By World Sailing
Marit Bouwmeester is on course to win gold in the Women’s Dinghy which means tomorrow she will become the most successful female sailor at an Olympic Games.
After taking bronze in the Laser Radial in Tokyo, the Dutch superstar returned to the top of the pecking order with a dominant display in Marseille to all but secure gold, after achieving the same feat in Rio.
Bouwmeester will become a four-time Olympic medallist tomorrow and looked the part throughout, finishing in the top five on seven different occasions. She did have her weakest finish in race nine, placing 20th, but that mattered very little as the final race of the Opening Series was abandoned due to a lack of wind, confirming that Bouwmeester could not be overtaken at the top of the rankings.
Anne-Marie Rindom, the gold medallist in Tokyo, was unable to defend her crown, but still put in a fine showing on the water. She has all but secured the silver medal after finishing fourth in the first and only race of the day. Rindom also won bronze in Rio, meaning tomorrow she will complete the Olympic medal set.
Bronze is still up for grabs heading into the Medal Race tomorrow, but at the moment Norway’s Line Flem Hoest is third, five points ahead of Switzerland’s Maud Jayet who struggled on the water today.
Bouwmeester said: “What a tough day, we were so close to the island. It was a crazy day. I think I had a really tough Worlds and I struggled to find balance with the home situation and sailing. I’ve been building since then.
“I’ve been sailing in very slow boats so I think that’s why my sailing looked less before. I knew that hopefully I could get a bit more pace here, so I was actually hoping for this to happen.
“I’m just going to enjoy this one, I’m going to go back to my family and rest. I must say a big thank you to my family for supporting me.”
Rindom said: “I felt like I underperformed a little bit this week. With that in mind I still secured a silver medal. I would have liked to have battled it out with Marit tomorrow, but it’s ok. She had a really good week and hats off, she definitely did the job that needed to be done.”
“It’s really difficult to perform at an Olympic Games and really hard to perform in these conditions. I had an injury for the last three months and that sent me off a little bit. I don’t think I lived up to my level until today, but that’s sport.
“I knew that it could go either way so I had to keep fighting and believing in myself.”
Men’s Dinghy:
The standings in the Men’s Dinghy did not change as all racing was abandoned due to light wind. That meant Australia’s Matt Wearn is guaranteed either a silver or gold when he lines up in the Medal Race tomorrow.
Pavlos Kontides is the only sailor who can overtake him, but the Cypriot is not guaranteed a medal so will have to delicately manoeuvre the race tomorrow if he is to reach the podium. Meanwhile, Peru’s Stefano Peschiera remains third, ten points adrift of Kontides.
How it works:
Medals for the Women’s and Men’s Dinghy (ILCA 6 and ILCA 7) will be decided by the cumulative results of the 40-strong fleet over 10 races. The boat with the lowest total will rank first. Athletes will be able to discard their worst finishing position after they’ve completed three races.
At the end of the Opening Series, the top ten boats in the fleet will qualify for the Medal Race, which is worth double points. The score in the Medal Race cannot be discarded. The sailor with the smallest overall points total will win gold.
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