One year on from Rio 2016: Extreme Finn sailing - Finnally
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- Category: Olympics 2016
There has been one question on the lips of the many thousands of Finn fans around the world since the Rio Olympics – ‘Where can we see footage of the incredible Finn racing on the courses outside the bay?’ Everyone had heard about it, and it was becoming the stuff of legend before the athletes had even hit the shore. There were photos to show it had taken place, and lots of wild stories, but very few had seen any footage of sailing’s gladiators taking on Rio’s extreme conditions.
Sailing a Finn is a demanding occupation. Every one of the 23 Finn sailors who made it to Rio made huge sacrifices to be here and many will go home with unrealised goals and unfulfilled ambition. Some will be back, some won’t, but all will have a unique bond with a sporting event that played out as one of the tightest, closest, and most challenging Olympic regattas ever.
For the fifth Olympic Games in a row, Great Britain has won the gold medal in the Finn class, with Giles Scott (GBR) already securing gold before Tuesday’s medal race. Vasilij Zbogar (SLO) crossed in sixth to claim the silver, his third Olympic medal, while the story of the final day was Caleb Paine (USA), running away with the race to take the win and the bronze medal.
Two outcomes were expected out of this Olympics: that Giles Scott would win the Finn gold medal and that the unexpected would happen. Well both have already happened and we still have the final day to go.
Giles Scott (GBR) has assured himself of gold after another brilliant performance that leaves him 24 points clear at the top after the fifth day of racing at the Rio 2016 Olympic Sailing Competition. Vasilij Zbogar (SLO) is second, 13 points ahead of Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO). Once again, Rio’s challenging conditions provided a mixed bag of results, with several sailors picking up high scores. There is now just the medal race to sail.
