Opening Series Concludes At Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games
Despite no racing on Friday 22 August the Opening Series has now concluded and all eyes will be on the final stage of the event on Saturday 23 August.
A non discardable, single race for all fleets will bring the Youth Olympic Games Sailing Competition to a close with gold, silver and bronze to be decided in the Girl’s and Boy’s Byte CII and Techno 293.
The decision to abandon the day of racing was made at 16:30 local time with the breeze on Lake Jinniu not materialising for the second consecutive day. Reports vary for the final day of the competition with some predicting 1-2 knots and others saying 3-6 knots. It will be a case of wait and see on the final day. If racing does not go ahead then Sunday 24 August can be used to complete the competition.
With sailors unable to lose the final race result the stakes and pressure will be high on the final day with those gunning for the medals aiming for good night of refuelling, rest, recuperation and sleep.
China’s Linli Wu is perfectly primed to take gold for her nation in the Girl’s Techno 293 fleet. The Chinese sailor is seven points clear of Russia’s Mariam Sekhposyan and France’s Lucia Pianazza and needs to finish seventh or better to claim gold. Wu has yet to finish outside of the top seven and has mastered the light winds of Lake Jinniu so she will be hard to overthrow on the final day.
Behind Sekhposyan and Pianazza, who are tied on 16 points, Aimee Van’t Hoff (NED) has 22 points and Duangkamon Phongern (THA) has 31 points. The Dutch sailor will need to put in a good performance to take a medal whilst the Thai racer would need to win the race and hope the others finish at the back of the pack.
It is all to play for in the Boy’s Techno 293 with eight points separating the top seven. As it stands, Russia’s Maxim Tokarev is at the top of the pack on 16 points but that will count for very little on the final day with Argentina’s Francisco Saubidet Birkner a point behind and Dutch sailor Lars van Someren on 19 points.
Israel’s Yoav Omer sits on 22, France’s Tom Monnet and Hong Kong’s Tsz Kit Chan have 23 and New Zealand’s Finn Croft has 24 points. The top racers have shared the victories over the six race period and it will be game on for gold on the final day.
Four points separates the leaders and second place in the Boy’s and Girl’s Byte CII. Odile van Aanholt (NED) tops the pack in the girl’s whilst Bernie Chin (SIN) sits in the medal position in the boy’s fleet.
The Dutch sailor leads Singapore’s Samantha Yom who has worked her way up the field following a 21st in Race 4. Van Aanholt and Yom have a considerable advantage at the top of the Girl’s Byte CII leader board with Italy’s Carolina Albano 23 points off Van Aanholt in third.
Albano is only a point ahead of Jarian Brandes (PER) in fourth with Kateryna Gumenko (UKR), Caroline Rosmo (NOR), Nur Shazrin Mohamad Latif (MAS), Celeste Lugtmeijer (DOM) and Cecilia Wollman (BER) all in with a shot of the podium.
In the Boy’s Byte CII, Chin took the lead from Pedro Correa after a solid third day of racing that saw him take a 1-5-3, the best performance of the day. Going into the last race Chin, on 33 points, has a slender lead over Correa who has 37.
Nine points splits third to ninth with Rodolfo Pires (POR), Apiwat Sringam (THA), Pavle Zivanovic (CRO), Alastair Gifford, Jonatan Vadnai (HUN), Justin Vittecoq (CAN) and Henry Marshall (USA) all in with a shout of at least bronze.
Racing is scheduled to commence at 11:00 local time on Saturday 23 August. The Byte CII fleets will take to the race course first followed by the Techno 293 fleets.
