Morrison and Rhodes set to defend

Toby Heppell reviews the form going into the 49er World Championship at Sail Melbourne

Taking place as part of Sail Melbourne the 49er World Championships is due to get underway soon. With 13 nations qualified for the Beijing Games, including Australia, and a place automatically going to host nation China, the five remaining places will be decided at this Championship, putting the pressure on a number of international competitors.

The championship is also the last Worlds before the Beijing Olympics. As such it is interesting to note that in many ways this Worlds will be easier than the 2007 event in Cascais while in other ways it will be harder. Firstly as a great deal of Olympic selection has already taken place so some of the top names will not be at the event. As an example Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks - World champions in 2003 and 2006 and runners up in 2004 and 2005 - who missed out on Olympic selection for Skandia Team GBR this year, will not be attending. Also absent are the two American teams Dalton Bergan/Zack Mazam and Morgan Larson/Pete Spaulding both of whom lost out to Tim Wadlow and Chris Rast at the US Olympic Trials back in October.

Although a number of top names will not be present at the event those that are there - and there are still a great many of them will be either vying for Olympic selection for themselves or for their country - or gearing up for the Olympics themselves in the summer. This all means the fleet in Melbourne will all be at the very top of their game and will all be looking for the best results possible, with little conservative sailing going on.



The form

Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes (GBR):

After a long time sitting as the second ranked British 49er pairing Morrison and Rhodes have had a phenomenal last couple of seasons, culminating in their toppling Draper and Hiscocks and being selected as the British 49er representatives for the 2008 Olympics. In 2006 they came first at the European Championships and third at the World Championships. They followed this in 2007 with a win at the World Championships in Cascais and a win at the pre-Olympic regatta in China.

The Brits are particularly strong in the 49er and have a number of teams doing well. Morrison and Rhodes have clearly benefited from this strength in depth and are now one of the most consistent pairings on the circuit. They are rarely been outside the top five in regattas. The last time they were outside the top ten in an ISAF ranking regatta was 2005 when they were 11th at the Semaine Olympique Francaise.

Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez (ESP):

Back in 2001 this Spanish pairing were second at the 49er World Championships in Italy. Since then they have won the 2002 World Championships and European Championships and the 2004 World Championships, won the gold Medal at the 2004 Olympic Games and this year won the European Championships again. Their list of ISAF Grade 1 wins are more or less endless. They are one of the highest achieving and long standing 49er partnerships ever.

However, as much as Martinez and Fernandez have achieved they are still prone to posting the occasional disappointing result in pressured situations. At the 2006 World Championships they scored a lowly - for them - tenth position and then repeated this again this year when they scored tenth in Cascais. At the 2006 Olympic test event they were 11th, another disappointing result, although they made up for that by finishing in second at test event this year. Certainly this is a pair that have what it takes to win in Australia, the question is when it really matters will they post the results they need?

Rodian Luka and George Leonchuk (UKR):

Rodion Luka and George Leonchuk are another team with a wealth of experience. They have been sailing the 49er for ten years and took the silver medal at the Athens Olympic Games. But like Martinez and Fernandez, Luka and Leonchuk have had a disappointing season with a 14th position at the Worlds in Cascais, a 12th at the ‘07 Olympic Test Event and a 13th at the European Championships.

Pietro and Gianfranco Sibello (ITA):

The Sibello brothers are well known for their big breeze boat handling skills and speed. Although one of the top teams in the World it is interesting to note there results are surprisingly erratic. A number of podium finishes has seen the pairing do well in the ISAF Ranking list, however, they do tend to struggle at some of the bigger events.

Interestingly for a pair considered heavy weather exerts their best result this season came from the very light wind Breitling Regatta in Holland, which they won. Realistically this team could be almost anywhere inside the top ten at the Worlds but it is unlikely they will be outside of it.

Marcus Baur and Max Baumann (GER):

Marcus Baur is one of the longest standing 49er sailors and has, over the years enjoyed a great deal of success at the highest level, having twice represented his country at the Olympic Games.

A win in Kiel Week and a third at the Semaine Olympique Francaise this year both prove the German still has what it takes to get on the podium at significant regattas. However, a tenth at the European Championship and a 26th at the World Championships will be results he will want to forget about as he heads into this regatta. Interestingly, despite having sailed in twelve 49er World Championships, Baur has never won the event, although he has been second and finished in the top five six times. We can think of few out on the water that must want it as much as this team.

Nathan Outteridge and Ben Austin (AUS):

This pairing is at the head of the impressive 13 strong Australian contingent. In late 2004 this young team switched from the 470 to the 49er and have since made a huge impact on the class and are currently fifth in the ISAF ranking lists.

This year at the ISAF World Championships in Cascais they came away with the Bronze medal. At the Olympic Test Event in China they had an impressive series and may have won were it not for equipment failure in the final race which pushed them back to fifth overall. With Australia being the home of the skiff and the home of the 49er they will want to do what multiple 49er World Champion, Chris Nicholson, never achieved and walk away from the Olympics with a gold. For the time being, however, they will be looking to the Worlds and hoping for a win on home waters.

Nico Delle Karth and Nikolaus Resch (AUT):

Also worth keeping an eye on are these Austrians who were second at the World Championships this season. With a long history in the class they have been slowly improving over the years. They were tenth at the last Olympic Games in Athens and are now rarely outside of the top 15.


Schedule:

Sunday 30 December Pre Event Measurement, Registration, Inspection
Monday 31 December Pre Event Measurement, Registration, Inspection
Wednesday 2 January Measurement/Registration/Inspection
Wednesday 2 January Welcome
Thursday 3 January 1200 Practice Races
Friday 4 January Qualification Races
Saturday 5 January Qualification Races
Sunday 6 January Qualification Races
Monday 7 January Final Races
Tuesday 8 January Final Races
Wednesday 9 January Final Races
Wednesday 9 January Prize Giving and Closing Ceremony


The World Champions

Australia’s Chris Nicholson, sailing with various crews, recorded a hat-trick of world championship 49er wins, from 1997 through to 1999, but the the top sailing nation, Britain, has had a stranglehold in this high-performance class since winning the 2003, 2006 and 2007 world titles.

Britain’s top pair, Stevie Morrison and Ben Rhodes who scored victories in the 2006 European champions and in 2007, the Qingdao Olympic Test Event, worlds and Princess Sofia Trophy, along with lots of top three places at other Grade 1 events.

The pair arrived in Melbourne mid-December to prepare for their defence of the World’s and in a warning to other competitors, the super two, who are undoubtedly the benchmarks in the class, have also been undergoing a strict training regime at home, both on and off the water, including attending a cycling camp and doing some climbing.
“It seems to have paid off,” says Rhodes. “At a recent fitness test, our results were pretty good. We’re now looking forward to getting sailing fitness back, but that comes with long hours of intensive on-water training. We’re both really excited, especially after the long break that we’ve had, and can’t wait to get back into training in Melbourne.”

Before them, fellow countrymen Chris Draper and Simon Hiscocks, won the World’s in 2003 and 2006, were runners-up in 2004 and 2005, with a bronze medal from the 2004 Athens Games and Hiscocks' silver medal at Sydney 2000.

Entry list

AUS	Lachlan Pearman	Aron Gavin
AUS	Kynan Wall	Nicholas Brownie
AUS	Nathan Outteridge	Ben Austin
AUS	William Phillips	Jon Newman
AUS	Jonathan Spencer	Tim Spencer
AUS	Luke Parkinson	Paul Kelly
AUS	Aaron Linton	Robert Cordingley
AUS	Samuel Phillips	andrew churcher
AUS	Warwick Rooklyn	Timothy Austin
AUS	Emma Spiers	Nick Randolph
AUS	Andrew Griffits	Mitchell Buckingham
AUS	David Mann	Torvar Mirsky
AUS	Clint Marshall	Ty Marshall
AUS	David O'Connor	Iain Jensen
AUS	Murray Gordon	Hamish Roughley
AUS	paul peters	matt brooman
AUS	Jamie Grant
AUT	Nico Luca Marc Delle Karth	Nikolaus Leopold Resch
AUT	Christoph Sieber	Clemens Kruse
BRA	Rafael Gagliotti	Henrique Gomes
BRA	Andre Fonseca	Rodrigo Duarte
BRA	marcelo Bellotti	Sidney Bloch
CAN	Gordon Cook	ben remocker
CAN	Billy Gooderham	Ian Hogan
CAN	Topher kingsley-Williams
CHN	Fei Li	Xianqiang Hu
CHN	Wuzhi Lin	Boxiong Zhou
CHN	Zijin Wen	Xuehai Zhuang
CRO	Goran Ivankovic	Ivan Ivankovic
CRO	Pavle Kostov	Petar Cupac
DEN	Peter Krüger Andersen	Dennis Dengsø Andersen
DEN	Peter Hansen	SOREN HANSEN
DEN	Jonas Warrer	Martin Kirketerp
ESP	ALONSO FEDERICO	ALONSO ARTURO
ESP	IKER MARTINEZ	XABIER FERNANDEZ
EST	tonis haavel	lenart kivistik
FIN	Ilmari Kuusi	Jacob Granqvist
FIN	JAN Gahmberg	Kristoffer Donner
FIN	Janne Uusi-Autti	Kalle Bask
FIN	Lauri Lehtinen	Heikki Soininen
FRA	DYEN EMMANUEL	ROCHERIEUX YANN
FRA	CHRISTIDIS stéphane	LAGRAVIERE m
FRA	Julien d'Ortoli	Noé Delpech
FRA	alexandre monteau	damien guillou
GBR	Stevie Morrison	Ben Rhodes
GBR	Dylan Fletcher	Alain Sign
GBR	John Pink	Simon Wheeler
GBR	Richard Mason	Tom Peel Peel
GBR	Paul Campbell-James	Mark` Asquith
GBR	dave evans	alex hopson
GER	Marcus Baur	Hannes Baumann
GER	Jan Peter Peckolt	Hannes Peckolt
GER	Leopold Fricke	Lorenz Huber
GRE	dionisis dimou	michalis pateniotis
GRE	ATHANASIOS PACHOUMAS	ATHANASIOS SIOUZIOS
GRE	ALFONSO PANAGIOTIDIS	GEORGE PANAGIOTIDIS
HKG	Richard Knight	Mike Halkes (Ho Wai Ho)
IRL	MARCUS SPILLANE	ROSS NOLAN
IRL	russell mcgovern	matthew mcgovern
ISV	Anthony Kotoun	Cy Thompson
ITA	Piero Sibello	Gianfranco Sibello
ITA	Giuseppe Angilella	Pietro Zucchetti
JPN	Kenjiro Todoroki	kenji Takahashi
JPN	akira ishibashi	yukio makino
NED	Daan Schutte	Wilco Stavenuiter
NOR	Christopher Gundersen	Frode Bovim
NZL	Kevin Borrows	Andrew Fenwick
NZL	Peter Graham	Rory Godman
POL	MARCIN CZAJKOWSKI	KRZYSZTOF KIERKOWSKI
POL	TOMASZ STANCZYK	PAWEL KUZMICKI
POR	Jorge Lima	Francisco Andrade
RSA	Clynton Wade-Lehman	Joe de Kock
SWE	Jonas Lindberg	Kalle Torlén
UKR	George Leonchuk	Rodion Luka
URU	Santiago Silveira	Diego Stefani
USA	Joey Pasquali	Rory Giffen
USA	Tim Wadlow	Chris Rast
USA	John Heineken	Matt Noble
USA	John Gilmore	Cooper Dressler
USA	Jonathan Goldsberry	charlie smythe