Australia’s ILCA 7 Olympic Champion Matt Wearn has pulled off a stunning final Gold fleet race to build an unassailable 20-point lead going into tomorrow’s Medal Race at the Sailing World Championships.
Wearn came into the day in second place behind British sailor Micky Beckett. With Beckett’s discard a black flag (70 points) and Wearn’s an 11, the Western Australian isolated Beckett in the second race and sailed him to the back of the fleet adding a 66 to his scorecard.
The Western Australian Institute of Sport athlete just needs to show every endeavour to start and finish the race to take out his first ILCA 7 World Championship after three silver medals.
“It’s quite emotional to be honest,” said Wearn after coming off the water.
“Three seconds in a row, that always hurts. It’s been a tough 18 months as well and coming back from a bit of illness, so from that sense it feels even more special.”
Wearn noted he needed to give himself “at least a chance of winning a Worlds tomorrow” before today’s final race.
“It took me two-thirds of the race to get in a position where I could do that, and once I got the opportunity I didn’t squander it.”
Wearn’s Coach Rafa Trujillo explained how it all played out.
“We had a conversation after the first race, and after we checked all the points together we had two options; secure the Silver or work to give himself a better chance in the Medal Race.
“He delivered the plan so successfully that not only did he give himself a chance for a gold medal, once we waited for the protest time we realised that it was done.”
The result ticked off another box for the Australian team in securing a nation quota for the ILCA 7 at next year’s Paris Olympic Games.
Wearn wasn’t the only Aussie to confirm an Olympic quota today. Tokyo Olympian Mara Stransky came from 14th place yesterday to secure the final spot in tomorrow’s ILCA 6 Medal Race by one point and with it, Australia’s place at Paris.
“Given how high scoring the week has been there was still a chance that if I had two good races I could make it (into the Medal Race),” explained Stransky.
“My only aim was to try and stay in the top ten in both races and see what happened, that was all I could control. I went out there and got a four and a ten and scraped in by one point.
“I’m a little shocked to be honest.”
Both Medal Races will be broadcast live on Kayo Sports and World Sailing’s YouTube Channel from 10pm AEST/8pm AWST.
Sydney’s Grae Morris qualified for the do-or-die iQFOiL Quarter Final in fourth place, but unfortunately got disqualified which put an end to his regatta.
“I pushed it a bit hard off the start and I got called over so it’s a bit disappointing,” explained Morris.
“I am still super stoked. I have made it to the quarters which I was super happy to be able to do especially as it was an improvement from last year, so it’s been all good gains and I’ll keep moving forward.”
Australia’s World Championship campaign will wrap up with the ILCA 6 and ILCA 7 Medal Races tomorrow, and will include one Gold, one Bronze and five Olympic nation quotas for Paris.
Visit the event website for more details on the event, see full results in the Results Centre and follow the racing via the trackers on at the SAP Sailing website each day.
Australian Sailing Team (AST), Australian Sailing Squad (ASS), Australian Sailing Futures (ASF) and other Australian results at the 2023 Allianz Sailing World Championships:
ILCA 7 – Gold fleet – 10 races (one drop)
1st – Matt Wearn (AST/WA) – 11, 11, 6, 5, 1, 3, 2, 7, 25, (65) (71 points)
17th – Ethan McAullay (ASS/WA) – 6, 47, 8, 7, 18, 38, (51), 23, 5, 28 (180 points)
20th – Luke Elliott (ASS/WA) – 7, 14, 41, 5, 7, 37, 33, 12, (70 BFD), 27 (183 points)
34th – Zac Littlewood (ASS/WA) – 13, 36, (50), 27, 39, 5, 19, 43, 3, 41 (226 points)
35th – Finn Alexander (ASS/NSW) – 14, 14, 48, 40, (53), 12, 15, 2, 39, 44 (228 points)
49erFX – Gold fleet – 15 races (one drop)
3rd – Olivia Price & Evie Haseldine (ASS/NSW) – 1, 4, 2, 3, 2, 5, 3, 10, 9, 3, 12, (23), 4, 10, 20 (88 points)
20th – Laura Harding & Annie Wilmot (ASS/VIC & NSW) – 9, 19, 14, 5, 6, 18, 18, 4, 14, 5, (24), 3, 11, 22, 21 (169 points)
49erFX – Silver fleet – 15 races (one drop)
34th – Mina Ferguson & Dervla Duggan (ASF/NSW & ASS/VIC) – 12, 3, 20, 10, 14, 6, 24, (30 RET), 20, 17, 27, 6, 10, 23, 5 (197 points)
38th – Natasha Bryant & Madeleine McLeay (ASF/NSW) – (28), 22, 18, 19, 12, 23, 2, 12, 19, 3, 20, 24, 16, 20, 6 (216 points)
Women’s Hansa 303 (11 entries)
3rd – Alison Weatherly (VIC) (7), 5, 3, 3, 3, 6, 1, 4, 5, 4 (34 points)
Men’s iQFOiL – Quarter Final
9th – Grae Morris (ASS/NSW) – (23), 1, (51 DNF), 3, 5, 9, 11, 1, 7, 6, 5, 1, (30), 2 (51 points) – Quarter Final: 8 BFD
Men’s iQFOiL – Gold fleet – 14 races (three drops)
36th – Harry Joyner (ASS/WA) – (27), 11, 27, 5, 15, (37), 17, 21, 13, 17, 28, 29, (41), 36 (219 points)
Men’s iQFOiL – Silver fleet – 14 races (three drops)
87th – Jack Marquardt (VIS) – 31, 45, 23, (51 DNC), 39, 37, 35, (51 DNC), 51 DNC, 33, 35, 33, 32, (37) (394 points)
ILCA 6 – Gold fleet – 10 races (one drop)
10th – Mara Stranksy (ASS/QLD) – 28, 2, 2, 22, 15, 25, (40), 14, 4, 10 (122 points)
16th – Casey Imeneo (ASS/VIC) – 16, 5, 8, 35, 3, 1, (36), 24, 26, 28 (146 points)
31st – Elyse Ainsworth (ASS/WA) – 12, 7, (46), 27, 28, 26, 20, 34, 33, 15 (202 points)
35th – Zoe Thomson (AST/WA) – 11, 23, 18, 16, 19, 33, 42, 27, 42, (43) (231 points)
50th – Sylvie Stannage (NSWIS) – 9, 26, 23, 38, 39, 43, 47, (53), 50, 31 (306 points)
ILCA 6 – Silver fleet – 10 races (one drop)
62nd – Evie Saunders (ASF/NSW) – (35), 33, 5, 33, 26, 10, 7, 1, 10, 19 (144 points)
Women’s Formula Kite – Gold fleet – 16 races (three drops)
11th – Breiana Whitehead (AST/QLD) – 10, 6, 4, 10, 7, 10, 10, 3, 5, (11), 4, (20), 3, (19), 11, 12 (95 points)
Men’s Hansa 303 (15 entries)
11th – Peter Coleman (VIC) 12, 14, 11, (16 RET), 11, 11, 10, 9, 9, 9 (96 points)
Nacra 17 – Gold fleet – 15 races (one drop)
19th – Brin Liddell and Rhiannan Brown (ASF/NSW) 17, 13, 10, 7, 7, 10, 14, 12, 8, 16, 2, 20, 19, 21, (26 RET) (176 points)
20th – Ruben Booth and Rita Booth (AUS) 6, 10, 12, 10, 9, 7, 12, 16, 10, 22, 25, 18, (26 UFD), 11, 17 RDG (185 points)
24th – Archie Gargett & Sarah Hoffman (ASF/NSW) 8, 9, 14, 13, 14, 15, 16, 6, 11, 19, 21, 14, 20, (23), 21 (201 points)
25th – Jake Liddell & Lucy Copeland (ASS/NSW) 11, 11, 6, 11, 9, 12, 12, (26 RET), 7, 20, 23, 22, 26 UFD, 26 RET, 16 (212 points)
Nacra 17 – Silver fleet – 15 races (one drop)
27th – Lisa Darmanin & Darren Bundock (AST/NSW & NSW) 11, 15, 16, (17), 15, 17, 11, 7, 12, 2, 10, 2, 12, 1, 3 (134 points)
49er – Gold fleet – 15 races (one drop)
21st – Tom Burton & Max Paul (ASS/NSW) – 4, 6, 19, 13, 19, (29 DNS), 5, 2, 3, 16, 22, 19, 16, 10, 2 (156 points)
49er – Silver fleet – 15 races (one drop)
27th – Thomas Needham & Joel Turner (ASS/QLD) – 13, (16), 9, 10, 11, 10, 7, 11, 10, 10, 4, 10, 3, 12, 5 (125 points)
30th – Jim Colley & Shaun Connor (AST/NSW) – 18, 11, 15, 3, 9, 3, 10, 17, 20, (30 BFD), 8, 11, 1, 8, 2 (136 points)
49th – Thomas Cunich & Miles Davey (ASF/NSW) – 26, 12, 18, 14, 9, 12, 2, 17, 16, 20, 23, 25, 17, 20, (30 RET) (230 points)
49er – Bronze fleet – 15 races (one drop)
55th – Jack Ferguson & Jack Hildebrand (ASF/NSW) – (29 BFD), 12, 23, 13, 29 RET, 13, 18, 12, 14, 4, 14, 9, 4, 3, 1 (169 points)
Mixed 470 – Silver fleet – 11 races (one drop)
36th – Nia Jerwood & Conor Nicholas (ASS/WA) – 13, 27, 19, 3, (33 UFD), 1, 8, 11, 10, 2, 8 (102 points)
50th – Sophie Jackson & Angus Higgins (ASF/VIC & ASF/SA) – (31), 25, 13, 15, 30, 19, 16, 29, 20, 8, 10 (185 points)
Men’s Formula Kite – Silver fleet – 15 races (three drops)
44th – Scott Whitehead (ASS/QLD) – 21, (29 RET), 8, (24), 12, 14, 13, 12, (29 UFD), 9, 13, 15, 12, 13 (166 points)
Men’s Formula Kite – Bronze fleet – 15 races (three drops)
56th – Oscar Timm (ASF/QLD) – (23), 14, (19), 18, 17, 19, 17, (24), 18, 15, 13, 2, 3, 5, 3 (210 points)
Women’s iQFOiL – Silver fleet – 14 races (three drops)
63rd – Samantha Costin (ASS/QLD) – (36), 22, 24, 28, 31, (35), 27, 29, 23, 12, 24, (28), 20, 18 (258 points)
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