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2008
Olympics
Last Day: Andrew
Wins the Medal Race and finishes 5th overall
'Andrew Murdoch
(NZL) looks for the Committee Boat end of the start line with 12 sec to go
in the start of the 2008 Olympics Medal Race in the Laser.'
Richard Gladwell
Sail-World presents its coverage of the first medal race in
Qingdao involving New Zealand sailors.
Andrew Murdoch competed in
the Medal race for the Mens Laser, this afternoon in Qingdao. He had an
outside chance of a medal, however in spite of winning the race, he
finished 5th overall.
In this sequence, Murdoch started
at the Committee end of the line, then tacked for the seawall at Qingdao,
to escape the tide, initially he was buried, however when he came off the
wall he was ahead of most of the fleet, and picked up the remainder after
another couple of tacks.
The wind lightened as the fleet neared
the top mark, and Murdoch rounded with a good lead. Behind him the match
race between series leader Paul Goodison (SWE) and Rasmus Mygren (SWE) had
resulted in the Swede being sailed off the course and out of contention
for any medal.
In the end it was the Slovenian sailor Vasilij
Zbogar who took the Silver medal and Dieho Romero (ITA) the bronze. Andrew
Murdoch was in fifth place six points away from a medal.
Andrew Murdoch (NZL) setup with seconds
left before the start - 2008 Olympics Qingdao - Medal Race - Laser
- Richard Gladwell
Andrew Murdoch (NZL) lines up a start
under the committee boat - 2008 Olympics Qingdao - Medal Race - Laser
- Richard Gladwell
Andrew Murdoch (NZL) is just
visible to leeward of the pack - 2008 Olympics Qingdao - Medal Race
- Richard Gladwell
The fleet heads to the wall with Murdoch
buried - 2008 Olympics Qingdao - Medal Race - Laser - Richard Gladwell
The fleet heads to the wall to escape the
tide - 2008 Olympics Qingdao - Medal Race - Laser - Richard Gladwell
Paul Goodison (GBR) and Rasmus Myrgren
(SWE) indulge in a match race - 2008 Olympics Qingdao - Medal Race - Laser
- Richard
Gladwell
Vasilij Zbogar (SLO) eventual silver
medalist crosses ahead of the Gold medalist, Paul Goodison (GBR) ion the
first beat of the 2008 Olympics Qingdao - Medal Race - Laser
- Richard
Gladwell
Andrew Murdoch (NZL) struggles to cross
the rest of the fleet as breeze lightens - 2008 Olympics Qingdao - Medal
Race - Laser - Richard
Gladwell
Andrew Murdoch (NZL) roll tacks 100
metres short of the top mark - 2008 Olympics Qingdao - Medal Race - Laser
- Richard Gladwell
Andrew Murdoch (NZL) goes over the top of
Vasilij Zbogar (SLO) on the first geat of the 2008 Olympics Qingdao -
Medal Race - Laser - Richard Gladwell
Andrew Murdoch (NZL) clears the end of
the Olympic marina having taken the lead in the medal race - 2008 Olympics
Qingdao - Richard
Gladwell
Andrew Murdoch (NZL) heads for the
windward mark, having got on the edge of a new breeze out of the Olympic
marina- 2008 Olympics Qingdao - Medal Race - Laser - Richard Gladwell
Andrew Murdoch (NZL) is first around the wndward mark - 2008
Olympics Qingdao - Medal Race - Laser - Richard Gladwell
Link to Sail-World article
Date Released: 19th August 2008
From: Jodie
Bakewell-White
Today saw the conclusion of the Laser and Laser Radial
classes, race ten and the end of the opening series for the windsurfers
and no racing for the Star class.
New Zealand’s Standings Summary
3rd - Tom Ashley,
Men’s RS:X (after 10 races)
6th - Barbara Kendall, Women’s RS:X (after
10 races)
7th - Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams, Star (after 7
races)
5th - Andrew Murdoch, Laser (Final Result)
7th - Jo
Aleh, Laser Radial (Final Result)
11th - Carl Evans & Peter
Burling, Men’s 470 (Final result)
12th Dan Slater, Finn (Final result)
The stage is set for an almighty battle for the men’s windsurfing
medals at the 2008 Olympic Games with kiwi Tom Ashley right in the mix.
Just one point separates the top three in the men’s RS:X class - France’s
Julian Bontemps, Great Britain’s Nick Dempsey and New Zealand’s Tom Ashley
going into their medal race set to be sailed tomorrow off Qingdao.
Andrew Murdoch has finished 5th overall in the Laser class which
wrapped up today the gold medal secured by Great Britain’s Paul Goodison,
adding the third Olympic sailing gold for his nation at this Games.
Olympic debutante Murdoch won today’s Laser medal race in front of a
spectator packed break wall which lifted him up into the top five
finishers in the 40 strong fleet.
Jo Aleh has finished 7th overall
in the Laser Radial class after sailing their medal race today on course A
soon after the Lasers. Aleh’s medal race today was defined when she had to
return to the start line fearing she was over early, and never managed to
get back in the race, crossing the line in 9th place.
Barbara
Kendall moved from 7th overall up to 6th place on the women’s RS:X leader
board after race ten sailed today, and while the five time Olympian has
booked a spot in the medal race her chances of adding a fourth Olympic
medal to her collection of three has slipped away. The points gap for her
to now catch up with the leaders is too great to get to the podium
tomorrow.
Despite race eight getting started and more than half
way through, the lack of wind on course area E saw that race abandoned,
and no further racing for the Star class today.
MEN’S RS:X
The top ten to sail the medal race were decided today when race
ten was sailed for the Men’s RS:X fleet. Things have closed up at the top
of the standings and Tom Ashley’s three point leading margin after race
nine has disappeared after he finished towards the back of the fleet today
in very light conditions on course area B.
Ashley started well at
the pin end forcing the others to tack away however after choosing to stay
on the left the kiwi suffered dramatically when a 30 degree wind shift hit
the course.
The kiwi discards his result from today, while those
close on his tail in the standings both managed a decent finish in the
race sailed today. Julien Bontemps of France now has the overall lead on
45 points while Nick Dempsey GBR and Ashley are both on 46 points, so it
all comes down to tomorrows double-points medal race.
Neither
Bontemps, Ashley or Dempsey is far enough ahead of the fleet on points to
be assured of a medal just yet. Also in with a shot at a podium finish is
early competition leader, Shahar Zubari of Israel. Zubari posted a 4th
place in today’s race and is nine points back from Dempsey and Ashley, so
a top medal race for him, combined with a poor performance for one of the
leading trio could see him climb up.
Further back Ricardo Santos
on 65 points has 5th place ahead of the deciding race tomorrow which
leaves him an extreme outside chance to close the gap to the podium,
though it’s near on impossible.
The Men’s and Women’s RS:X races
will be sailed tomorrow with a scheduled start time of 1 o’clock local
time.
Men’s RS:X (provisional)
Top five standings going into
the medal race
1st FRA Julien Bontemps - 45 points
2nd GBR
Nick Dempsey - 46 points
3rd NZL Tom Ashley - 46 points
4th ISR
Shahar Zubari - 54 points
5th BRA Ricardo Santos - 65 points
WOMEN’S RS:X
The women’s RS:X fleet rounded out their ten
race series today with Barbara Kendall finishing 21st in the race. Today’s
race becomes her discard and she manages to leap frog Klepacka of Poland
into 6th place.
Despite advancing up the standings Kendall appears
to be out of range of the podium with a 22 point gap up to the 3rd placed
Shaw of GBR. Alessandra Sensini today relinquished the overall lead to
Jian Yin of China, who won today’s race, a master in the extreme light
conditions.
Women’s RS:X
Top six standings going into the
medal race
1st CHN Jian Yin - 33 points
2nd ITA Alessandra
Sensini - 38 points
3rd GBR Bryony Shaw - 41 points
4th AUS
Jessica Crisp - 46 points
5th ESP Marina Alabau - 46 points
6th
NZL Barbara Kendall - 63 points
STAR
Light winds out on course
area E where the Star class race caused delays, and eventually abandonment
of all racing for the day. The 16 boat fleet has only sailed seven races
so far and have only tomorrow remaining in the schedule to conclude the
planned ten race series before the medal race on Thursday.
If wind
doesn’t appear tomorrow the series may be shortened for the Star class,
though if time and breeze allow they will go for three races tomorrow.
Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams are lying 7th overall in the fleet at
this stage with a five point gap up to third placed sailors Rohart and
Rambeau of France. Despite the close points on the board the talent pool
in this, the oldest Olympic sailing class, is phenomenal and the kiwi boys
have got a challenge on their hands to finish strongly.
Star
(provisional) top seven after 7 races
1st SWE Fredrik Loof &
Anders Ekstrom - 23 points
2nd GBR Iain Percy & Andrew Simpson -
26 points
3rd FRA Xavier Rohart & Pascal Rambeau - 32 points
4th POL Mateusz Kusznierewicz & Dominik Zycki - 33 points
5th
GER Marc Pickel & Ingo Borkowski - 36 points
6th POR Afonso
Domingos & Bernardo Santos - 37 points
7th NZL Hamish Pepper &
Carl Williams - 38 points
LASER
Andrew Murdoch performed best
at the very start and the very end of the regatta, rounding out his first
Olympic Games with a win in the medal race sailed today after also winning
race nine yesterday afternoon.
In the extreme light winds Murdoch took the early lead in
today’s medal race which got underway just after one o’clock off Qingdao.
While GBR’s Paul Goodison was intent on doing what was required to secure
gold – simply beat Rasmus Myrgren of Sweden to the finish line – Murdoch
led the fleet around the course with only Vasilij Zbogar of Slovenia in
touch.
Goodison won gold, Zbogar lifted to take silver for
Slovenia, and Diego Romero of Italy benefitted from the misfortune of
Myrgren to take bronze.
A few average results during the middle of
the regatta was Murdoch’s undoing, and given his standing in 12th place
going into the penultimate day of racing he did well to recover from there
and score a top five placing.
Laser top five final results
GOLD GBR Paul
Goodison
SILVER SLO Vasilij Zbogar
BRONZE ITA Diego Romero
4th
POR Gustavo Lima
5th NZL Andrew Murdoch
LASER RADIAL
The Laser Radial medal deciding race followed the Laser race of
course A.
Jo Aleh’s hopes of a podium finish were dashed yesterday
when she slipped out of contention after races 7, 8 & 9 were sailed.
The 22 year old Aucklander was 9th in the medal race today which was won
by Gintare Volungeviciute of Lithuania.
Aleh’s final result for
the 2008 Olympic Games a 7th place. USA’s Anna Tunnicliffe claimed the
gold medal, silver went Gintare Volungeviciute LTU and bronze to China’s
Lijia Xu.
Laser Radial top seven final results
GOLD USA
Anna Tunnicliffe
SILVER LTU Gintare Volungeviciute
BRONZE CHN
Lijia Xu
4th AUS Sarah Blanck
5th FRA Sarah Steyaert
6th SUI
Nathalie Brugger
7th NZL Jo Aleh
Day 6
Three races and a Win gets Andrew back into the medal race
tomorrow.
Date Released: 18th August 2008
From: Jodie Bakewell-White
Adding three races in one day was
always going to make some impressions on the overall standings at the
Olympic Sailing Regatta in Qingdao, China. With sufficient breeze, albeit
fading through the day, the Laser, Radial and Star and fleets all sailed
three races today and things have changed on the leader boards.
The top ten to sail in the medal race has now been decided for the
Laser and Radial classes and these will be sailed tomorrow.
New
Zealand’s Standings Summary
1st - Tom Ashley, Men’s RS:X (after 9
races)
6th - Andrew Murdoch, Laser (after 9 races)
7th - Jo Aleh,
Laser Radial (after 9 races)
7th - Barbara Kendall, Women’s RS:X
(after 9 races)
7th - Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams, Star (after 7
races)
12th Dan Slater, Finn (Final result)
11th - Carl Evans
& Peter Burling, Men’s 470 (Final result)
The RS:X fleets both
added two races today, have now completed nine and will be back on the
water for race ten tomorrow ahead of their medal races on Wednesday.
Tom Ashley continues to lead the Men’s RS:X class though Nick
Dempsey of Great Britain has gained some ground on the kiwi after today’s
two races. Ashley returned two more consistent races, finishing 6th and
then 8th. Race ten was abandoned late in the afternoon due to a dying
breeze and has been rescheduled for tomorrow. Ashley leads on 38 points
with Dempsey close behind on 41, while Julien Bontemps of France is third
with 42 points.
Barbara Kendall was 6th in race eight and then
13th in race nine today which sees her slip slightly to 7th overall. One
race remains before the top ten medal race participants are decided in the
Women’s RS:X class.
Jo Aleh sits in 7th place overall going into
the Laser Radial medal race. After two 14th places and a 20th in today’s
three races her medal chances have slipped away. With a 28 point gap
between her and Lijia Xu who holds 3rd overall Aleh won’t be able to make
up the ground to hit the podium with only the medal race to sail.
Over in the Laser class Andrew Murdoch had some work to do today
to move from 12th place up into contention for the medal race. The 26 year
old from Kerikeri, Northland has managed that with ease climbing his way
back up to sit in 6th overall at the end of what was a nine race opening
series for the Lasers. Murdoch was 5th in race seven, 17th in race eight
and closed the day with a win in race nine.
After seven races for
the Star class the points remain close. Starting the day with a convincing
win in race five, Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams then went on to post a
12th and an 11th in races six and seven. They now sit in 7th place on the
leader board, on equal points with Robert Scheidt of Brazil in 8th place.
MEN’S RS:X
While the intention was for three RS:X races
today only two were possible. The fleets are required to return ashore
after two consecutive races in order to recuperate. However in the dying
breeze in Qingdao today this meant that by the time the windsurfers went
back out for race ten the wind had evaporated.
Tom Ashley was 6th
in his first race of the day, and then 8th. His previous poorest race had
been a 7th place early on in the series, so race nine now becomes his
discard and he has a points total of 38. His five point buffer over second
place has dropped to three points, with GBR’s Nick Dempsey moving up and
ousting Julien Bontemps of France for second place. The Frenchman has
third and is just one point adrift of Dempsey.
With race ten
rescheduled for tomorrow the 35 strong fleet will be back on the water on
what was originally planned as a rest day. By tomorrow afternoon in
Qingdao the overall standings ahead of the Men’s RS:X medal race will be
decided.
Men’s RS:X medal race is planned for Wednesday 20th on
course area A off Qingdao.
Men’s RS:X (provisional) top results
after races
1st NZL Tom Ashley - 38 points
2nd GBR Nick
Dempsey - 41 points
3rd FRA Julien Bontemps - 42 points
4th ISR
Shahar Zubari - 51 points
5th BRA Ricardo Santos - 52 points
WOMEN’S RS:X
As with the men’s fleet the Women’s RS:X
sailed two races today, one short of the planned three, leaving race ten
to be sailed tomorrow before Wednesday’s medal race.
Barbara
Kendall was 6th in race eight and then 13th in race nine, which becomes
her discard score. Today’s results saw her slip from 5th overall back to
7th place in the overall standings. She has 50 points just one shy of
Polish sailor Klepacka ahead of her in 5th place.
Reigning world
champ, Alessandra Sensini has taken the lead today pushing local Chinese
girl Jian Yin back into second place.
Women’s RS:X (provisional)
top results after races
1st ITA Alessandra Sensini - 30 points
2nd CHN Jian Yin - 32 points
3rd ESP Marina Alabau - 37 points
4th GBR Bryony Shaw - 39 points
5th AUS Jessica Crisp - 41 points
6th POL Zofia Klepacka - 49 points
7th NZL Barbara Kendall - 50
points
STAR
Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams made a great
start today winning their opening race of the day in flying form. Opening
up a sizable gap on the fleet in the second beat, the pair was 43 seconds
ahead going around mark three and romped home over a minute clear to take
the win.
Races six and seven weren’t as fruitful for the kiwi pair
who was 12th and then 11th in those races respectively. Mixed results for
many Star crews today, Pepper and Williams included, meant that overall
standings shuffled continuously. At the conclusion of the day the kiwis
have 38 points and 7th place; Robert Scheidt also has 38 points in 8th
place.
The points are still close ahead of Pepper and Williams and
another three races are yet to be sailed before the top ten are decided,
which means there may be more shuffling on the leader board.
Fredrick Loof of Sweden currently holds the lead. The Star medal
race is Thursday 21st August.
Star (provisional) top seven after 7
races
1st SWE Fredrik Loof & Anders Ekstrom - 23 points
2nd GBR Iain Percy & Andrew Simpson - 26 points
3rd FRA Xavier
Rohart & Pascal Rambeau - 32 points
4th POL Mateusz Kusznierewicz
& Dominik Zycki - 33 points
5th GER Marc Pickel & Ingo
Borkowski - 36 points
6th POR Afonso Domingos & Bernardo Santos -
37 points
7th NZL Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams - 38 points
LASER RADIAL
Today didn’t go the way of New Zealand’s Jo
Aleh on the Laser Radial course who slipped from 3rd overall to 7th place
after races 7, 8 and 9 sailed today off Qingdao.
Aleh, competing
at her first Olympic Games, will line up with the top ten tomorrow for the
Laser Radial medal race, but the points difference that opened up today
means that she is not in a position to make a challenge for the podium.
Anna Tunnicliffe of the USA will start the medal race as the
favourite for the gold medal, with a seven point leading margin over
Volungeviciute LTU in second place.
The Laser Radial Medal race is
scheduled to start at 1pm tomorrow.
Laser Radial (provisional) top
seven after 9 races
1st USA Anna Tunnicliffe - 33 points
2nd
LTU Gintare Volungeviciute - 40 points
3rd CHN Lijia Xu - 44 points
4th AUS Sarah Blanck - 54 points
5th FRA Sarah Steyaert - 61
points
6th BEL Evi Van Acker - 71 points
7th NZL Jo Aleh - 72
points
LASER
Andrew Murdoch made the most gains today of
all the New Zealanders still in action. Leaving the boat park this morning
Murdoch was in 12th place and needed to lift his game and return some top
results to make the medal race cut for tomorrow.
In race seven
Murdoch stayed in the leading pack throughout the race and crossed the
finish line in 5th place. He couldn’t repeat this in race eight, and
rounded mark one mid fleet in 20th place, then managing to come back to
cross in 17th.
In race nine the kiwi took the lead early on, and
despite the group just behind in hot pursuit Murdoch held on to take his
first race win of the Olympic regatta and further improve his overall
position.
The Laser Medal race will be sailed tomorrow on course
A.
Laser top five (provisional) after 6 races
1st GBR Paul
Goodison - 45 points
2nd SWE Rasmus Myrgren - 63 points
3rd POR
Gustavo Lima - 65 points
4th SLO Vasilij Zbogar - 67 points
5th
ITA Diego Romero - 69 points
6th NZL Andrew Murdoch - 79 points
Day 5 Wind at last, but only 1 race
sailed!
Date Released: 17th August 2008
From: Jodie Bakewell-White
It’s been an action packed day at
the Olympic Sailing venue, Qingdao, China, on day ten of the regatta.
Strong winds and heavy rain, medals decided in three classes, delays and
further postponements.
New Zealanders in action included windsurfers Tom Ashley and Barbara
Kendall sailing two races each; Andrew Murdoch; Jo Aleh and Star crew
Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams all sailing one race a piece. The day has
had its ups and downs for the kiwi team.
New Zealand’s Standings
Summary
1st - Tom Ashley, Men’s RS:X (after 7 races)
3rd - Jo
Aleh, Laser Radial (after 6 races)
5th - Barbara Kendall, Women’s RS:X
(after 7 races)
6th - Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams, Star (after 4
races)
12th - Andrew Murdoch, Laser (after 6 races)
12th Dan
Slater, Finn (Final result)
11th - Carl Evans & Peter Burling,
Men’s 470 (Final result)
Tom Ashley has moved up into the lead
spot in the Men’s RS:X fleet who have now sailed seven races. After a 5th
and a 3rd in racing today the kiwi has ousted Shahar Zubari of Israel from
the top of the leader board, and now has a five point buffer over Julien
Bontemps FRA in second place.
Barbara Kendall relished the
blustery and choppy conditions and came away with two more solid results
to add to her scorecard. After a 4th and a 3rd in races six and seven
sailed today the veteran Olympian has moved up from 6th overall into 5th
place four points back from 4th.
Jo Aleh slipped out of the lead
in the Laser Radials after a 14th place in the one race sailed today. She
now has 3rd place overall just one point behind Anna Tunnicliffe USA in
second.
The Star class has now completed four races, adding just
one today, conditions on course area E reportedly rugged. Kiwi crew Hamish
Pepper and Carl Williams were 11th in today’s race which means they now
sit in 6th place overall in the 16 boat fleet on equal points with USA in
5th.
MEN’S RS:X
Today’s wet and windy conditions provided
an exciting prospect for Tom Ashley who often demonstrates the advantage
of performing well regardless of the conditions. So while the Auckland
based windsurfer, who is competing at his second Olympic Games, has been
consistent in the extreme light of Qingdao so far, he can also produce
results on windy days. And that’s what Qingdao provided today – 15-20
knots of south westerly winds with swelly, choppy sea conditions.
“The racing is extremely tight and everyone is sailing at a very
high level,” said Ashley yesterday. “Events like this generally are won
and lost on attrition as guys make mistakes and take themselves out of the
running, so consistency will definitely be the key as the regatta goes on
and we race in different conditions.”
Underway on schedule today
the Men’s RS:X started first on course area B at around midday, organizers
hoping to fit in three races to catch up on the programme. At mark one
Ashley was buried in the fleet rounding in 17th place, dropping back to
27th at one point. But, as he did in race five, Ashley staged a comeback,
up to 5th, and gaining another place on the final run to the line,
finishing 4th.
In race seven which followed Ashley didn’t lose
sight of the leaders, rounding each mark within the top five, and again
passing sailors as the race progressed to record a 3rd place. As some of
his counterparts fell by the wayside unable to bring home the results in
the strong winds Ashley moved up the leader board to take the top spot
after seven races.
Ashley will compete again tomorrow.
Men’s RS:X (provisional) top five results after 7 races
1st NZL Tom Ashley - 25 points
2nd FRA Julien Bontemps - 30
points
3rd ISR Shahar Zubari - 31 points
4th GBR Nick Dempsey 11 -
33 points
5th HKG King Yin Chan - 40 points
WOMEN’S RS:X
Barbara Kendall was strong in the breeze today as well, continuing
her climb up the standings in the women’s RS:X improving from 6th to 5th
overall after today’s racing. Kendall, like Ashley is showing consistent
results finishing within the top four in her most recent four races, her
worst result so far coming in her first race of the regatta.
Points are close around her, Kendall is four adrift of Marina
Alabau ESP in 4th and three points ahead of Bryony Shaw GBR. China’s Jian
Lin of Qingdao is China’s biggest hope for a sailing medal continuing to
lead the Women’s RS:X ahead of three time Olympic medalist Alessandra
Sensini of Italy.
Both RS:X medal races are scheduled for
Wednesday 20th so there is time in the schedule to complete the ten race
series to decide the top ten. They will be back on the water again
tomorrow.
Women’s RS:X top six results after races
1st CHN
Jian Yin - 16 points
2nd ITA Alessandra Sensini - 23 points
3rd
AUS Jessica Crisp - 26 points
4th ESP Marina Alabau - 28 points
5th NZL Barbara Kendall - 32 points
STAR
The Star
fleet had a long day on the water, despite this they only managed to sail
one race, and have now completed four. Set for an early start to racing at
midday the sailors on course area E (Star and Tornado) found their racing
held up while the Committee boat recovered from a potential sinking.
Finally underway at 3:40pm in the afternoon, Hamish Pepper and
Carl Williams returned their poorest race yet, coming home in 11th and
slipping back to 6th place overall in a day which saw much shuffling of
positions on the leader board.
Points remain tight at the top and
the kiwis are only five points behind the Polish pair who have taken the
lead today. The last class to get underway at the Games regatta, the Stars
will see plenty more water under the bridge before the medal race next
Thursday.
Star top six (provisional) after 4 races
1st POL
Mateusz Kusznierewicz & Dominik Zycki - 21 points
2nd FRA Xavier
Rohart & Pascal Rambeau - 22 points
3rd SWE Fredrik Loof &
Anders Ekstrom - 23 points
4th GER Marc Pickel & Ingo Borkowski -
25 points
5th USA John Dane & Austin Sperry - 26 points
6th
NZL Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams - 26 points
LASER RADIAL
Just one race was sailed for the Laser Radial fleet in today’s
conditions which were at the other end of the extreme to what’s been seen
during the opening week of the Olympic sailing event.
Jo Aleh
wasn’t able to continue her streak of 2nd places finishing 14th in today’s
race. After today Aleh lies 3rd overall just one point behind Anna
Tunnicliffe of the USA.
The Laser Radials will be back on the
water tomorrow.
Laser Radial top five (provisional) after 6 races
1st LTU Gintare Volungeviciute - 17 points
2nd USA Anna
Tunnicliffe - 23 points
3rd NZL Jo Aleh - 24 points
4th CHN Lijia
Xu - 26 points
5th FRA Sarah Steyaert - 37 points
LASER
Back in form after suffering at the mercy of Qingdao’s light and
shifty wind over recent races, Andrew Murdoch finished 5th in his only
race of the day – race six for the 43 strong Laser fleet. The improved
result improves his overall standing in the fleet and the 26 year old
gains one place to 12th overall.
Murdoch was disappointed that
just one race was sailed today, three were scheduled but course officials
struggled with sea conditions and had difficulty setting courses and
getting the fleet started.
Laser top five (provisional) after 6
races
1st GBR Paul Goodison - 34 points
2nd SLO Vasilij Zbogar
- 37 points
3rd ARG Julio Alsogaray - 38 points
4th FRA Jean
Baptiste Bernaz - 38 points
5th SWE Rasmus Myrgren - 38 points
12th NZL Andrew Murdoch - 56 points
Day 4 Some
wind would be nice
Date Released: 16th August 2008
From: Jodie Bakewell-White
New Zealand sailors in four
classes were on the water off Qingdao today returning some solid results
despite the extremely light air conditions.
New Zealand sailors in four classes were on the water off Qingdao today
returning some solid results despite the extremely light air conditions.
Just one race was sailed in the Laser Radial’s, Jo Aleh continuing
with her great form from yesterday returning another 2nd place in today’s
race. Now at the halfway point, the Laser Radial sailors discard their
worst score, working in favour of Aleh who moves up into the lead spot.
Star class sailors Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams sailed two
races today adding a 9th and a 2nd to their scorecard which improves their
overall standing. The pair lie 2nd overall in the fleet of 16 boats, now
three races into their ten race opening series.
It was young 470
skipper, Carl Evans, birthday today and the day produced a mixed bag for
the boys who got a win on the water in race nine, only to later miss out
on the top ten medal race cut. At the conclusion of race ten the boys
finished an agonizingly narrow two points off the crew ahead of them who
scraped into the medal race.
Wind was light and shifty across all
five courses today and racing was long and slow. On course A the Finn
class sailed into the last leg of their medal race only to see the race
abandoned as the wind dropped away to nothing and the tidal current of
Qingdao meant sailors were all but going backwards.
Tom Ashley and
Barbara Kendall didn’t sail today.
New Zealand’s Standings Summary
1st - Jo Aleh, Laser Radial (after 5 races)
2nd - Hamish
Pepper & Carl Williams, Star (after 3 races)
4th - Tom Ashley,
Men’s RS:X (after 5 races)
6th - Barbara Kendall, Women’s RS:X (after
5 races)
11th - Carl Evans & Peter Burling, Men’s 470 (after 10
races)
13th - Andrew Murdoch, Laser (after 5 races)
12th Dan
Slater, Finn (Final result)
STAR
It was day two for the
Star class who endured two long races today both around 80 minutes in
length the wind strength marginal in both.
In race two of the
series the kiwi sailors, Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams were 9th to
finish, bouncing back with a 2nd place in the second race of the day. Now
three races into the ten race series, Pepper and Williams lie in 2nd
place.
John Dane of the USA move into the lead today just two
points clear of the New Zealand crew just behind. Overnight leader
Fredrick Loof (SWE) didn’t fare so well on the water today and has slipped
to 7th overall after a 4th and a 15th. Afonso Domingo
Star top
five (provisional) after 3 races
1st USA John Dane & Austin
Sperry - 14 points
2nd NZL Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams - 15
points
3rd POR Afonso Domingos & Bernardo Santos - 16 points
4th GER Marc Pickel & Ingo Borkowski - 17 points
5th FRA
Xavier Rohart & Pascal Rambeau - 18 points
LASER RADIAL
Jo Aleh racked up another top result in Laser Radial race five. In
the very light wind conditions in Qingdao just one race was completed
despite best efforts to get race six underway and concluded it never
eventuated.
In a race that played out for the kiwi in similar
fashion to yesterday’s race four, Aleh was 7th around mark one, but gained
ground as the race progressed to finish 2nd. After this race the discard
came into play for the Radial sailors, and Aleh, now able to drop the 22nd
from race one, climbs up to lead the Laser Radials at the halfway point in
their opening series.
Aleh has 10 points with Lithuanian sailor,
Volungeviciute, who won today’s race, close behind in the overall
standings on 13 points. Overnight leader Anna Tunnicliffe of the USA
remains consistent returning a 6th place in today’s race, but has slipped
to third place overall with the introduction of the discard lifting Aleh
and Volungeviciute.
Laser Radial top five (provisional) after 5
races
1st NZL Jo Aleh - 10 points
2nd LTU Gintare
Volungeviciute - 13 points
3rd USA Anna Tunnicliffe - 20 points
4th CHN Lijia Xu - 24 points
5th CRO Mateja Petronijevic - 26
points
LASER
Following on the same course area as the
Radial’s Andrew Murdoch wasn’t able to emulate his team-mate Aleh’s
performance. A 24th place in race five for the Lasers puts Murdoch in 13th
place overall with some work to do in the remaining half of the opening
series to climb the standings.
Laser top five (provisional) after
races
1st ITA Diego Romero - 24 points
2nd SWE Rasmus Myrgren
- 25 points
3rd SLO Vasilij Zbogar - 26 points
4th GBR Paul
Goodison - 27 points
5th FRA Jean Baptiste Bernaz - 28 points
13th NZL Andrew Murdoch - 51 points
MEN’S 470
Carl
Evans and Peter Burling have narrowly missed out on the Men’s 470 medal
race finishing in 11th overall just two points behind the Japanese crew in
10th place. In an action packed day for New Zealand’s youngest ever
Olympic sailors, the boys sailed three races even winning one of them.
The race win for the kiwi boys came in race nine of the series for
the men’s 470 and will serve as somewhat of a consolation birthday present
for skipper Evans, who turns 18 today, despite missing out on the top ten
medal race cut.
In their other two races sailed today the boys
were 12th and 7th – their final result for the Games will be 11th place –
impressive for their age and the experience and talent of the 28 boat
fleet they compete in.
The top ten placed sailors will sail their
medal race on Monday 18th. Australians Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page
appear to have an unassailable leading margin on their nearest competitors
– with a 22 point buffer the gold medal is almost assured.
Men’s
470 (provisional) top five after 10 races
1st AUS Nathan Wilmot
& Malcolm Page - 42 points
2nd NED Sven Coster & Kalle Coster
- 64 points
3rd FRA Nicolas Charbonnier & Olivier Bausset - 66
points
4th GBR Nick Rogers & Joe Glanfield - 69 points
5th ESP
Onan Barreiros & Aaron Sarmiento - 79 points
11th NZL Carl
Evans & Peter Burling - 95 points
MEN’S RS:X
No races
were sailed today in the Men’s RS:X. Sharing course area B with the 49er
class the windsurfers were scheduled to start at 2pm, however the 49er
races dragged on and the boards didn’t get started.
Tomorrow’s
schedule has three races planned for the Men’s RS:X with a midday start to
competition.
Men’s RS:X (provisional) top five results after five
races
1st ISR Shahar Zubari - 8 points
2nd HKG King Yin Chan -
14 points
3rd GBR Nick Dempsey - 15 points
4th NZL Tom Ashley - 17
points
5th FRA Julien Bontemps - 20 points
WOMEN’S RS:X
No races were sailed today in the Women’s RS:X. Sharing course
area B with the 49er class the windsurfers were scheduled to start at 2pm,
however the 49er races dragged on and the boards didn’t get started.
Tomorrow’s schedule has three races planned for the Women’s RS:X
with a midday start to competition.
Women’s RS:X top six
results after five races
1st CHN Jian Yin - 6 points
2nd AUS
Jessica Crisp - 10 points
3rd ESP Marina Alabau - 15 points
4th
ITA Alessandra Sensini - 16 points
5th GBR Bryony Shaw - 24 points
6th NZL Barbara Kendall - 25 points
Day 3
Another Hard Day at the Office
Date Released: 15th August 2008
From: Jodie Bakewell-White
Late start and just one race for
all
Today all New Zealand’s yachties sailed just one race in Qingdao,
China, late in the day after waiting for wind until around 4pm.
Our two women impressed - both Barbara Kendall and Jo Aleh
returning a 2nd place in their respective races. Hamish Pepper and Carl
Williams returned a 4th place in the opening race of the Star class and
Tom Ashley made a huge comeback in his race five, after sitting deep in
the Men’s RS:X fleet, he climbed through to finish 5th.
Things
didn’t go the way of Dan Slater, finishing 6th in his race but it seems,
failing to make the cut for the medal race tomorrow. At the close of
racing Slater was lying provisionally in 12th place overall, though at the
time of writing protests were pending which may affect the kiwi’s result.
It’s doubtful however that it would put him in the top ten, which means
it’s all but certain that his Olympic Games has come to a close.
New Zealand’s Standings Summary
4th – Hamish Pepper &
Carl Williams, Star (after 1 race)
4th - Tom Ashley, Men’s RS:X (after
5 races)
4th – Jo Aleh, Laser Radial (after 4 races)
6th – Barbara
Kendall, Women’s RS:X (after 5 races)
12th – Dan Slater, Finn (after
eight races)
13th – Carl Evans & Peter Burling, Men’s 470 (after 7
races)
15th – Andrew Murdoch, Laser (after 4 races)
With an
early start to racing planned for some classes, extra races in the
schedule and a forecast which talked of northerly winds it was all action
at the Qingdao sailing venue this morning. Sailors left the boat park and
hit the race track suitably amped to get on with racing after yesterday’s
delays and cancellations. However the midday and one o’clock scheduled
start times came and went and the wind, once again, failed to show.
During the day the weather watchers observed as much wind as 15
-18 knots on the islands in the outer Fushan Bay, and sloppy sea
conditions on the course areas spoke of breeze somewhere nearby. However
close to shore in Qingdao was a different story with a light offshore
breeze seemingly keeping the wind hitting the outer islands at bay, and
most sailors were sent ashore to wait.
Once racing got underway
the breeze maxed at around 10-12 knots at times, but sailors reported that
the two conflicting breezes were fighting each other and there were big
shifts on most courses resulting in some big position changes during
racing.
STAR
Star sailors Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams
are now underway with the first race of the 2008 Olympic Games for them
kicking off at 4:20pm on course A with a reported 8-9 knots of wind.
In the small but star-studded sixteen boat fleet, the kiwis got
away to a good start and remained in touch with the leading group for the
entire race. They finished 4th, Fredrick Loof of Sweden taking the win in
the first race of the series.
Speaking ahead of today’s race
Williams said, “I am starting to see what really makes this the Olympic
Games. This is competition at its ruthless best. Goals are destroyed,
ambitions are pressured and resolve is tested.”
They race again
tomorrow starting at midday.
Star top five (provisional after one
race)
1st SWE Fredrik Loof & Anders Ekstrom (1)
2nd GER
Marc Pickel & Ingo Borkowski (2)
3rd POR Afonso Domingos &
Bernardo Santos (3)
4th NZL Hamish Pepper & Carl Williams (4)
5th POL Mateusz Kusznierewicz & Dominik Zycki (5)
LASER
RADIAL
Jo Aleh was a standout amongst the kiwis today in race four
for the Laser Radials. Rounding mark one in 7th place she continued to
climb through those in front of her and take 2nd place behind Gintare
Volungeviciute of Lithuania.
Today’s performance sees Aleh move up
the leader board to now sit in 4th place overall despite still carrying a
22 from her first race. Anna Tunnicliffe of the USA retains the lead.
An early start at midday is on the schedule for the Laser Radials
tomorrow, organizers looking to make up lost races will run three races
for the Radials if possible.
Laser Radial top five (provisional)
results after four races
1st USA Anna Tunnicliffe - 20 points
2nd LTU Gintare Volungeviciute - 25 points
3rd CRO Mateja
Petronijevic - 26 points
4th NZL Jo Aleh - 30 points
5th FRA Sarah
Steyaert - 36 points
LASER
In the largest fleet of the
Olympic sailing events, Andrew Murdoch came home mid fleet in their fourth
race of the series. A 20th today puts Murdoch in 15th overall.
As
with the Radials’ an early start at midday is on the schedule for the
Lasers tomorrow, organizers looking to make up lost races will run three
races if possible.
Laser top five (provisional) results after four
races
1st GBR Paul Goodison - 33 points
2nd SWE Rasmus Myrgren
- 33 points
3rd RUS Igor Lisovenko - 37 points
4th FRA Jean
Baptiste Bernaz - 41 points
5th POR Gustavo Lima - 43 points
15th NZL Andrew Murdoch - 67 points
FINN
Just
prior to 4pm the Finn fleet waiting patiently on course area E got started
in race eight – an opportunity for those hovering around 10th place to
move up and make the cut to sail in tomorrow’s Finn medal race. For New
Zealand’s Dan Slater lying 12th overall, this was a last chance race to
close the gap and preclude his regatta coming to an end today.
Unfortunately a 6th place finish in today’s race for Slater failed
to improve his overall standing, undone by his results from earlier races
and the performance of some others close to him on the leader board in
today’s race. He provisionally retains 12th place.
Ben Ainslie was
once again in fine form, and now has an eleven point leading margin over
Zach Railey of the USA putting him in a good position to collect the Finn
Gold medal expected of him from the outset.
Finn (provisional) top
five results after eight races
1st GBR Ben Ainslie - 21 points
2nd USA Zach Railey - 33 points
3rd SWE Daniel Birgmark - 44
points
4th FRA Guillaume Florent - 50 points
5th CAN Christopher
Cook - 51 points
12th NZL Dan Slater - 76 points
MEN’S
RS:X
Underway at 5:30pm local time the Men’s RS:X race five was
sailed in winds of around 10 knots on course area B. It was a “topsy
turvy” race, kiwi Tom Ashley rounding the first mark in 14th place,
dropping as deep as 27th at the third mark only to stage an impressive
comeback and finish the race in 5th place.
Points are relatively
close around Ashley on 17 points, he’s only two points behind third place
and three points off second. Shahar Zubari of Israel retains the lead
after race five for the fleet.
Back on the water tomorrow the
men’s RS:X are scheduled to start at 2pm on course area B with three races
planned if time and conditions allow.
Men’s RS:X (provisional) top
five results after five races
1st ISR Shahar Zubari - 8 points
2nd HKG King Yin Chan - 14 points
3rd GBR Nick Dempsey - 15 points
4th NZL Tom Ashley - 17 points
5th FRA Julien Bontemps - 20 points
WOMEN’S RS:X
With her best race yet at this Olympic Games,
Barbara Kendall still sits in 6th overall but has closed the gap up on
those ahead of her. Thailand’s Napalai Tansai struck out an early lead,
but couldn’t hold on, Jessica Crisp (AUS) and Kendall passing her to take
the top two spots in race five for the Women’s RS:X. At the finish Kendall
was just 14 second behind the Australian.
With 25 points total,
just one behind Bryony Shaw (GBR) Kendall will be back on the water
tomorrow aiming to continue her form from today. Racing doesn’t start
until 2pm for the windsurfers, who have to wait for the 49er class to sail
on course area B before them, but if possible they will have three races.
Women’s RS:X (provisional) top six results after four races
1st CHN Jian Yin - 6 points
2nd AUS Jessica Crisp - 10 points
3rd ESP Marina Alabau - 15 points
4th ITA Alessandra Sensini - 16
points
5th GBR Bryony Shaw - 24 points
6th NZL Barbara Kendall -
25 points
MEN’S 470
Carl Evans and Peter Burling were back
in action in the Men’s 470 class after a rest day yesterday, for them
today’s race was race seven in their opening series. Unfortunately for the
young up and comers, both just 17 years old, they finished 22nd today
which saw them slip three places down the leader board.
They now
lie 13th overall in the fleet of 27 boats. Racing continues for them
tomorrow where they will be aiming to regain their standing in the top ten
ahead of the Men’s 470 medal race which is scheduled to take place on
Monday 18th.
Men’s 470 (provisional) top five results after seven
races
1st AUS Nathan Wilmot & Malcolm Page - 22 points
2nd
FRA Nicolas Charbonnier & Olivier Bausset - 27 points
3rd POR
Ãlvaro Marinho & Miguel Nunes - 43 points
4th GBR Nick Rogers
& Joe Glanfield - 44 points
5th ITA Gabrio Zandona & Andrea
Trani - 49 points
13th NZL Carl Evans & Peter Burling - 75
points
[ Olympic Results ]
Day 2
"Nobody said it was going to be easy!"
Andrew drops
to 13th after the race today ©© Clive Mason/Getty Images
Date Released: 13th August 2008
From: Jodie Bakewell-White
Very light winds challenge
sailors
Light winds meant delays, some cancelled racing and tough conditions
for the kiwis in action at the Olympic sailing regatta today. Men’s 470
sailed two races, while the lack of breeze dictated that the Finns,
Radials and Lasers only managed one race apiece.
In the overall
placings Tom Ashley stands as the best placed kiwi lying third overall in
the men’s windsurfing. Both Ashley and Kendall enjoyed a rest day today
and were probably pleased to sit out what appears to be one of the more
challenging days, conditions wise, of the regatta so far.
A
highlight today was a second place for Jo Aleh in the Laser Radial which
saw her climb up the standings from 11th place to 7th. However, now only
three races in, there’s a long way to go for both Aleh and Murdoch who
lost his lead in the Lasers after a disappointing race today.
The
Laser sailor is philosophical at the end of the day well aware that some
other top contenders also came up against the roll of the dice that
Qingdao’s light winds present. He now lies 13th overall and along with
Aleh in the Radial’s will be back on the water tomorrow.
Evans and
Burling sailed two races today, and now sit in 10th place in the Men’s
470, while Dan Slater is in 13th on the leader board after one race today
for the Finns.
LASER RADIAL
The sea breeze took longer to
satisfy officials on course area C where the Lasers were racing today on
day two of their regatta. They only managed one race and have now
completed three.
Jo Aleh was the best performer of the kiwi team
today trailing Great Britain’s Penny Clark around the course just a few
second behind the Brit who had the lead for the entire race. Aleh came
home in 2nd place which sees her take a climb up the leader board from
11th overall into 7th overall.
Anna Tunnicliffe of the USA
continues to lead the standings in the 28 strong Radial fleet showing
consistency pays off. She was 6th in today’s race and leads with 15 points
in total from Petronijevic in second seven points adrift.
The
Radial fleet will be back on the water for more racing tomorrow.
Laser Radial
Top seven (provisional) results after three races
1st USA Anna Tunnicliffe - 15 points (4, 5, 6)
2nd CRO Mateja
Petronijevic - 22 points (8, 9, 5)
3rd LTU Gintare Volungeviciute - 24
points (3, 13, 8)
4th AUS Sarah Blanck - 24 points (6, 11, 7)
5th
GBR Penny Clark - 25 points (2, 22, 1)
6th BEL Evi Van Acker - 27
points (1, 10, 16)
7th NZL Jo Aleh - 28 points (22, 4, 2)
LASER
Andrew Murdoch wasn’t able to repeat the form of his
opening day yesterday and has slipped from the leading spot after a
finishing towards the back of the fleet in race three sailed today. He now
lies 13th overall in the standings - Diego Romero of Italy taking over the
lead.
With just three races now on the board the Laser fleet has a
long way to go. They’re back on the water tomorrow for another two races.
Laser
Top five (provisional) results after three races
1st ITA Diego Romero - 14 points (6, 3, 5)
2nd POR Gustavo
Lima - 16 points (5, 8, 3)
3rd ARG Julio Alsogaray - 23 points (1, 12,
10)
4th RUS Igor Lisovenko - 29 points (11, 14, 4)
5th SWE Rasmus
Myrgren - 31 points (7, 16, 8)
13th NZL Andrew Murdoch - 47 points
(2, 5, 40)
MEN'S 470
Race officials made one general
recall in getting the Men’ 470 fleet underway in the first race of the
day, and unfortunately the kiwis found themselves one of four boats black
flagged in the race start proper. This effectively put them out of the
running in this race, the fifth in their series, an incident which the
young pair will clock up to experience.
They proved their fighting
spirit in their second race of the day - the 17 year olds were deep in the
fleet up the first leg rounding mark one in 24th place. They went one to
recover from there climbing up to a 10th place finish in the race which
was sailed in a very light five to six knots of wind.
The fleet
has now completed six races in their ten races series to decide who
proceed s into the medal race. After today’s performance Evans and Burling
are now lying in 10th place overall, but will be aiming to maintain
consistent results after their hiccup in race five early this afternoon.
Reigning world champs and hot favourites in the class Nathan
Wilmot and Malcolm Page of Australia retain their lead placing 3rd and 4th
in today’s racing.
Men’s 470
Provisional top five results
after six races
1st AUS Nathan Wilmot & Malcolm Page 17 points
(4, (7), 3, 3, 3, 4)
2nd FRA Nicolas Charbonnier & Olivier Bausset
- 24 points (6, 3, 8, 1, 6, (18))
3rd GBR Nick Rogers & Joe
Glanfield - 25 points ((19), 5, 1, 4, 9, 6)
4th ITA Gabrio Zandona
& Andrea Trani - 30 points (10, 4, 7, 7, 2, (21))
5th POR Ãlvaro
Marinho & Miguel Nunes - 34 points (2, 8, (15), 6, 11, 7)
10th
NZL Carl Evans & Peter Burling - 53 points (7, 10, 14, 12, (30), 10)
FINN
Just one race was possible on the Finn course today
due to the marginal wind conditions. Dan Slater finished 13th and now lies
13th overall in the standings.
Ben Ainslie (GBR) has consolidated
his lead over Zach Railey (USA) by finishing 2nd in today’s race. He
extended his leading margin over Railey and is now six points clear.
If conditions allow the Finn fleet will be back on the water again
tomorrow.
Finn
Provisional top five results after seven races
1st GBR Ben Ainslie - 19 points ((10), 1, 4, 1, 1, 10, 2)
2nd
USA Zach Railey - 25 points (2, 5, 2, 2, 7, (8), 7)
3rd FRA Guillaume
Florent - 30 points (5, 8, (20), 3, 4, 6, 4)
4th SWE Daniel Birgmark -
39 points (14, (17), 1, 6, 12, 3, 3)
5th SLO Gasper Vincec - 42 points
(9, 11, 6, 5, 3, (13), 8)
12th NZL Dan Slater - 70 points ((21),
19, 18, 4, 9, 7, 13)
ISAF
Olympic Laser Day 1 Report
Andrew Murdoch of New Zealand, overall
leader at the end of day one ©© Clive Mason/Getty Images
New Zealand's world #2 ranked skipper Andrew MURDOCH grabbed the
early lead after day one of racing in the Men's One Person Dinghy - Laser
event at the Beijing Olympic Games.
Andrew MURDOCH (NZL) posted solid 2, 5
results on a day that competitors described as tricky, frustrating and
difficult. Waiting for stable breezes on course area A in front of the
breakwater at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center, the first day of racing
for the Lasers started after an hour's delay, with both scheduled races
completed.
Reflecting on his day, the #2 skipper in the ISAF World
Sailing Rankings said: "You had to be in the right
place and get good starts. The pin end was best in race 1, but the boat
end was better in race 2. It was tricky and difficult, but if you got off
the line well, you held on."
Italy and Argentina also scored
well on the opening day. Like MURDOCH, Diego
ROMERO (ITA) did not win a race, but his 6, 3
results were enough for second place on a day when results were all over
the place.
Julio ALSOGARAY (ARG) led
race 1 from start to finish on the 'SoIdier's' course and made it look
easy. His style was relaxed in the light 4-5 knot breezes, unlike others,
whose facial expressions said it was a race for complete
concentration.
The Argentine, who finished the 2008 Laser World
Championship in second place, did not do so well in race 2. He finished
12th, but hangs on to third place, but on equal points with Gustavo
LIMA (POR).
Further back in sixth overall,
the #3 sailor in the World Rankings and winner of both Test Events in
Qingdao Paul GOODISON (GBR) commented on his day:
"It was really tricky in both races. The guys on the left [in race 1]
got a 50 metre jump on the rest - and the rest couldn‘t get back into the
game." He finished 15th in that race. Of his second in race 2,
GOODISON said: "In the second race, you had to
keep plugging away and wait for an opportunity to arrive."
In
23rd overall, double World Champion and world #1 Tom
SLINGSBY (AUS) had what he described as "two
bad ones”. He now has a mountain to climb to get back into contention
and cannot afford any mistakes in tomorrow’s two scheduled
races.
12 August
Andrew Leads after Day 1
World #1 Tom Slingsby finishing race 2
today after a hard day at the office (Richard
Gladwell)
Date Released: 12th August 2008
From: Jodie Bakewell-White
Murdoch opens well & Ashley
has a race win
Day four of the Olympic Sailing Regatta saw kiwis compete in the Laser,
Laser Radial, RS:X Men and Women, and the Men’s 470 classes. While light
winds meant some delays to the start of racing all fleets were able to
complete two races as planned.
There were some highlights for the
kiwis on the water today including a strong opening day for Andrew Murdoch
in the Lasers who has the lead spot. This was the first day of competition
for the 26 year old Olympic debutant from Kerikeri, Northland, and the
series has a long way to go yet with another eight races planned over the
coming week before the Laser medal race on Tuesday.
Another highlight was a
bullet for Tom Ashley in his fourth race of the series placing him provisionally in 3rd overall.
Andrew after a good day at the office
looking great in his Rooster Gear!
(Guy Nowell)
Laser…
First
time Olympian Andrew Murdoch has opened his Olympic regatta with two solid
races - enough to give him the lead on a day where some top contenders
suffered.
The Laser’s were the first to start racing today, race
one kicking off on course area A at around 1:30pm in 6 knots of wind from
130 degrees. Argentinean representative Julio Alsogaray broke away to lead
the pack with Murdoch in hot pursuit behind him. By the top mark Alsogaray
had just under half a minute over the kiwi with a similar margin back to
the chasing pack behind.
Both the Argentine and Murdoch extended
away from the fleet as the race unfolded and the kiwi crossed in second
place in his first Olympic race.
In race two Murdoch came home in
fifth place giving him a points total of seven at the end of the day and a
two point leading margin over Diana Daniela Raponi of Italy on nine
points.
The Laser’s are back on the water tomorrow for another two
races.
Laser
Top five (provisional) results after two races
1st NZL Andrew Murdoch - 7 points (2, 5)
2nd ITA Diana Daniela
Raponi - 9 points (6, 3)
3rd ARG Julio Alsogaray - 13 points (1, 12)
4th POR Gustavo Lima - 13 points (5, 8)
5th CYP Pavlos Kontides - 15 points (8, 7)
Laser Radial
Jo Aleh’s day was mixed, as
it was for many sailors in the light conditions. In her first race of the
series she came home in 22nd place in the fleet of 28 Laser Radials, but
came back fighting in race two to record a 4th place on the water.
Overall at the end of day one the 22 year old Aucklander sits in
11th place, while Anna Tunnicliffe of the USA has the lead ahead of Evi
Van Acker (BEL) and reigning world champ Sarah Stayaert of France.
Laser Radial
Top five (provisional) results after two races
1st USA Anna Tunnicliffe - 9 points (4, 5)
2nd BEL Evi Van
Acker - 11 points (1, 10)
3rd FRA Sarah Steyaert - 12 points (11, 1)
4th LTU Gintare Volungeviciute - 16 points (3, 13)
5th AUS Sarah
Blanck - 17 points (6, 11)
11th NZL Jo Aleh - 26 points (22, 4)
Men’s RS:X Windsurfing…
Tom Ashley put in another solid
day on the water, consistent in the challenging light airs of the 2008
Olympic sailing venue. In race three for the Men’s RS:X he was 7th and
then followed that up with his best race yet – a win.
From the
outset of race four Ashley was in the hunt for the gun at the finish line,
rounding mark one 12 seconds behind the leader, and then taking the lead
by mark three and going on to secure the race win by a 22 second margin.
Today’s performance on what was day two for the Men’s RS:X has put
Ashley in third overall. Shahar Zubari of Israel, who won bronze at the
World Champs earlier this year has the lead with a scorecard that reads,
1st, 3rd, 1st, 3rd.
Zubari has 8 points, Kin Yin Chan of Hong Kong
lies second on 16 points, with Ashley not far behind on 19 points.
Men’s RS:X
Provisional top five results after four races
1st ISR Shahar Zubari - 8 points (1, 3, 1, 3)
2nd HKG King Yin
Chan - 16 points (5, 4, 2, 5)
3rd NZL Tom Ashley - 19 points (4, 7, 7,
1)
4th FRA Julien Bontemps - 23 points (13, 1, 5, 4)
5th GBR Nick
Dempsey - 25 points (11, 9, 3, 2)
Women’s RS:X Windsurfing…
Barbara Kendall has also improved her overall standing in the
Women’s RS:X fleet who were subject to start delays on course area B due
to light winds.
Kendall was 12th in race three and then 4th in
race four which saw her gain two places to now lie 6th overall after four
races. Local sailor Jian Yin was in hot form once again with a win and a
3rd in today’s racing consolidating her lead on the women’s RS:X fleet.
Women’s RS:X
Provisional top six results after four races
1st CHN Jian Yin - 6 points (1, 1, 1, 3)
2nd ESP Marina Alabau
- 15 points (3, 5, 5, 2)
3rd AUS Jessica Crisp - 17 points (2, 4, 3,
8)
4th ITA Alessandra Sensini - 18 points (6, 2, 9, 1)
5th GBR
Bryony Shaw - 24 points (4, 3, 11, 6)
6th NZL Barbara Kendall - 35
points (12, 7, 12, 4)
Men’s 470
Over on the Men’s 470
course Carl Evans and Peter Burling slipped from 7th place back to 11th
after what was day two of the regatta for them. 14th in race three and
then 12th in race four the young kiwis find themselves in 11th on a tight
knit leaderboard with only three points between them and 7th place.
Aussies Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page who took the gold in the
2007 Olympic Test event have the lead in the fleet of 29 boats after
posting two 3rds in racing today.
Men’s 470
Provisional top
five results after four races
1st AUS Nathan Wilmot & Malcolm
Page - 17 points (4, 7, 3, 3)
2nd FRA Nicolas Charbonnier &
Olivier Bausset - 18 points (6, 3, 8, 1)
3rd ESP Barreiros Onan &
Aaron Sarmiento - 25 points (8, 2, 6, 9)
4th ITA Gabrio Zandona &
Andrea Trani - 28 points (10, 4, 7, 7)
5th GBR Nick Rogers & Joe
Glanfield - 29 points (19, 5, 1, 4)
11th NZL Carl Evans &
Peter Burling - 43 points (7, 10, 14, 12)
Finn…
The Finn
class wasn’t on the water today, enjoying a rest day. They resume racing
tomorrow.
Finn
Provisional top five results after day three
1st GBR Ben Ainslie 17 points ((10), 1, 4, 1, 1, 10)
2nd USA
Zach Railey 18 points (2, 5, 2, 2, 7, (8))
3rd FRA Guillaume Florent -
26 points (5, 8, (20), 3, 4, 6)
4th CAN Christopher Cook - 33 points
(8, 3, 7, 10, (23), 5)
5th SLO Gasper Vincec - 34 points (9, 11, 6, 5,
3 (13))
13th NZL Dan Slater - 57 points ((21), 19, 18, 4, 9, 7)
[ Olympic Results ]
What’s on tomorrow…
Dan Slater – Finn class
2 races (Race 7 & Race 8)
Start
time: 1300 hours
Course area E
Carl Evans & Peter Burling
– Men’s 470
2 races (Race 5 & Race 6)
Start time: 1300 hours
Course area A
Andrew Murdoch – Laser
2 races (Race 3 &
Race 4)
Start time: 1300 hours
Course area C
Jo Aleh –
Laser Radial
2 races (Race 3 & Race 4)
Start time: 1300 hours
Course area C
12 August Andrew Starts Today
Date Released: 11th August 2008
From: Jodie Bakewell-White
Olympic Sailing Daily
Wrap
Day three of the Olympic Sailing Regatta is now complete with another
full day of racing being run off the coast of Qingdao, China.
Windsurfers Tom Ashley and Barbara Kendall sailed two races a
piece to open their series, as did Carl Evans and Peter Burling in the
Men’s 470. Finn sailor Dan Slater completed races five and six and now has
a rest day tomorrow.
Men’s RS:X Windsurfing…
It was a
solid start for Tom Ashley who opened with a 4th and a 7th on day one of
competition sailed on course area A just off the spectator lined main
break wall at the sailing venue. His results put him provisionally in 4th
place overall in the fleet of 35 windsurfers.
“First day of racing
today. Finally! It was great to get underway,” says Ashley after racing.
“7-10 knots, very unstable breeze with lots of current and big waves.”
“Conditions were very tricky and extremely physical, and a lot of
guys had at least one bad race, so I am very happy to have come away with
two solid races.”
“I made it a little hard on myself with some
conservative starts and first beats, but my first downwinds were both
awesome and I got back into the races nicely. I wasn't competing for race
wins- my focus was on consistency and not making big mistakes as these
conditions really punish errors.”
“I'm 4th overall after today.
Doesn't mean much yet as we're only one sixth of the way through the
event. Looking forward to more racing tomorrow. Looks like a light one.”
In race one Ashley rounded mark one in 11th place and went on to
make up ground as the race unfolded and cross in fourth place behind
Zubari (ISR), Wang (CHN) and Oberemko (UKR).
The breeze shifted
direction slightly and the sailors waited out a short delay while
officials reset the course for race two. It was another solid race for
Ashley who finished 7th to round out day one of the men’s RS:X racing. The
kiwi is just one point adrift of third place.
Bronze medalist at
this year’s World Championships in Auckland, Shahar Zubari of Israel leads
the fleet with a win and a 3rd in today’s racing giving him a total of
four points. Hong Kong sailor King Yin Chan also opened well holding
second overall on nine points, while local sailor Aichen Wang (CHN) has
third place on ten points.
Men’s RS:X
Provisional top five
results after day one
1st ISR Shahar Zubari - 4 points (1, 3)
2nd HKG King Yin Chan - 9 points (5, 4)
3rd CHN Aichen Wang - 10
points (2, 8)
4th NZL Tom Ashley - 11 points (4, 7)
5th GRE
Nikolas Kaklamanakis - 12 points (10, 2)
Women’s RS:X Windsurfing…
Over in the women’s fleet the local spectators watched on as the
Chinese sailor Jian Yin took two bullets on day one of competition, to
hold the overall lead at this early stage in the event. Behind her the
usual suspects line up in the top ten Barbara Kendall in the mix in eighth
place overall at the end of day one.
The light and sometimes fluky
wind off Qingdao makes for physically demanding sailing from the
windsurfers and today exemplified that. In race one decisions early on in
the race made all the difference with the first three around the top mark
China, Australia and Spain holding their positions to the finish. Kendall
finished 12th in that race.
In race two Kendall came home in 8th
place giving her a points total of 20, and eighth place overall.
Both Kendall and Ashley are back on the water tomorrow with
another two races on the schedule. Medal races for the RS:X are scheduled
for Wednesday 20th.
Women’s RS:X
Provisional top eight results
after day one
1st CHN Jian Yin - 2 points (1, 1)
2nd AUS
Jessica Crisp - 6 points (2, 4)
3rd GBR Bryony Shaw - 7 points (4, 3)
4th ITA Alessandra Sensini - 8 points (6, 2)
5th ESP Marina Alabau
- 8 points (3, 5)
6th UKR Olga Maslivets - 11 points (5, 6)
7th
FRA Faustine Merret - 15 points (8, 7)
8th NZL Barbara Kendall - 20
points (12, 8)
Finn…
Dan Slater continued to claw his way
back up the Finn placings starting the day in 16th place the kiwi has
lifted to 13th overall with a 9th in race five and a 7th in race six. He
now discards his worst result of the series, his opening race and has a
points total of 50.
Ben Ainslie of Great Britain has climbed into
the lead overtaking Zach Railey of USA who has slipped to second place.
The Finn fleet will enjoy a rest day tomorrow following which two races
are planned for both Wednesday and Thursday. The Finn medal race for the
top ten placed sailors will take place on Saturday.
Finn
Provisional top five results after day three
1st GBR Ben
Ainslie 17 points ((10), 1, 4, 1, 1, 10)
2nd USA Zach Railey 18 points
(2, 5, 2, 2, 7, (8))
3rd FRA Guillaume Florent - 26 points (5, 8,
(20), 3, 4, 6)
4th CAN Christopher Cook - 33 points (8, 3, 7, 10,
(23), 5)
5th SLO Gasper Vincec - 34 points (9, 11, 6, 5, 3 (13))
13th NZL Dan Slater - 57 points ((21), 19, 18, 4, 9, 7)
Men’s 470
The first of the Olympic debutants amongst the
kiwi team, Carl Evans and Peter Burling sailed well on day one of
competition in the men’s 470 class. It was a tricky day out on the 470
course which made for mixed results all round, no one crew dominant on day
one.
Evans and Burling were 7th in race one demonstrating that
they know how to make the most of opportunities as they’re presented. 19th
at mark one the young 17 year olds fought their way back up through the
fleet and finished in 7th place.
In race two sailed in six knots
of wind, they climbed through to lie fourth rounding the final mark only
to slip back and record a 10th place finish. In the overall standings they
lie in 7th place in the 29 boat fleet at this early stage in their
regatta.
French pair Charbonnier and Bausset have the early lead
with reigning world champs, Wilmot and Page of Australia lying 4th.
Men’s 470
Provisional top seven results after day one
1st FRA Nicolas Charbonnier & Olivier Bausset - 9 points (6,
3)
2nd ESP Barreiros Onan & Aaron Sarmiento - 10 points (8, 2)
3rd POR Álvaro Marinho & Miguel Nunes - 10 points (2, 8)
4th
AUS Nathan Wilmot & Malcolm Page - 11 points (4, 7)
5th SLO Karlo
Hmeljak & Mitja Nevecny - 14 points (3, 11)
6th ITA Gabrio Zandona
& Andrea Trani - 14 points (10, 4)
7th NZL Carl Evans & Peter
Burling - 17 points (7, 10)
4
August Sailing Info on the Olympic Games
The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Sailing
Competition
8th – 24th August 2008, Qingdao,
China
Prepared
by:Jodie Bakewell-White
Media
Contact for the New
Zealand Sailing Team
In
Qingdao from August 6th – 24th
Contact
details:
Email: jodie@yachtingnz.org.nz
Skype: JodieBW
China Mobile: +86 13661333764
New
Zealand Mobile: +64 (0) 21 709 065
Olympic
Blog:
http://www.nzoc.org.nz/Blog/BlogList.aspx?ID=6117
Racing Format & Scoring
At the 2008
Olympic Sailing Competition a new Olympic Format will be used for the
first time. The Medal Race format was decided on by the ISAF Council at
the 2005 ISAF Annual Conference in Singapore.
For each
event the sailing competition will consist of an opening series and a
medal race. Eleven races are scheduled for each event in which New Zealand is represented - of
the 11 races, 10 are scheduled as opening series races and one as a Medal
Race.
During the
opening series, competitors score points equivalent to the position in
which they finished the race (i.e. first place scores one point, second
place two points). There are a number of letter scores awarded for
breaking the Racing Rules of Sailing (such as crossing the line early etc)
which usually incur a points score of the equivalent of a last-place
finish +1 point.
The series
score of each boat is the total of their race scores, except after five
races they shall discard their worst race score.
The top ten
boats (i.e. the ten boats with the lowest series score) at the end of the
opening series progress to the Medal Race (for the other boats the
competition is over and the positions from 11 upwards are final). The
Medal Race is sailed over a shorter course close in to the shore, with a
race target time of approximately 30 minutes.
Scores in
the Medal Race are doubled (i.e. you score two points for first place,
four points for second place etc) and any letter scores (for crossing the
line early, kinetics etc) are calculated based on a fleet size of ten. The
Medal Race is officiated by on-the-water umpires, with sailors required to
make any protests during the race.
For the top
ten competitors, scores from the Medal Race are added to their score from
the opening series to decide the final positions. Any ties in the overall
score at the end of the Medal Race shall be broken in favour of the boat
who recorded the better finish in the Medal Race.
The Events & Boats
In 2008
New
Zealand will be represented in seven of
the eleven Olympic sailing events. The classes we’re competing in
include…
Laser –
Men’s one-person dinghy
Total fleet:
40
New
Zealand’s
representative: Andrew Murdoch, 26 years
Laser Radial
– Women’s one-person dinghy
Total fleet:
26
New
Zealand’s
representative: Jo Aleh, 22 years
RS:X – Men’s
windsurfer
Total fleet:
35
New
Zealand’s
representative: Tom Ashley, 24 years
RS:X –
Women’s windsurfer
Total fleet:
28
New
Zealand’s
representative: Barbara Kendall, 40 years
Finn –
Heavyweight Dinghy
Total fleet:
26
New
Zealand’s
representative: Dan Slater, 32 years
Star – Men’s
Keelboat (Two-person)
Total fleet:
16
New
Zealand’s
representatives: Hamish Pepper (helm) & Carl Williams (crew)
470 – Men’s
two-person dinghy
Total fleet:
30
New
Zealand’s
representatives: Carl Evans (helm) & Peter Burling (crew)
Local Time –
Time difference
Beijing time is eight hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.
China is four hours behind
New
Zealand, which means that the scheduled daily start
to racing at 1pm in China will be at 5pm in New Zealand.
|
Qingdao,
China |
New
Zealand |
|
Midday |
4pm |
|
1pm
(scheduled start to racing) |
5pm |
|
6pm |
10pm |
|
Midnight |
4am |
|
6am |
10am |
Website links
www.sailing.org/olympics - The ISAF Olympic Games microsite will
have live competition information, international news and photography. Key
Documents, background information and Olympic sailing history will also be
available here.
www.yachtingnz.org.nz – The YNZ
website homepage will carry daily wrap-up reports focussed on the
New
Zealand team’s day on the water.
www.nzoc.org.nz – Check out
the NZOC site for blogs with regular updates during competition from the
likes of Jo Aleh, as well as a blog from Jodie Bakewell-White with regular
updates during competition days.
|
