NZ sailors miss the podium at Olympic venue

Photo: PHOTOSPORT

New Zealand sailors have been shut out of the medals at the Olympic test event at in Marseille, the venue for next year’s Games.

Six Kiwi sailors lined up in four different classes in Monday’s medal races but couldn’t do enough to get on the podium.

Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson came closest, ending their campaign in fifth – eight points from the bronze position – after a similar result in the Nacra 17 medal race.

A below-par final day of fleet racing proved costly, Wilkinson said.

“We had one bad day where we struggled a bit for speed and didn’t quite link it up, which kind of cost us a podium in the end,” he said.

“But we had a pretty good week overall and we sailed well. We’re pretty happy.”

Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie were also left to rue a series of mistakes after being in the gold-medal position in the 49er class half way through fleet racing.

They lined up in seventh for the medal race but a poor start stymied their podium push.

Veerle ten Have finished sixth in the women’s windfoil competition, narrowly missing out on the semifinals, having been in the top three for much of the week.

Josh Armit’s medal hopes in the men’s windfoil ended in disappointing fashion when he was disqualified for getting over the start line prematurely in his quarterfinal.

Following some time off the water, the New Zealand team will reconvene for a training block in Marseille before heading to the Hague for the sailing world championships early next month, which will provide the first opportunity to qualify for next year’s Olympics.

The Paris Games remain the ultimate goal, said Yachting New Zealand high performance director Ian Stewart.

“We had a key mission of learning how to win starts, beats and races here at the Olympic venue and we had some decent success,” he said.

“However, we now need to learn how to do that over the course of an event. We’ve got a young team and I’ve loved their attitude to racing, but ultimately, we fell short in the pressure pot of an Olympic fleet.”

On Sunday, George Gautrey finished fourth in the Laser fleet, missing bronze by a solitary point.

– RNZ