Women’s Match Racing

Two more nations qualified for the London 2012 Olympic Games in an action-packed final round-robin stage Women’s Match Racing Friday.

France’s Claire Leroy and the Netherlands’ Mandy Mulder finished one-two, with Great Britain’s Lucy Macgregor in third after a slow start to the day because of a lack of wind in the morning and the Fremantle Doctor sea breeze not delivering its normal potency in the late afternoon.

Leroy and Mulder join Group A winner Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) and runner-up Ekaterina Skudina from Russia as London qualifiers and automatic advancement to the quarter-finals. Leroy was romping home as the group winner until the final two flights when she came unstuck.

By losing to the Netherlands’ Renee Groeneveld in the penultimate round, the competition was set for a nail-biting final flight.

Macgregor (GBR) was upset by Brazil’s Juliana Senfft, meaning Macgregor needed to beat Leroy (FRA) in the final flight to also finish with 10 points.

Macgregor completed the task as Leroy picked up a penalty at the start line and trailed Macgregor all the way, trying to pressure her into a penalty of her own, but to no avail.

Mulder lost to Leroy in the 47th flight but went on to win her final three races and throw her name into the mix for the top two, which she achieved with her 10 points.

With the bottom four in the group dropping out and the top two advancing to the quarters, the middle eight crews now enter the repecharges.

The top four have started racing to determine seedings for the quarterfinals with USA-1 and FRA-1 winning through to the final.

Stage 2 (Repechage) of the Women’s Match Racing is scheduled to continue on Saturday from 1000 local time on the Harbour course.

(From the Perth 2011 website: www.Perth2011.com)

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