Olympic debutant Grae Morris won Australia’s first sailing medal of the Paris Olympics when he took out Silver in the Men’s Windsurfing in Marseille on Saturday.
Morris qualified directly for the three-person Grand Final by virtue of finishing the Qualifying Series in first, and it was Tom Reuveny (ISR) and Luc Van Opzeeland (NED) who emerged from the Semi Final as his opponents.
The 20-year-old from Woollahra Sailing Club sailed close to the perfect race in the Grand Final and was ecstatic at the realisation that he had become Australia’s first Windsurfing Olympic medallist since Lars Kleppich won Bronze in 1992.
“It’s the best feeling in the world,” said Morris. “I looked up to so many Australians leading up to this moment and to say I have a medal and to say it all paid off, I’m just ecstatic.”
Coach Arthur Brett had Morris perfectly primed for the race. The Aussie was first across the start line and the first top mark, but it was Reuveny who turned in third and split on his own to the left-hand side on the second upwind who nailed his lay-line and couldn’t be caught.
“I feel I did everything I could’ve done. I’m super happy and no regrets at all,” finished Morris.
Reigning ILCA 7 World and Olympic champion Matt Wearn relished the big winds delivered by the Mistral today. Much like he did in Tokyo three years ago, Wearn is dominating the middle stages of the regatta and his first and second in today’s two races have him set up beautifully in first overall with a 22-point lead over Brit Micky Beckett in second.
“It was a bit shifty with an up-and-down wind which made some good racing, but I made the most of it and had two good races,” said Wearn.
“Things are feeling pretty good at this point, another couple of days like that and I’ll be happy.”
The big breezes certainly suited the Aussies today with strong days from Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas (Mixed Dinghy) and Zoe Thomson (Women’s Dinghy) shooting them both up the leaderboard to sixth and thirteenth respectively.
“It was a super tough day,” said Thomson after racing. “It was very physical so I’m pretty tired, but I’ll go and recover now and get into tomorrow.”
Tomorrow will see the continuation of qualifying races for the three dinghy classes and the Mixed Multihull. Australia’s Breiana Whitehead will also commence her campaign in the Women’s Kitesurfing, with the reigning overall winner of this year’s Palma regatta keen to get her maiden Olympic regatta underway in the predicted 10-18 knots of fading Mistral.
Paris 2024 Olympic Regatta standings
Men’s Dinghy (43 entries)
1st: Matt Wearn (AUS) 12, 2, 1, (18), 1, 2 – 18 points
2nd: Micky Beckett (GBR) (19), 9, 15, 8, 4, 4 – 40 points
3rd: Pavlos Kontides (CYP) 17, 5, (27), 5, 10, 5 – 42 points
Mixed Dinghy (19 entries)
1st: Keiju Okada & Miho Yoshioka (JPN) 1, 2, 2, (6) – 5 points
2nd: Lara Vadlau & Lukas Maehr (AUT) (20 BFD), 5, 3, 1- 9 points
3rd: Anton Dahlberg & Lovisa Karlsson (SWE) 7, (14), 1, 2- 10 points
6th: Nia Jerwood & Conor Nicholas (AUS) 6, (20 UFD), 7, 7 – 20 points
Women’s Dinghy (43 entries)
1st: Marit Bouwmeester (NED) (4), 1, 2, 4, 2, 3 – 12 points
2nd: Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) 7, (26), 7, 2, 8, 4 – 28 points
3rd: Hannah Snellgrove (GBR) 17, (20), 6, 1, 1, 14 – 39 points
13th: Zoe Thomson (AUS) 12, (37), 22, 11, 16, 6 – 67 points
Mixed Multihull (19 entries)
1st: Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti (ARG) 1, 1 (2) – 2 points
2nd: Mateo Majdalani & Eugenia Bosco (ARG) 2, 2, (5) – 4 points
3rd: Sinem Kurtbay & Akseli Keskinen (FIN) 3, (7), 4 – 7 points
13th: Brin Liddell & Rhiannan Brown (AUS) 11, 11, (13) – 22 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
Follow the Australian Sailing Team:
Visit the Australian Sailing Team website for more information or see full results here.
Web: www.australiansailingteam.com.au
Instagram: @aussailingteam
Facebook: @aussailingteam
Twitter: @aussailingteam
YouTube: AusSailingTeam
