cost me about 30 seconds. Other than that, I
sailed very well today."
On winning the Silver, he said, "It's
a big relief. I am proud of myself. I had a little chat with Ben. I told
him that I know that he wants to secure his Gold medal, and I just wanted
to secure my Silver."
Railey looked ahead to the next
four years, “I will continue my
training step by step, and goal by goal. I will definitely go for the
Gold. It's just one more place to go. It has always been my dream to stand
on the Olympic podium. The fact that it‘s Silver and not Gold is not
important to me."
Guillaume Florent's medal is only the second Finn medal for France, the
other one being a gold medal to Serge Maury in Kiel in 1972. His plan
today was to try and keep two boats between himself and Birgmark, a plan
that was ultimately to prove successful. On his bronze medal he said, “I
didn't think this would be possible before coming here. This is my first
regatta in Qingdao!”
"Everyone needs some luck sometimes,
and today I had it. Today was my day. I made my gain at the second upwind.
I didn't care about the position, I just needed to put two boats between
Sweden and myself and I did."
A chat with the race officer
The race officer for
the Finn and Ynglings has been Peter Reggio, better known as 'Luigi'.
Luigi has been a favourite PRO for the Finn class for many years, starting
with the 2001 Finn Gold Cup in Marblehead, USA. Everyone loves him,
especially as he interacts a lot with the sailors and coaches. Then the
International Finn Association (IFA) asked him to be the PRO for the 2004
Finn Europeans in La Rochelle as it was an Olympic qualifier. When ISAF
asked the classes their wish list for the test events and the Olympic
Games the class asked for him and he accepted. Luigi is a professional
race officer, and the Finn class feels very lucky to have him.
He said yesterday,
“The conditions at the beginning of the Olympics for races 1-6 for the
Finns were far better than expected. Over the past three or four days they
have reverted back to what we experienced in the 2006 and 2007 test
events. It's not easy to run races correctly in light air with a strong
tide. The 'normal' inversion has reappeared making things really tough on
the organisers and the sailors with very light, shifty winds with heat and
humidity beyond endurance. But we are getting it done though."
Did he feel prepared
enough to face all the different situations? “This has not been easy.
Probably the biggest issue is the language thing. I worked with this
team last year at the 2007 test event, though the 2006 team was
different. They understand the
hows of what we are trying to do but
they really don't have a feel for the whys. That makes it extremely
difficult at times when things get a bit complicated, believe me! The
team is a wonderful bunch of people and really eager to do things
correctly...it would just be a lot easier for me if I understood what
they were saying! The other IROs that I've been working with have also
been doing a wonderful job.”
"We
usually get to the race area about one and a half hours before the
scheduled start time to get settled in and start looking at the
conditions. All we are concerned with is getting things right to make
the racing as fair as possible for the sailors. I'd say the real
objective is that...fairness (and then MORE fairness).”
Was it hard to cancel the race on
Saturday and what reactions did he get from the sailors? “Not at all.
We'd attempted two prior starts and blown them off with about 10 seconds
to go each time. It just wasn't going to work. The third attempt at
racing was in about 7 knots and it looked good for about 3/4 of the
first beat. Then it all started to go downhill. It was a long beat time
wise due to a strong current running with the wind. Then the breeze
started failing and it had died completely by the time a few of the
boats had reached the gate. After that, it was a joke with no shot at
making the one hour time limit, even though we had shortened the second
beat. The call to abandon was a no-brainer.”
The best moment of this regatta?
“Just knowing that the guys in the Finns and the girls in the Ynglings
actually appreciate what we are trying to do. Their feedback so far has
been great and it's really satisfying to know that they understand that
we're all (sailors and race committee) working together to get the best
competition possible. That's a very special feeling and I'm truly
grateful for some of the things that the sailors and coaches have said
to me...that is special.”
Having faced some
good challenges between the AC and the sailing in Qingdao, what's next
for Luigi? “I'm leaving here early to run an M30 event in Newport Rhode
Island and then I'm off to Travemunde, Germany next Sunday night for the
Farr40 Europeans. I've got a couple of Coutts 44 events later in the
fall and the M30 Worlds in October. There are about 6 other events in
September-December but I'm to beat right now to remember what they are.
Next year is my usual mess of travel to various events (too many). I
love what I do, but I've grown to hate airports.”
And of the Finn
sailors, “They have been great. We have a lot of chatter and laughs
before racing and between races. I love working with these guys. They
are the best!”
[back to Olympics Micropanel]
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