ANNA TUNNICLIFFE (USA) CLAIMS WOMEN’S MATCH RACING ISAF SAILING WORLD CUP TITLE
Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi (USA) have taken the Women’s Match Racing ISAF Sailing World Cup title after Skandia Sail for Gold, the sixth of seven ISAF Sailing World Cup Regattas.
With no Women’s Match Racing at Kieler-Woche, the final regatta of the series, Tunnicliffe has clinched the title for the second consecutive year. By Tunnicliffe’s standards she was off the mark in Weymouth, but the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year finished third sealing the top spot in the Standings.
On her team’s performance in Weymouth the American said, “Considering how this regatta started we are happy with our end result. We didn’t have the smoothest but we’re happy to come away with the bronze.”
Tunnicliffe and her team will now head home before making the trip to Gothenburg, Sweden for the ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championships and is aiming to defend the title she won at the 2011 ISAF Worlds, “We’d love to defend the Championships and again it is a very good lead in regatta to the Olympics. We’re just looking forward to having a good event and keep learning like we always do.”
Olivia Price (AUS) took the Women’s Match Race title after she defeated Claire Leroy (FRA) 2-1 in the final. This moved her from fourth to second in the Standings and she takes away silver. US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR winner Lucy Macgregor (GBR) was off the pace in Weymouth finishing fifth but she takes the final World Cup podium spot.
Racing is set to take place in the remaining classes at Kieler-Woche with Australian sailors leading the Standings in three.
Australia’s Tom Burton has been the surprise package during the 2011-12 ISAF Sailing World Cup and after his second place finish at Sail for Gold the Australian has jumped ahead of Charlie Buckingham (USA) to lead the Laser Standings.
Burton said, “The plan was to do most of the big events starting 2012 in Palma, Hyeres and the Laser Worlds and Sail for Gold and just try and get solid results.
“The big goal was the Worlds this year as I am not going to the Olympics. It’s ended up being a pretty good year coming fifth at the worlds and Palma and Hyeres were building regattas and they ended up being good as well.
“London 2012 was a bit of a long shot for me with who I was up against but Rio 2016 is definitely the goal.”
2010-11 Laser Tom Slingsby (AUS) took top honours in Weymouth which moves him up to second place whilst Buckingham slips from first to third following his tenth place finish at Sail for Gold.
Matthew Belcher and Malcolm Page (AUS) once again proved they are the ones to beat in the Men’s 470 heading into the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition after taking victory in Weymouth. The pair have finished at the top of the podium in four ISAF Sailing World Cup Regattas and comfortably lead the Standings on 80 points. Paul Snow Hansen and Jason Saunders (NZL) are second and Israel’s Gideon Kliger and Eran Sela round off the podium.
In the 49er Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS) picked up another World Cup gold medal in Weymouth. The pair lead the 49er Standings on 59 points, one ahead of Manu Dyen and Stephane Christidis (FRA). Denmark’s Allan Norregaard and Peter Lang are third.
Lijia Xu’s (CHN) unbeaten Laser Radial run in the 2011-12 ISAF Sailing World Cup came to an end in Weymouth as Alison Young (GBR) came through strong in the Medal Race to take gold. Nonetheless Xu remains in the lead on 77 points with Young, Evi Van Acker (BEL) and Marit Bouwmeester (NED) tied on 71 points.
On her successful World Cup series so far Xu said, “After Miami I had an incident and had to have an operation so I was off sailing for two months missing the Palma regatta.
“I performed very well at Sail Melbourne, Miami and SOF (Semaine Olympique Francaise) and I also performed quite consistently at Sail for Gold but I will work harder in preparation for the Olympic Games.”
Amanda Clark and Sarah Lihan (USA) have produced three podium finishes throughout the 2011-12 World Cup series and they came up with the goods again in Weymouth with a second place finish. They have cemented an eight point lead in the Women’s 470 Standings over Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata (JPN) who finished a disappointing 12th in Weymouth. Kathrin Kadelbach and Friederike Belcher (GER) complete the top three with Sail for Gold winners Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie (NZL) 16th in the Standings.
In the Star Standings Xavier Rohart and Pierre Alexis Ponsot (FRA) sit at the top on 72 points followed by Fredrik Loof and Max Salminen (SWE) on 67 and Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) on 62 points.
America’s Zach Railey and Caleb Paine make it an American one two in the Finn Standings with Railey leading the way. Australia’s Brendan Casey sits third.
Dorian van Rijsselberge (NED) has moved into second place in the Men’s RS:X Standings after his Sail for Gold triumph. But still in the lead, by a narrow margin, is Norway’s Sebastien Wang-Hansen whilst Julien Bontemps (FRA) is tied with Van Rijsselberge in third.
Flavia Tartaglini (ITA) continues to lead the Women’s RS:X Standings. She is followed by Jannicke Stalstrom (NOR) and Jessica Crisp (AUS). Sail for Gold winner, Zofia Klepacka (POL) is 16th overall.
The 2011-12 ISAF Sailing World Cup concludes at Kieler-Woche in Kiel, Germany from 16-20 June where the podium places will be decided ahead of London 2012.
