Poles win out on day two

A number of Polish sailors came out on top after day two of Hyeres Olympic sailing week

The second day of racing in the 40th Semaine Olympique Française in Hyères was blessed with ideal racing conditions and sunshine. The clouds and rain cleared quickly by mid-morning and a steady 15 to 20 knot Mistral swept across the race area.

The class favourites claimed the top positions in most events with wind lovers again making the most of the day.

It was a faultless day for Nick Thompson (GBR) and Australians, Tom Slingsby and Sarah Blanck in the Laser classes. 2004 ISAF Youth World Champion, Nick Thompson has added two more bullets to his impressive score to take the lead in the 156 boat Laser fleet. "“It’s a good fleet – everyone’s here,” Thompson explained, “and I’m quite surprised how well I’ve been going so far.  I’ve been on a bit of a weight loss programme as I’ve been training with Paul [Goodison] for China, but in spite of that I’ve managed to keep my pace in the breeze we’ve had."

Despite three race victories, World Champion and World number one, Tom Slingsby, has to count an OCS from Monday’s second race and is currently in 29th position overall. He should come back to the score when a race is discarded after Tuesday.

Sarah Blanck (AUS) is the new leader in the Laser Radial. Coached by ex-Laser sailor Sydney Bronze medallist, Michael Blackburn, Blanck has enjoyed the breezy conditions with a total of three victories after two bullets today. She also gained average points on Monday’s second race.

The other race winner in the Radial fleet was Polish sailor, Katarzyna Szotynska. “I met my objectives: I have started well in the middle of the line, and I had good speed downwind. I made good tactics upwind: at the right place at the right time! This was one of my few perfect races in my life!” She is one of many Polish competitors to have won a race today in Hyères.

Sofia Keplaka is the best ranked Polish sailor. She is leading the RS:X women with a 16 point advance on Ling Li (CHN) after a first and third places in the Mistral.

In the Men’s RS:X, Przemyslaw Miarczynski scored a first and second to place fourth overall. The top three in the rankings collected similar results with the fight for selection intensifying between Casper Bouman leading the fleet and his direct opponent, Dorian van Rijssel by only one point. Swiss Richard Stauffacher is placed fourth.

While the Polish team of Patryk Piasecki and Kacper Zieminski scored their best results with a first and a second in the men's 470 fleet, the top placing goes to Skandia Team GBR Olympic representatives, Nick Rogers and Joe Glandfield. The Athens Silver medallists despite having their mind, fitness and equipment tuned to Qingdao light weather have not forgotten how to perform in the breeze. "“We’re really pleased with how things are going so far.  Obviously it’s not been China sort of conditions here, but Joe and I came here really just to check that we’re still on top of the racing side of things. It’s all been going pretty well, and that’s a good positive feeling as it means that if we’re still race sharp we can continue to focus on the things that we think will make a difference in China.”

The 49er events saw another Polish victory with Marcin Czajkowski and Krysztof Kierkowski in fourth position. Athens Bronze medallists, Rodion Luka and Georgi Leonchuk mastered the day and flatter water with two bullets and a second to take the lead of the overall standings. “We haven’t fully started our preparation for light winds. We are planning some intense training in Ukraine where the conditions are usually lighter.”

Dave Evans and double Olympic medallist Simon Hiscocks are enjoying a great start to their new 49er partnership, and are currently in the bronze medal positionafter five races.  Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes have been dogged by equipment failure for the second day in a row, with the world silver medallists down in 24th place.

In the Tornado class, top five results bring the 2007 World Champions in first place overall. Despite a slow start to the day, Mitch Booth and Pim Nieuwenhuis (NED) won the last race to place second.

There were tight results in the Finn class where the top four are within three points. Chris Cook lost the lead to Gasper Vincec after collecting 16 points in the first race. A victory in the last race could still see the Canadian come back to the score after tomorrows discard.

Anna Basalkina, Vladislava Ukrainsteva and Ekaterina Maximova, are catching up
their main rival for Olympic selection in the Yngling fleet, after winning a race. Usually excelling in the light air, the Russians have gained more confidence in the fleet. Placed seventh and ninth, Hyères is the last event in their Olympic selection. Northern European teams are leading the fleet with Lehtinen, Klemetz and Varesmaa (FIN) in first place.

Two races sailed in the 2.4 didn’t make any impact on the results with Damien Seguin (FRA) now on equal points with Thierry Schmitter (NED). Heiko Kroeger (GER), disqualified at the start in race one, will be a threat for the leaders after a second and a first placing today.

The Paralympic-bound trio of John Robertson, Hannah Stodel and Stephen Thomas continue to show good pace in their new Sonar, also with three race wins to show from their four races so far, but have the Norwegian crew of Jostein Stordahl, Per Eugen Kristiansen and Aleksander Wang-Hansen hot on their heels in second place.

The Mistral is expected to come in again on Tuesday, makinf for more exciting racing.

Results:

Laser Radial

1-Sarah Blanck (Australia) 5 points (1,2,1,1,)
2-Evi Van Acker (Belgium) 13 points (2,2,3,6,)
3-Lijia Xu (China) 17 points (3,4,7,3,)
4-Nathalie Brugger (Switzerland) 19 points (5,3,4,7,)
5-Anna Tunnicliffe (United States O) 20 points (6,11,2,1,)

RS :X Men

1-Casper Bouman (The Netherlands) 6 points (1,2,2,1,)
2-Dorian Van Rijssel (The Netherlands) 7 points (2,2,2,1,)
3-Richard Stauffacher (Switzerland) 9 points (5,1,1,2,)
4-Przemyslaw Miarczynski (Poland) 10 points (3,4,1,2,)
5-Nimrod Mashiah (Israel) 12 points (3,3,3,3,)

RS :X Women

1-Zofia Klepacka (Poland) 6 points (1,1,1,3,)
2-Ling Li (China) 22 points (11,2,4,5,)
3-Wiebke Sradnick (Germany) 26 points (3,20,2,1,)
4-Sasa Sun (China) 30 points (6,6,11,7,)
5-Jannicke Stalstrom (Norway) 31 points (7,14,8,2,)

2.4 m Classement scratch

1-Damien Seguin (SNO Nantes) 6 points (1,3,2,)
2-Thierry Schmitter (The Netherlands) 6 points (2,1,3,)
3-Helena Lucas (Great Britain) 11 points (3,4,4,)
4-Megan Pascoe (Great Britain) 15 points (4,6,5,)
5-Jens Als Andersen (Denmark) 19 points (7,5,7,)

470 Men

1-Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield (Great Britain) 9 points (1,2,1,5,)
2-Patryk Piasecki and Kacper Zieminski (Poland) 15 points (4,8,2,1,)
3-Sven Coster and Kalle Coster (The Netherlands) 18 points (1,3,6,8,)
4-Matthias Schmid and Florian Reichstaedt (Austria) 20 points (3,3,6,8,)
5-Alvaro Marinho and Miguel Nunes (Portugal) 21 points (2,1,1,17,)

SONAR

1-John Robertson (Great Britain) 6 points (1,3,1,1,)
2-Jostein Stordahl (Norway) 8 points (3,1,2,2,)
3-Bruno Jourdren (Club Nautique Carantec) 15 points (2,5,5,3,)
4-Marco Collinetti (Italy) 15 points (4,2,4,5,)
5-Wolfgang Braun (Germany) 22 points (DNF ,6,3,4,)

TORNADO

1-Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz (Spain) 13 points (3,3,2,5,)
2-Mitch Booth and Pim Nieuwenhuis (The Netherlands) 19 points (1,5,12,1,)
3-Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby (Australia) 20 points (6,7,5,2,)
4-Leigh Mcmillan and Will Howden (Great Britain) 24 points (7,6,4,7,)
5-Johannes Polgar and Florian Spalteholz (Germany) 28 points (5,2,18,3,)

YNGLING

1-Silja Sofia Lehtinen (Finland) 14 points (2,4,6,2,)
2-Ulrike Schü Schuemann (Germany) 20 points (: 1,2,12,5,)
3-Siren Sundby (Norway) 20 points (8,5,1,6,)
4-Sarah Ayton (Great Britain) 21 points (3,1,14,3,)
5-Sally Barkow (United States O) 33 points (4,3,16,10,)

470 Women

1-Ingrid Petitjean and Nadège Douroux (France) 12 points (5,1,5,1,)
2-Ai Kondo and Naoko Kamata (Japan) 19 points (4,10,2,3,)
3-Maria Ferna Sesto and Consuelo Monsegur (Argentina) 27 points (13,4,8,2,)
4-Yineng Huang and Yinjuan Shen (China) 28 points (6,5,11,6,)
5-Giulia Conti and Giovanna Micol (Italy) 30 points (9,13,3,5,)

49er

1-Luka Rodion and Leonchuk George (Ukraine) 6 points (2,14,1,1,2,)
2-Xabier Fernandez and Iker Martinez de (Spain) 7 points (2,1,3,12,1,)
3-Dave Evans and Simon Hiscocks (Great Britain) 11 points (5,2,2,2,7,)
4-Marcin Czajkowski and Krzysztof Kierkowski (Poland) 12 points (1,OCS ,6,1,4,)
5-Nico Luca M Delle Karth and Nikolaus le Resch (Austria) 15 points (DNF ,3,1,3,8,)

FINN

1-Gasper Vincec (Slovenia) 20 points (7,2,9,2,)
2-Christopher Cook (Canada) 22 points (2,3,16,1,)
3-Jonas Hogh Christ (Denmark) 22 points (6,1,3,12,)
4-Pieter Jan Postma (The Netherlands) 23 points (1,7,11,4,)
5-Johan Tillander (Sweden) 32 points (10,11,8,3,)

LASER

1-Nick Thompson (Great Britain) 6 points (3,1,1,1,)
2-Michael Leigh (Canada) 11 points (2,3,2,4,)
3-Andrew Murdoch (New Zealand) 12 points (2,3,6,1,)
4-Deniss Karpak (Estonia) 16 points (1,1,12,2,)
5-Matias Del Solar (Chile) 23 points (2,4,14,3,)