Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) and Lucy Macgregor (GBR) will face off for the gold medal in the Women’s Match Racing final on Friday, December 16, after some exciting sailing wrapped up the semi-finals on Day 13 of the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships.

“We are so psyched, we have a real shot at the world title now,” Tunnicliffe said. “We really have to be on top of our game tomorrow, Lucy is a great competitor.”

And that was proved in Macgregor’s semi against Claire Leroy (FRA), who was the early leader.

“We were down two-nil, but we were feeling confident and strong as a team, which really helped us to pick it up,” Macgregor said on her comeback to win the last three matches.

Sailing for the bronze medal will be Russia’s Ekaterina Skudina and Leroy.

The semi-finals were moved out of the Fremantle Inner Harbour to the Centre Course because of continuing south-easterly winds which make for tight and difficult racing in the working port. The open water racing still gave spectators a close-up view from the Bathers Bay grandstand.

The first semi final on Thursday saw Leroy match up against Macgregor, with the second semi between Skudina and Tunnicliffe.

Each team needed three wins to advance through to the Gold Medal Race on Friday, ensuring racing was very close all day.

After the first two flights of the day, Tunnicliffe and Leroy were sitting on two wins apiece, making flight 103 the ‘must win’ matches for Macgregor and Skudina.

In what was dubbed the ‘cold war race’ by the commentators, Skudina managed to get the lead on Tunnicliffe and cross the line in front.

Macgregor also got over the line in her match against Leroy, much to the delight of the British fans watching in the grandstand.

“We’re feeling really pleased and really good about our results today. We’ve had a lot of support from family back home and from the supporters cheering us on from the rocks,” Macgregor said.

With a penalty on Skudina, flight 104 was the deciding win for Tunnicliffe to go into the gold match.

Macgregor evened the score in the same flight, forcing a final and decisive match with Leroy.

It proved to be a tough one, with Macgregor forcing a penalty on Leroy in the pre-start. They were neck-and-neck for most of the race but in the last downwind leg, Macgregor managed to extend out to a three boat lead and win the race, securing her spot against Tunnicliffe for the gold medal on Friday.

Races were also held to determine the fifth to eighth placings, which left Australia’s Nicky Souter in fifth place, Sweden’s Anna Kjellberg sixth, followed by Netherland’s Mandy Mulder seventh and Australia’s Olivia Price in eighth spot.

The Women’s Match Racing final is schedule for 1400 local time on Friday 16 December. Racing will be on Inner Harbour Course but will be moved to the Centre Course if weather conditions are unsuitable in the harbour.

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

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