Hat-trick for Goodison

Olympic Gold, Europeans and now a Laser World Championship win for Rotherham's finest

There’s a new Laser World Champion. Olympic gold medalist Paul Goodison hung on in the final day of competition to take first place at the 2009 Nautel Laser World Championships on St. Margaret’s Bay in Nova Scotia.

“It’s fantastic, and such a relief,” said Goodison of his victory, which sees him still unbeaten in international action since taking gold in Beijing a year ago. As well as claiming the European title earlier this month, the Rotherham sailor took gold at three events of the ISAF Sailing World Cup that he’s competed at.

“Having won all my other events this year, and with the Worlds having been the big focus for me this year there was quite a bit of pressure to do the business and I’m just so happy that it’s all done and dusted,” he said, before going on to praise the efforts of teammate Thompson.

“I’ve got to watch my back! But all credit to Nick – he’s had a fantastic week and I’m really pleased for him.”

Despite losing two days of the six day event - one day with too much wind courtesy of Hurricane Bill, the next with too little - the 31-year-old kept his cool throughout to add the world title to his Olympic and European crowns. Goodison’s previous best Laser Worlds result came in 2002 where he finished third.

Coming into the competition, Goodison's chief rival was Australian Tom Slingsby who won the 2007 and 2008 Worlds. Slingsby came in 17th.

Michael Bullot of New Zealand took second, while 23-year-old Nick Thompson made it a double celebration for the Skandia Team GBR camp, clinching his first ever senior World Championship medal - a bronze - to ensure two British sailors were up on the prize giving podium.

For Thompson himself, his bronze signals an important marker in establishing himself as one of the key contenders in the highly competitive Laser fleet.

“This really was the year for me to make my mark,” explained Thompson, who is currently leading the ISAF Sailing World Cup series thanks to wins at the Miami and Palma legs in the early season.

“It’s been a difficult week, with a bit of everything thrown at us. I sailed a near perfect qualifying series, but then we didn’t race for the first two days of the finals with the hurricane and then afterwards, so that was mentally pretty challenging and I didn’t race that well on the first day back.

“But I knuckled down today and got two good results to stay on the podium so I’m really pleased.”

With one day lost to racing when Hurricane Bill brushed Nova Scotia on Sunday and a lack of wind preventing racing on Monday, competitors still managed to get in 10 races. St. Margaret’s Bay proved it is one of the best sailing venues on the continent. Even with a near hurricane and a dead calm, athletes were pushed through five days of racing in winds ranging from 10 to 24 knots (21 to 50 kilometres per hour).

“Athletes tell us it was a challenging five days,” said event manager Duncan Enman. “The final race was classic with Goodison and Bullot hunting each other at the start. It was a mesmerizing dance along the start line as each athlete tried to outplay the other. Amazing sailing, amazing sport, as one would expect at a World championship.”

Organisers are now gearing up for the Laser Masters Worlds for athletes 35 years and older. There are more than 300 competitors from around the globe beginning to arrive at the St. Margaret Sailing Club for the second portion of the Laser Worlds. Racing for the Masters begins on Sunday and concludes on the 5th of September.

Results:

Pos	Name	Sailno	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R6	R8	R9	R10	Tot
1	Goodison Paul	GBR 196043	5	2	-5	5	2	3	1	1	7	-20	24.5
2	Bullot Michael	NZL 196007	1	(ocs)	1	-18	7	1	3	4	6	8	31
3	Thompson Nick	GBR 196082	2	2	1	1	-4	14	10	-19	3	2	35
4	Alsogaray Julio	ARG 196083	7	9	(bfd)	1	1	7	8	-14	4	1	38
5	Stipanovic Tonci	CRO 196102	3	1	2	4	-32	12	2	17	11	(bfd)	52
6	Wright David	CAN 196099	4	-17	10	3	15	2	12	7	-43	6	59
7	Vujasinovic Milan	CRO 196157	4	-13	2	4	11	6	17	20	10	-35	74
8	Hernandez Javier	ESP 196025	11	4	-16	6	3	10	5	24	-49	19	82
9	Geritzer Andreas	AUT 196105	2	6	3	13	-23	32	19	3	-34	14	92
10	Leigh Michael	CAN 196008	-8	7	7	2	5	21	20	-23	8	23	93
11	Junior Joshua	NZL 196032	4	-14	4	6	8	-47	4	27	16	24	93
12	Cedergardh Emil	SWE 196147	15	1	-16	4	16	-36	15	22	9	15	97
13	Del Solar Matias	CHI 196135	18	5	(bfd)	2	1	-41	18	9	38	7	98
14	Wigforss Johan	SWE 196117	8	7	6	6	-18	4	26	41	2	(bfd)	100
15	Fontes Bruno	BRA 196096	1	5	9	-24	4	(dns)	11	36	22	13	101
16	Parkhill Lee	CAN 196120	15	20	26	-27	8	15	7	2	-30	10	102
17	Slingsby Tom	AUS 196064	7	1	(bfd)	3	12	20	31	28	(bfd)	3	105
18	Lolic Aron	CRO 196168	22	12	6	-23	10	25	9	12	-50	11	107
19	Kontides Pavlos	CYP 196020	1	8	(bfd)	8	30	22	29	5	5	(bfd)	108
20	Cabaz Rodrigue	FRA 196149	3	-26	12	5	5	-37	28	30	13	16	112
21	Claeson Arvid	SWE 196026	5	-19	7	12	5	8	22	-34	28	29	116
22	Porozynski Karol	POL 196072	6	5	3	8	-29	34	30	-43	12	21	119
23	Bougiouris Adonis	GRE 196166	12	8	4	-16	7	38	25	-46	1	26	121
24	Maloney Andrew	NZL 196066	14	3	4	10	-22	-39	39	11	36	4	121
25	Pelt Gijs	NED 196044	-16	10	14	7	2	29	-45	6	26	28	122
26	Steiger Christian	SUI 196037	6	4	28	-36	13	5	23	-45	21	27	127
27	Taritas Ivan	CRO 196152	-12	9	1	12	7	23	-51	15	46	17	130
28	de Haas Marc	NED 196073	-30	7	13	13	26	(ocs)	6	37	20	9	131
29	Schadewaldt Tobias	GER 196089	7	2	(bfd)	3	16	17	21	-52	31	36	133
30	Luttmer Bernard	CAN 196124	15	4	11	-22	9	13	36	32	14	(bfd)	134
31	Bernaz Jean-baptiste	FRA 196162	23	11	-42	9	10	9	32	31	-41	12	137
32	Stalheim Jesper	SWE 196042	22	18	15	-26	6	11	24	-47	19	30	145
33	Johnson Clayton	USA 196034	2	3	(bfd)	32	6	24	13	51	15	(bfd)	146
34	Pruvot Felix	FRA 196075	8	6	5	5	-29	35	34	38	17	(bfd)	148
35	Dold Christopher	CAN 196001	9	6	(bfd)	18	6	28	16	40	27	(bfd)	150
36	Brunning Ashley	AUS 196132	6	-17	7	1	4	33	42	-44	29	32	154
37	Ruth Kristian	NOR 196087	10	-14	13	11	12	26	-33	26	24	33	155
38	Powell Mark	GBR 196049	9	18	(bfd)	8	3	-45	43	39	23	18	161
39	Rammo Karl-martin	EST 196019	23	10	8	21	-37	18	-54	10	51	22	163
40	Bottoni Christoph	SUI 196133	9	12	8	10	-21	-51	47	8	39	31	164
41	Weaver David	NZL 196003	10	16	5	14	-38	16	46	13	45	(bfd)	165
42	Bouwmeester Roelof	NED 196078	(ocs)	19	9	2	9	27	37	33	32	(bfd)	168
43	Van Vianen Eduardo	NED 196012	10	16	8	-19	3	43	-53	50	18	34	182
44	Berecz Zsombor	HUN 196107	20	8	2	-28	28	19	41	25	47	(bfd)	190
45	Schaardenburg Rutger	NED 196070	17	9	-29	22	12	30	40	-49	35	25	190
46	Mihelic Daniel	CRO 196077	33	13	14	9	-34	46	50	21	(dns)	5	191
47	Mclay Blair	NZL 196130	11	20	14	13	-25	50	49	18	25	(bfd)	200
48	Funk Brad	USA 196060	-21	17	11	9	14	31	48	42	33	(bfd)	205
49	Kjaergaard Kristian	DEN 196057	12	28	11	7	-31	-52	38	29	40	42	207
50	Buhl Philipp	GER 196134	3	3	-15	11	1	40	52	56	42	(bfd)	208
51	Godwin Robert	GBR 196068	21	13	3	-31	11	42	44	-48	37	37	208
52	Jesus Rogel	ESP 196074	-45	27	6	15	13	44	(raf)	16	53	39	213
53	Burman James	AUS 196053	-37	11	22	15	9	48	14	-54	54	43	216
54	Collura Pierre Angelo	FIN 196110	19	31	(bfd)	7	2	(dns)	27	53	44	38	221
55	Buckingham Charlie	USA 196067	18	16	10	25	-37	(dns)	35	35	52	41	232
56	Sanchez Emmanuel	MON 196030	25	12	19	10	-31	49	-55	55	48	40	258