The New Zealanders’ hopes of improving their Olympic sailing campaigns were largely thwarted by the calm weather off Marseille today.
Very little racing was held and some races were cancelled altogether, with the regatta to finish tomorrow.
In the men’s dinghy double-points medal race New Zealand’s Tom Saunders was hoping to lift himself several places, but finished 5th in the final race to remain seventh overall.
“It’s obviously not how I wanted it to end, but I’m proud of my campaign and that I got this far,” he said. “I started this campaign with my coach [Mike Bullot] almost by chance three years ago and I owe Mike a lot for investing in me back then.
“Another campaign isn’t a decision I can make on my own. I need to take some time now to process and consider everything.”
The dinghy gold medal was won by Australian Matt Wearn, who was a class above the rest of the field.
The remaining races in the preliminary sections of the men’s and women’s kite events were cancelled and tomorrow the semi-finals and final in both events will be held, weather permitting.
The cancellations means that Lukas Walton-Keim finished 15th in the men’s event and Justina Kitchen 17th in the women’s event. Both sailors were naturally disappointed they didn’t get the chance today to improve their placings. They will not be involved in the semi-finals.
The one event remaining that involves New Zealand is the mixed multihull (nacra), in which New Zealanders Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson are in a very tight battle for medals.
Going into tomorrow’s double-points medal race they have 47 points, the same as the British. So if they finish ahead of the British, they should secure a medal.
Argentina are currently on 41 points in second place, so a silver medal is not out of the question for the New Zealanders. They’ll have more trouble overhauling the leaders, Italy, who have 27 points and, barring a calamity, look to have the gold locked up.