Paris Olympics Day 9 – Wearn on the brink of history in Marseille

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.

Paris 2024 Olympic Regatta standings

Men’s Dinghy (43 entries)

1^st: Matt Wearn (AUS) 12, 2, 1, (18), 1, 2, 10, 10 – 38 points 
2^nd: Pavlos Kontides (CYP) 17, 5, (27), 5, 10, 5, 3, 7 – 52 points
3^rd: Stefano Peschiera (PER) 6, 1, 14, 11, (20), 14, 12, 4 – 62 points

Mixed Dinghy (19 entries)

1^st: Lara Vadlau & Lukas Maehr (AUT) (20 BFD), 5, 3, 1, 7, 1 – 17 points
2^nd: Jordi Xammar Hernandez & Nora Brugman Cabot (ESP) 5, (6), 5, 3, 6, 3 – 22 points
3^rd: Keiju Okada & Miho Yoshioka (JPN) 1, 2, 2, 6, (14), 12 – 23 points
8^th: Nia Jerwood & Conor Nicholas (AUS) 6, (20 UFD), 7, 7, 3, 16 – 39 points

Women’s Kite (20 entries)

1^st: Elena Lengwiler (SUI) 3, (6), 1, 2.8 RDG, 1 – 7.8 points
2^nd: Eleanor Aldridge (GBR) 1, 2, 2, 3, (4) – 8 points
3^rd: Daniela Moroz (USA) (7), 3, 4, 1, 2 – 10 points
8^th: Breiana Whitehead (AUS) (12), 5, 7, 6, 9 – 27 points

Mixed Multihull (19 entries)

1^st: Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti (ARG) 1, 1 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, (6), 6 – 14 points
2^nd: Mateo Majdalani & Eugenia Bosco (ARG) 2, 2, 5, (10), 6, 6, 3, 2, 2 – 28 points
3^rd: Micah Wilkinson & Erica Dawson (NZL) 5, 3, 7, 2, 2, 3, 2, 4, (9) – 28 points
12^th: Brin Liddell & Rhiannan Brown (AUS) 11, 11, (13), 13, 12, 7, 9, 12, 13 – 88 points

Women’s Dinghy (43 entries)

1^st: Marit Bouwmeester (NED) 4, 1, 2, 4, 2, 3, 3 11, (20) – 30 points
2^nd: Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) 7, (26), 7, 2, 8, 4, 15, 4, 4 – 51 points
3^rd: Line Flem Hoest (NOR) 11, 3, (19), 7, 2, 12, 14, 3 – 71 points
20^th: Zoe Thomson (AUS) 12, (37), 22, 11, 16, 6, 19, 35, 15 – 136 points

Men’s Windsurfer (24 entries) – Complete

1^st: Tom Reuveny (ISR) 1 GF
2^nd: Grae Morris (AUS) 2 GF – SILVER MEDAL
3^rd: Luc Van Opzeeland (NED) 3 GF

Women’s Skiff (20 entries) – Complete

1^st: Odile Van Aanholt & Annette Duetz (NED) 5, 1, 1, 10, 8, 5, (19), 3, 2, 15, 4, 14, 6 MR – 74 points
2^nd: Vilma Bobeck & Rebecca Netzler (SWE) 14, 6, 15, 4, 15, 10, 2, 1, 5, 1, 1, (17), 2 MR – 76 pts
3^rd: Sarah Steyaert & Charline Picon (FRA) 2, 2, 2, 8, 2, 2, 12, 11, 10, (18), 6, 10, 12 MR – 79 pts
9^th: 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

1^st: Diego Botin Le Chever & Florian Trittel Paul (ESP) (16), 6, 4, 5, 11, 2, 3, 2, 2, 15, 12, 6, 2 MR – 70 pts
2^nd: Isaac Kale McHardie & William McKenzie (NZL) 1, 3, 8, 8, 1, 1, 11, (18), 17, 1, 10, 15, 6 MR – 82 pts
3^rd: Ian Barrows & Hans Henken (USA) 8, 7, (17), 9, 9, 5, 10, 7, 3, 2, 8, 12, MR 8 – 88 points
15^th: Jim Colley & Shaun Connor (AUS) 19, 17, 10, 14, 10, 9, 12, 3, 10, 3, 16, (20) – 123 pts

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