Golden Goodie

Iin Borstahusen, Sweden, the Beijing Gold medallist clinches his fifth straight Laser Europeans title

Beijing gold medallist Paul Goodison staked a confident claim ahead of this month’s Laser World Championship by clinching his fifth straight European title in Sweden today.

The 31-year-old from Rotherham notched up a convincing win after six days racing in Landskrona, bouncing back from a disappointing opening day where he was disqualified for a premature start in race one, to claim overall victory.

The Skandia Team GBR sailor is now unbeaten on the international circuit since taking gold at the Beijing Olympic Games a year ago, winning his comeback event at the French leg of the ISAF Sailing World Cup in April, before adding further World Cup titles to his belt in Holland and Kiel in May and June prior to his latest European success.

“I was surprised at how early after coming back after my break after the Games that I started getting back to winning again,” Goodison explained, “and when you’re sailing well that obviously helps with the confidence. “

Of his Europeans performance, he recalled: “I was pretty annoyed after the first day here when I was black flagged in the first race and then dropped from fourth to eighth in the second race. I gave myself a kick up the backside and refocused and managed to sail pretty well for the rest of the week to get a good lead heading into the last day today.

“I didn’t sail particularly well today I did enough to keep off the Croatian and the Cypriot who were the only ones who could beat me, so I’m pretty chuffed and it’s great to be European Champion again.”

Goodison has a quick turnaround in the UK before heading out to Canada early next week in preparation for the World Championship, where he’s hopeful his form will continue.

“Since coming back from the Games, the Worlds has been the one win I’ve really wanted and the whole year has been geared towards preparing for that,” Goodison explained.

“Although I can’t go there thinking that the title’s mine, I’m pretty happy with the way I’m sailing so there’s no reason not to be confident of doing well there.”

Lymington’s Nick Thompson also scored a top five finished for Skandia Team GBR at the Laser Europeans, while RYA Volvo National Youth Squad sailor Robert Holmes won the Under 19 Laser European title, with fellow youth sailor Alex Mills-Barton second.

Gold fleet results

Pos	Helm	Nat	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	F1	F2	F3	Tot	Net
1	Goodison Paul	GBR	(BFD 62)	8	1	1	2	2	1	4	3	-20	104	22
2	Slingsby Tom	AUS	5	1	-20	5	-24	1	2	13	13	3	87	43
3	Hernandez Javier	ESP	12	3	4	3	-13	11	4	7	-16	2	75	46
4	Kontides Pavlos	CYP	10	-40	2	24	1	2	8	1	6	-55	149	54
5	Stipanovic Tonci	CRO	-17	9	7	12	6	1	1	-43	4	21	121	61
6	Thompson Nick	GBR	15	2	(BFD 62)	6	8	7	2	15	10	-36	163	65
7	de Haas Marc	NED	-21	12	(BFD 62)	19	11	3	6	6	8	1	149	66
8	Bullot Michael	NZL	27	1	-29	16	3	14	(BFD 62)	12	2	9	175	84
9	Regolo Michele	ITA	13	19	2	12	8	13	-21	-25	15	4	132	86
10	Mihelic Daniel	CRO	6	6	13	4	9	22	(DSQ 62)	3	23	-31	179	86
11	Semerkhanov Maxim	RUS	(BFD 62)	11	8	9	1	3	6	-54	37	12	203	87
12	Geritzer Andreas	AUT	11	7	10	1	-17	12	7	27	12	(BFD 62)	166	87
13	Bottoli Giacomo	ITA	7	5	28	9	-29	10	9	-39	21	6	163	95
14	Bouwmeester Roelof	NED	2	4	-26	24	10	15	4	17	22	-56	180	98
15	Kudryashov Valeriy	UKR	-38	24	5	8	12	5	5	-51	34	5	187	98
16	Kamrath Malte	GER	1	10	1	(OCS 62)	17	5	12	-61	29	25	223	100
17	Schaardenburg Rutger	NED	(ARB 25)	14	12	3	12	9	3	14	-47	35	174	102
18	Wigforss Johan	SWE	26	6	(BFD 62)	13	26	4	10	10	7	-28	192	102
19	Sandall James	NZL	10	2	7	2	4	-26	5	44	30	-54	184	104
20	Leigh Michael	CAN	3	3	23	7	27	8	-30	5	31	-37	174	107
21	Stelmaszyk Jonasz	POL	-30	29	9	29	2	24	3	-42	1	15	184	112
22	Cabaz Rodrigue	FRA	4	8	15	15	21	-38	7	26	-46	19	199	115
23	Cedergardh Emil	SWE	3	-37	16	2	4	17	9	40	-49	26	203	117
24	Radelic Luka	CRO	15	15	13	11	-25	20	18	8	19	(DNF 62)	206	119
25	Berecz Zsombor	HUN	2	4	(BFD 62)	5	28	16	19	22	-57	27	242	123
26	Pruvot Felix	FRA	6	16	20	21	21	-38	11	23	11	-33	200	129
27	Chimonas Evangelos	GRE	24	27	15	-28	7	11	23	11	-50	14	210	132
28	Porozynski Karol	POL	1	12	(BFD 62)	18	(OCS 62)	20	20	31	5	29	260	136
29	Vooremaa Argo	EST	23	21	17	15	10	-32	16	16	-51	22	223	140
30	Taritas Ivan	CRO	(BFD 62)	9	3	20	37	26	13	19	26	(BFD 62)	277	153
31	Kjaergaard Kristian	DEN	5	22	22	17	32	-52	26	-37	14	17	244	155
32	Trcka Martin	CZE	(BFD 62)	42	14	4	29	9	11	-46	17	30	264	156
33	Coutts Matt	NZL	18	13	19	34	14	35	(BFD 62)	24	-56	8	283	165
34	Groteluschen Simon	GER	8	20	(BFD 62)	11	15	27	-37	30	32	23	265	166
35	Weaver David	NZL	(BFD 62)	18	-38	36	11	23	34	2	33	11	268	168
36	Stalheim Jesper	SWE	24	24	14	21	-35	29	-33	21	27	10	238	170
37	Vasternas Victor	SWE	22	19	28	20	-41	28	14	38	(BFD 62)	7	279	176
38	Gellee Jean Baptiste	FRA	-42	16	25	14	28	32	15	9	(BFD 62)	39	282	178
39	Dumara Jakub	POL	19	26	24	16	5	-30	10	-56	35	44	265	179
40	Ros Martinez Fernando	ESP	20	25	34	10	6	14	-38	-59	25	49	280	183
41	Schwerdt Frithjof	GER	8	20	32	-44	30	12	8	-41	36	40	271	186
42	de Paoli Carlo	ITA	22	27	27	6	13	-36	27	20	45	-47	270	187
43	Collura Pierre Angelo	FIN	20	14	(BFD 62)	29	-44	18	23	33	41	13	297	191
44	Gallo Marco	ITA	(DNF 62)	5	(BFD 62)	7	18	17	BFD 62	32	9	43	317	193
45	Steiger Christian	SUI	16	17	-41	22	39	24	14	49	-53	16	291	197
46	Espey James	IRL	27	41	(BFD 62)	23	16	10	13	-58	20	48	318	198
47	Komissarov Sergey	RUS	34	28	9	32	16	19	-36	28	-54	34	290	200
48	Van Laer Wannes	BEL	32	13	23	27	-42	23	22	36	-42	24	284	200
49	Bendix Mads	DEN	25	30	19	-41	23	22	17	47	18	-50	292	201
50	Vujasinovic Milan	CRO	4	23	4	(OCS 62)	19	34	42	29	48	(BFD 62)	327	203
51	Van Vianen Eduardo	NED	32	22	27	8	-33	28	15	18	(BFD 62)	53	298	203
52	Botzer Yuval	ISR	11	21	34	-39	38	19	21	35	24	-51	293	203
53	Claeson Arvid	SWE	14	7	3	28	44	-50	40	-52	28	45	311	209
54	Powell Mark	GBR	17	10	(BFD 62)	26	18	21	37	-48	43	38	320	210
55	Mon Eifion	GBR	23	11	6	-38	22	35	17	-55	55	42	304	211
56	Andrews Max	NZL	-43	15	8	25	37	37	27	-57	38	32	319	219
57	Torchinsky Abe	CAN	38	17	-42	26	22	29	35	34	-58	18	319	219
58	Lolic Aron	CRO	26	-39	21	10	25	21	25	45	52	(BFD 62)	326	225
59	Boquist Henrik	SWE	31	31	21	32	-34	13	12	-53	39	52	318	231
60	Kuzmanic Tonko	CRO	28	32	30	-35	26	6	31	-50	40	41	319	234
61	Burton Tom	AUS	18	-50	5	38	30	48	29	-60	44	46	368	258