Paris Olympics Day 4 – Dream Day for Morris in Marseille

Australia’s Grae Morris has moved into first overall after a dream day in the Men’s Windsurfer at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Morris was fifth coming into the day, but a race win, two seconds and a ninth were good enough to give him the lead by one point over Polish athlete Pawel Tarnowski.

“It was a day about being accurate so that was going through my head on repeat,” said Morris about his performance.

“I was able to stay cool, calm and collected. Looking around, it looks like the fleet’s very amped up and people are getting a bit frustrated so just being on the other end of that, I think gave me the step ahead.”

There is one last day of qualifying races to come before the Medal Race Series. The highest ranked rider from the qualifying series goes straight to the Final, with second and third qualifying for the Semi Final and fourth to tenth the cut-throat Quarter Final.

“I’m super happy but I’ve just got to keep in mind what’s to come. There’s plenty of races and plenty of opportunity for anything to happen. It’s not finished.”

The Women’s Skiff team of Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine did everything possible to qualify for tomorrow’s Medal Race after a day that Price described as “a bit of a dog fight.”

“We did try and claw as many points as we could after some average starts and sailing out of phase, which really cost us,” said Price.

They sit 28 points behind the Swedish team in third so the podium is mathematically out of reach, but the 2023 World Championship bronze medallists are ready to go out with a bang.

“Definitely happy that it’s not the last dance just yet,” added Haseldine. “We’ll do everything that we possibly can tomorrow as we have all week.”

Jim Colley and Shaun Connor rounded out their debut Olympic Games in fifteenth in the Men’s Skiff. The young duo has a lot to be proud of having delivered a handful of top 10 placings across the regatta, including two thirds, but just couldn’t find the consistency they needed.

“We both knew it was going to be tough,” said Connor. “But we haven’t left any stone unturned in our campaign thus far. There’s obviously still a lot to do, but we’ll now look forward towards LA in 2028.”

Australian Olympic Sailing Team Leader Iain Brambell was proud of the efforts of the athletes across the board today.

“The skiffs left it all out on the course with Olivia and Evie throwing everything at it in the final qualifying race to secure their place in tomorrow’s Medal Race,” said Brambell.

“Jim and Shaun were relentless in their pursuit of the Medal Race and although they fell just short, they are joined by some esteemed crews outside the top ten, once again reenforcing the intensely competitive realities of the Men’s and Women’s Skiff fleets.”

Tomorrow will see the Medal Races for the two Skiff classes as well as the first day of fleet racing for the Men’s and Women’s Dinghy classes, which will feature reigning Olympic champion Matt Wearn and another debutant in Zoe Thomson.

Paris 2024 Olympic Regatta standings

Men’s Windsurfer (24 entries)

1^st: Grae Morris (AUS) (13), (25 DNS), 10, 9, 1, 7, 2, 1, 9, 2 – 41 pts
2^nd: Pawel Tarnowski (POL) (12), 3, 6, 2, 9, 2, 5, 5, (10), 10 – 42 pts
3^rd: Tom Reuveny (ISR) 8, (13), 5, 3, 3, 4, (25 BFD), 3, 5, 13 – 44 pts

Women’s Skiff (20 entries)

1^st: Sarah Steyaert & Charline Picon (FRA) 2, 2, 2, 8, 2, 2, 12, 11, 10, (18), 6, 10 – 67 pts
2^nd: Odile Van Aanholt & Annette Duetz (NED) 5, 1, 1, 10, 8, 5, (19), 3, 2, 15, 4, 14 – 68 points
3^rd: Vilma Bobeck & Rebecca Netzler (SWE) 14, 6, 15, 4, 15, 10, 2, 1, 5, 1, 1, (17) – 74 pts
9^th: Olivia Price & Evie Haseldine (AUS) 6, 8, 16, 7, 11, 3, (20), 10, 9, 10, 10, 12 – 102 pts

Men’s Skiff (20 entries)

1^st: Diego Botin Le Chever & Florian Trittel Paul (ESP) (16), 6, 4, 5, 11, 2, 3, 2, 2, 15, 12, 6 – 68 pts
2^nd: Robert Dickson & Sean Waddilove (IRL) 9, 4, 1, 4, 2, (21 DSQ), 4, 13, 9, 11, 14, 2 – 73 pts
3^rd: Isaac Kale McHardie & William McKenzie (NZL) 1, 3, 8, 8, 1, 1, 11, (18), 17, 1, 10, 15 – 76 pts
15^th: Jim Colley & Shaun Connor (AUS) 19, 17, 10, 14, 10, 9, 12, 3, 10, 3, 16, (20) – 123 pts