Paris 2024 Day 8 - Wearn on the brink of history in Marseille
by Australian Sailing 5 Aug 22:51 UTC
28 July - 8 August 2024
Matt Wearn - Paris 2024 Day 6 © Sailing Energy
Australia’s Matt Wearn will race for Olympic Gold tomorrow and is assured of winning at least a silver medal in the Men’s Dinghy class after the final two races of qualifying were abandoned on a light-wind day in Marseille today.
Wearn takes a 14-point lead over Cypriot Pavlos Kontides into the Medal Race, the same lead fellow Aussie Tom Slingsby held over Kontides going into the final day of London 2012 before winning Gold.
He will be looking to become the first ever back-to-back Olympic Champion in the event and to extend the amazing run of Australian Gold medal success, which begun with Slingsby in London followed by Tom Burton (Rio 2016) and Wearn (Tokyo 2020).
“I think any points gap you can have going into the Medal Race is fantastic,” said Wearn after emerging from his long day of waiting on the water.
“I will try and defend the position tomorrow and see what the day brings.”
As Wearn holds a 24-point lead over Peru’s Stefano Peschiera in second it won’t be possible for Peschiera to catch him in the double-points Medal Race featuring the top ten sailors from the qualifying series.
Kontides will need to finish at least seven places better than Wearn in the Medal Race to win Gold. If Wearn finishes seventh or better and shows every endeavour to start and finish the race, or if Kontides finishes fourth or worse, the Aussie will win his second consecutive Olympic title.
And how will the reigning World Champion prepare for the race of his life tomorrow?
“No different to normal. (Coach) Rafa (Trujillo) and I will do our debrief even though we didn't race today. We’ll go through some of the stuff from today and then have a little chat about tomorrow. We'll let ourselves rest and recover and think about tomorrow, tomorrow.”
The race will be broadcast live on Channel Nine and 9Now from 11:40pm AEST.
The only fleet to get their full complement of races in today was the Mixed Multihull where Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown nabbed another top ten finish and Zoe Thomson rounded out her maiden Olympic regatta in twentieth after finishing thirteenth in today’s solitary Women’s Dinghy fleet race.
Thomson reflected on her first Olympic regatta, “It was a really incredible experience. Obviously, I would have liked to have done a bit better, but I have learnt a lot about myself and what it takes to win. I think it will push me to be better for the next quad and motivate me moving forward.”
Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas got away to a good start in the Mixed Dinghy before their race was abandoned.
“I think the fact that we're getting upset that the light wind races are getting abandoned is just a testament to the hard work we've worked on with (coach) Andrea (Manini) in the last couple of weeks in Marseille,” said Jerwood.
“We've done a lot of work on our lighter sailing and it's really showing, so we're looking forward to light wind tomorrow.”
Tomorrow’s forecast is predicated to bring similar light wind conditions. The Mixed Dingy, Mixed Multihull and Women’s Kite will all continue their qualifying series, but all eyes will be on Wearn and his chase for Gold.
Visit the Australian Sailing Team website for more information or see full results here.
Paris 2024 Olympic Regatta standings
Men’s Dinghy (43 entries)
1st: Matt Wearn (AUS) 12, 2, 1, (18), 1, 2, 10, 10 - 38 points
2nd: Pavlos Kontides (CYP) 17, 5, (27), 5, 10, 5, 3, 7 - 52 points
3rd: Stefano Peschiera (PER) 6, 1, 14, 11, (20), 14, 12, 4 - 62 points
Mixed Dinghy (19 entries)
1st: Lara Vadlau & Lukas Maehr (AUT) (20 BFD), 5, 3, 1, 7, 1 - 17 points
2nd: Jordi Xammar Hernandez & Nora Brugman Cabot (ESP) 5, (6), 5, 3, 6, 3 - 22 points
3rd: Keiju Okada & Miho Yoshioka (JPN) 1, 2, 2, 6, (14), 12 - 23 points
8th: Nia Jerwood & Conor Nicholas (AUS) 6, (20 UFD), 7, 7, 3, 16 - 39 points
Women’s Kite (20 entries)
1st: Elena Lengwiler (SUI) 3, (6), 1, 2.8 RDG, 1 – 7.8 points
2nd: Eleanor Aldridge (GBR) 1, 2, 2, 3, (4) - 8 points
3rd: Daniela Moroz (USA) (7), 3, 4, 1, 2 - 10 points
8th: Breiana Whitehead (AUS) (12), 5, 7, 6, 9 - 27 points
Mixed Multihull (19 entries)
1st: Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti (ARG) 1, 1 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, (6), 6 - 14 points
2nd: Mateo Majdalani & Eugenia Bosco (ARG) 2, 2, 5, (10), 6, 6, 3, 2, 2 - 28 points
3rd: Micah Wilkinson & Erica Dawson (NZL) 5, 3, 7, 2, 2, 3, 2, 4, (9) - 28 points
12th: Brin Liddell & Rhiannan Brown (AUS) 11, 11, (13), 13, 12, 7, 9, 12, 13 - 88 points
Women’s Dinghy (43 entries)
1st: Marit Bouwmeester (NED) 4, 1, 2, 4, 2, 3, 3 11, (20) - 30 points
2nd: Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) 7, (26), 7, 2, 8, 4, 15, 4, 4 - 51 points
3rd: Line Flem Hoest (NOR) 11, 3, (19), 7, 2, 12, 14, 3 - 71 points
20th: Zoe Thomson (AUS) 12, (37), 22, 11, 16, 6, 19, 35, 15 - 136 points
Men’s Windsurfer (24 entries) - Complete
1st: Tom Reuveny (ISR) 1 GF
2nd: Grae Morris (AUS) 2 GF - SILVER MEDAL
3rd: Luc Van Opzeeland (NED) 3 GF
Women’s Skiff (20 entries) - Complete
1st: Odile Van Aanholt & Annette Duetz (NED) 5, 1, 1, 10, 8, 5, (19), 3, 2, 15, 4, 14, 6 MR - 74 points
2nd: Vilma Bobeck & Rebecca Netzler (SWE) 14, 6, 15, 4, 15, 10, 2, 1, 5, 1, 1, (17), 2 MR - 76 pts
3rd: Sarah Steyaert & Charline Picon (FRA) 2, 2, 2, 8, 2, 2, 12, 11, 10, (18), 6, 10, 12 MR - 79 pts
9th: Olivia Price & Evie Haseldine (AUS) 6, 8, 16, 7, 11, 3, (20), 10, 9, 10, 10, 12, 18 MR - 120 pts
Men’s Skiff (20 entries) - Complete
1st: Diego Botin Le Chever & Florian Trittel Paul (ESP) (16), 6, 4, 5, 11, 2, 3, 2, 2, 15, 12, 6, 2 MR – 70 pts
2nd: Isaac Kale McHardie & William McKenzie (NZL) 1, 3, 8, 8, 1, 1, 11, (18), 17, 1, 10, 15, 6 MR - 82 pts
3rd: Ian Barrows & Hans Henken (USA) 8, 7, (17), 9, 9, 5, 10, 7, 3, 2, 8, 12, MR 8 - 88 points
15th: Jim Colley & Shaun Connor (AUS) 19, 17, 10, 14, 10, 9, 12, 3, 10, 3, 16, (20) - 123 pts