Skandia Sail for Gold - Weymouth and Portland, Great Britain

Medals decided at Skandia Sail for Gold

One storm had passed, but another was brewing - it was Saturday and it was medal race day at Skandia Sail for Gold and the drama was just beginning. There were ten classes and thirty medals to decide, and not one of them was a certainty.

After a week of tumultuous weather, the sun finally came out and the wind moderated to a perfect 15 knots for the opening races, building to a fresh 20-22 knots for the final medals. The action took place on two courses, one inside the harbour and the other under the Olympic spectator site on the Nothe.

The Women’s Match Racing was forced to make an early start with quarter finals, semis and the final all still to sail. They began at 08:00 and the action was constant from there. In the quarter finals it was the Russians, Ekaterina Skudina, Elena Oblova and Elena Siuzeva that beat the Spanish team of Tamara Echegoyen, Angela Pumariega and Sofia Toro by two races to nil; Clarie Leroy and her French team of Elodie Bertrand and Marie Riou took down the New Zealanders, Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen and Susannah Pyatt by another two races to nil. While the American team of Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vendemoer and Debbie Capozzi beat Finland’s Silja Lehtinen, Silja Kanerva, and Mikaela Wulff also two races to nil, and finally Australia’s Olivia Price beat Lucy Macgregor two races to one.

Onto the semi-finals with barely a pause for breath and this time it was Olivia Price’s Aussies that beat Ekaterina’s Russians – again, the score was two races to nil; while Claire Leroy and the French took down Anna Tunnicliffe’s American’s two races to nil. It meant a France versus Australia final, and it was Price that beat Leroy two races to nil, leaving Tunnicliffe to take the single race Petite Final and the bronze medal from Ekaterina Skudina.

Overall top three results :

WOMENS MATCH RACING
1 - AUS Olivia Price, Nina Curtis, Lucinda Whitty
2 - FRA Claire Leroy, Elodie Bertrand, Marie Riou
3 - USA Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandemoer, Debbie Capozzi
4 - RUS Ekaterina Skudina, Elena Siuzeva, Elena Oblova
5 -GBR Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush, Kate Macgregor
6 - FIN Silja Lehtinen, Silja Kanerva, Mikaela Wulff
7 - NZL Stephanie Hazard, Jenna Hansen, Susannah Pyatt
8 - ESP Tamara Echegoyen, Angela Pumariega, Sofía Toro
9 - NED Renee Groeneveld, Annemiek Bes, Marcelien Bos-De Koning
10 - POR Rita Gonçalves, Mariana Lobato, Diana Neves
11 - SWE Anna Kjellberg, Malin Källström, Lotta Harrysson
12 - GER Silke Hahlbrock, Vera Dubina, Irina Lotsmanova
13 - DEN Lotte Meldgaard, Susanne Boidin, Tina Gramkov



ISAF Sailing World Cup Website : www.sailing.org/worldcup/home.php
Skandia Sail for Gold Website : www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk