Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson won New Zealand’s second sailing medal of the Olympics when they sewed up the bronze in the mixed multihull (nacra).
The New Zealanders went into today’s double-points medal race on the same number of points as Great Britain, and behind runaway leaders Italy and Argentina.
Things couldn’t have gone better for the New Zealanders when the British crossed the start line prematurely and did not return to complete a legitimate start. That meant they were disqualified and New Zealand were assured of at least a bronze medal.
They then set their sights on the Argentinian team, hoping to rise to second overall. But the Argentinians sailed conservatively, mindful to keep New Zealand in their sights.
Eventually Argentina finished seventh and New Zealand eighth in the final race.
The final points tally was Italy 31, Argentina 55, New Zealand 63 and Great Britain 69.
Dawson, 30, is from Auckland and Wilkinson, 28, is from Waikato.
Wilkinson has been sailing at Nacra world champs since 2018 and teamed up with Dawson in 2019.
They finished 12th in the Tokyo Olympics.
Wilkinson said the plan before the regatta was to go out and enjoy it without putting expectations on themselves. "I can't believe it. The medal caps off a good week of work. It wasn't pretty today, but we did the job."
Dawson said it was a very rewarding end to a long campaign with a lot of hard work. "For it to come together and for us to peak at this event... I'm so happy," she said. "We wanted to be a strong team throughout the regatta, and to have fun out there."
New Zealand's first sailing medal at the Olympics was the silver won by Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie in the men's skiff (49er).