Gold for Ayton and Clark

At the finale of Olympic classes racing at Kiel Week

The sun returned and racing finished for the Olympics classes today in the first part of Kieler Woche, the penultimate stage of the ISAF Sailing World Cup. Competitors have had to endure some long days on the water at this years Kieler Woche, which began with blustery wind and waves producing some exciting sailing and then became a crawl to struggle through the schedule with very light and shifty conditions across all course areas. The race committee had to work extremely hard to swap the courses and re-arrange the schedule, often finishing racing late in the evening. After five days of racing the medal races were a fitting finale for the 680 crews competing in the classes of the Olympic competition.

"When we saw the forecast this morning we were a bit afraid because it said that the wind will drop again during the day. But suddenly we had the breeze we were looking for and could organise fair races in all classes," chairman of the Kieler Woche Jobst Richter explained.

The home nation, Germany shared the biggest medal haul with the USA, both with four medals but no golds. Great Britain and Australia came out on top, GBR with two golds and one silver and Australia with two golds and a bronze.Medal races were scheduled to take place on three race courses in the Stranderbucht using the customary short windward/leeward courses. The first to finish was the Men’s 470 class on the North course whilst the Finns completed their medal race on the Middle course. The RS:X Men and Women’s windsurfers sailed a windward/leeward leg with a slalom finish in front of the crowded spectator fleet.

Men’s 470: Australians Matt Belcher and Malcolm Page finished the job by winning the first of the gold medals at Kiel with a second place in the medal race. Having already bagged four straight bullets they were virtually assured of the gold medal but the Swedes Anton Dahlberg and Sebastian Ostling sailed a good medal race to keep the Aussies concentrating and thus claimed the silver. The former world and European champions Sime Fantala and Igor Marenic of Croatia secured the bronze. The win means the Aussie team, who have sailed every ISAF Sailing World Cup this year, go into an unassailable lead in the ISAF Sailing World Cup standings to win in the 470 class. Dahlberg and Ostling (SWE) move into the second spot in the World Cup standings.

Women’s 470: The two British blondes Sarah Ayton and Saskia Clark capped off an excellent week claiming their first Sailing World Cup win in the 470 class. They finished the medal race with a fourth to secure the gold medal by four points from one of two Swedish crews in the top ten, Lisa Ericson and Astrid Gabrielson. The bronze medal goes to Henriette Koch and Lene Sommer of Denmark.

49er: The breeze had just lifted a shade in the early afternoon creating an exciting finale to the 49er regatta. The medal race went down to the wire, literally! While the Austrians Nico Delle Karth and Nikolous Resch won the medal race from German crew Lennart Briesenick-Pudenz and Morten Massmann, the race for third and the gold medal could not be decided by a photo finish for third, which meant the gold medal had to be decided on count back with the British pair of John Pink and Rick Peacock claiming it on a better number of third places, (both teams having the same number of first and second places). "It is our first ISAF Sailing World Cup win" confirmed Pink, "It was a tough week, not many races and close on points. It was very light, shifty and variable conditions. It went down the last race." "It’s good to replicate medal races and a confidence boost going into the Europeans in a few days time."

This meant the Danish crew of Allan Norregaard and Peter Lang had to settle for silver with Delle Karth and Resch taking the bronze. As a result the Austrians extend their lead at the top of the 49er World Cup standings. Most of the crews racing here in Kiel will now make their way to Sopot in Poland for their European championships starting in just over a week’s time.

Star: Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada of Brazil squeezed into the gold medal position with a seventh in the medal race, chased hard by the German crew of Johannes Babendererde and Timo Jacobs. The German crew finished second in the medal race and just short of the gold medal by a solitary point. The American crew of Mark Mendelblatt and Magnus Liljedahl closed in on the bronze medal keeping the remaining German crews at bay. There were four German Stars in the medal race. Norwegians Elvind Melleby and Petter Morland Pedersen finished down in tenth place overall but maintain an unbeatable position at the top of the ISAF Sailing World Cup Standings in the Star class.

Finn: It was not the plan for Rafael Trujillo (ESP), he started as favourite going into the medal race but with a ninth in the medal race he lost his chance to beat his rival Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) and had to settle for bronze place on the podium. The young Croatian sailor Gaspic displayed his peak form again today after recently winning the European championship and the Delta Lloyd Regatta in Medemblik. Gaspic came in fourth in the medal race to snatch the victory from Olesksiy Borysov of the Ukraine. Trujillo still leads the World Cup standings in the Finn with Gaspic just behind with one regatta remaining.

See Robert Deaves' Finn Focus at the bottom of this page

Womens RS:X: A bitter end at Kieler Woche for Olga Maslivets (UKR) who led the whole fleet right from the start on Saturday but failed in the medal race with a ninth place, dropping her to fifth overall. With a second place in the medal race Agata Brygo (POL) catapulted on to the podium with Jessica Crisp of Australia taking the bronze. Blanca Manchon takes the lead in the Sailing World Cup standings having sailed all but one of the 2009-10 ISAF Sailing World Cup regattas. Bryony Shaw (GBR) moves up to second in the standings.

Men’s RS:X: Julien Bontemps of France sailed a faultless regatta of eight races, scoring seven consecutive bullets! The silver medallist from Beijing 2008 won the medal race and as a result, the gold medal and the lead in the overall ISAF Sailing World Cup standings. On his tail all week was Ivan Pastor from Spain who finished fourth in the medal race securing silver at Kieler Woche and also becomes joint leader of the World Cup rankings in the RS:X class with Bontemps. Michal Majewski of Poland beat off his fellow Polish team mates to claim the bronze.

Laser: Double world champion Tom Slingsby of Australia only had to sail a conservative medal race to keep his closest rivals at bay to claim the gold in the Laser fleet. Clay Johnson (USA) had steadily improved throughout the regatta and raced a good medal race to jump onto the podium in silver medal position. Johnson also jumps up into the top six in the ISAF Sailing World Cup standings in the Laser class in the process. Home nation sailor Phillipp Buhl of Germany has sailed a much improved regatta here in Kiel to grab a well deserved bronze medal.

Laser Radial: A second Kieler Woche win goes to Paige Railey (USA). From third place after the qualification rounds and lagging two points behind the leader, Paige Railey finished the medal race in fourth place, ahead of Franziska Goltz (GER) and Maiken Foght Schütt (DEN). Paige Railey steps up to the podium for the gold medal. Second place in the medal race and silver on the podium goes to Franziska Goltz (GER) who was more then happy with her result: "That was my best result ever and I trained very hard for it. Now I am looking forward to the world championship in September in Great Britain. But my main target is the 2012 Olympics in Weymouth."

Despite leading the regatta all week Tatiana Drozdovskaya (BLR) dropped off the podium finishing down in ninth spot in the medal race. Her only consolation is that she has gained enough world cup points to take the overall lead in the Laser Radial fleet with only the finale to come in Weymouth.

2.4 mR: There is no medal races in the 2.4 mR class but another two fleet races and it became a pursuit race for Heiko Kroeger (GER). Over the last five days of racing with 14 races, he climbed from sixth place on Saturday to his fifth Kieler Woche win. "This was very tough. I did not believe before this morning I could do it. I am very happy now to be again on the podium," stated Heiko Kroeger (GER) who finished ahead Helena Lucas (GBR) and Thierry Schmitter (NED).

Women’s Match Racing: The Women’s Match Racing competition become a bit of a marathon with long days on the water, often not returning until sunset. The quarters, semis and finals were all completed on medal race day and the eventual winner was a delighted Ekaterina Skudina from Russia, who triumphed over world number two Claire Leroy of France in the final.

"I am really happy, especially today as we were a little behind the schedule and after a weeks sailing we are very tired." She seemed to revel in the light and shifty conditions, "I was born in Moscow and sailing on the lakes in Moscow, its good for us, it’s my favourite conditions. It means a lot to me to win here and especially for my crew."

Olympic class top 10 results:

470er M (5): 1. Mathew Belcher / Malcolm Page (AUS) 1,1,1,1,4,8; 2. Anton Dahlberg / Sebastian Östling (SWE) 5,3,3,4,2,17; 3. Sime Fantela / Igor Marenic (CRO) 4,2,2,1,12,21; 4. Mantis Panagiotis / Paul Kagialis (GRE) 1,3,2,11,8,25; 5. Matsunaga Tetsuya / Imamura Kimihiko (JPN) 2,5,5,10,14,36; 6. Staurt McNay / Graham Biehl (USA) 5,4,18,4,6,37; 7. Pablo Santurde / Alejandro Ramos (ESP) 6,6,8,8,10,38; 8. Vladimir Chaus / Denis Gribanov (RUS) 8,12,7,2,18,47; 9. Adam Roberts / Nick Martin (USA) 9,4,11,9,16,49; 10. Ben Saxton / David Kohler (GBR) 3,11,4,15,20,53;

470er W(5): 1. Sarah Ayton / Saskia Clark (GBR) 2,1,7,10,8,28; 2. Lisa Ericson / Astrid Gabrielsson (SWE) 4,7,13,2,6,32; 3. Henriette Koch / Lene Sommer (DEN) 1,5,8,21,2,37; 4. Kathrin Kadelbach / Friederike Belcher (Berlin) 10,4,5,20,4,43; 5. Marina Gallego / Julia Rita (ESP) 8,3,14,9,12,46; 6. Tara Pacheco / Berta Betanzos (ESP) 39,2,1,3,10,55; 7. Agnieszka Skrzypulec / Jolanta Ogar (POL) 20,6,4,18,14,62; 8. Annina Wagner / Marlene Steinherr (Kiel) 3,10,6,27,16,62; 9. Tina Lutz / Susann Beucke (Bergen) 5,39,3,1,18,66; 10. Ingrid Söderström / Linnéa Wennergren (SWE) 7,8,9,25,22,71;

Laser (5): 1. Tom Slingsby (AUS) 1,1,1,3,6,12; 2. Clay Johnson (USA) 4,9,5,1,2,21; 3. Philipp Buhl (Sonthofen) 5,4,2,2,10,23; 4. Pavlos Kontides (CYP) 4,5,3,7,8,27; 5. Simon Grotelüschen (Kiel) 1,2,5,8,12,28; 6. Thomas Ryan (AUS) 10,3,6,6,4,29; 7. Michael Leigh (CAN) 4,3,2,1,20,30; 8. Wannes van Laer (BEL) 3,13,2,3,14,35; 9. Mike Bullot (NZL) 5,11,1,4,16,37; 10. Karol Porozynski (POL) 3,11,4,7,18,43;

Finn (6): 1. Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) 3,4,3,5,(17),8,23; 2. Oleksiy Borysov (UKR) 9,3,2,6,(25),4,24; 3. Rafael Trujillo (ESP) 8,1,1,1,(19),18,29; 4. Zach Railey (USA) 2,8,16,(22),2,2,30; 5. Jonathan Lobert (FRA) 4,2,10,(36),4,11,31; 6. Deniss Karpak (EST) 5,9,4,(10),1,14,33; 7. Björn Allansson (SWE) 10,(13),6,7,10,6,39; 8. Michael Maier (CZE) 8,7,(23),4,12,11,42; 9. Giorgio Poggi (ITA) 4,6,5,12,(24),20,47; 10. Florian Raudaschl (AUT) 15,5,(41),19,5,16,60;

Star (6): 1. Robert Scheidt / Bruno Prada (BRA) 1,4,2,1,(8),14,22; 2. Johannes Babendererde / Timo Jacobs (Lübeck) 2,(23),3,5,9,4,23; 3. Mark Mendelblatt / Magnus Liljedahl (USA) (12),7,5,3,1,12,28; 4. Robert Stanjek / Philipp Stanjek (Berlin) 7,8,(16),4,4,8,31; 5. Diego Negri / Enrico Voltolini (ITA) 4,5,4,2,(15),18,33; 6. Matthias Miller / Benedikt Wenk (Laupheim) 6,2,7,13,(16),6,34; 7. Johannes Polgar / Koy Markus (Hamburg) 5,3,6,10,(23),10,34; 8. Kunio Suzuki / Daichi Wada (JPN) 23,(23),1,11,3,2,40; 9. Andy Horton / James Lyne (USA) 3,9,(9),8,2,22,44; 10. Eivind Melleby / Petter Mørland Pedersen (NOR) (13),1,10,9,11,16,47;

Laser Radial W (5): 1. Raily Paige (USA) 2,3,6,2,(30),8,21; 2. Franziska Goltz (Kiel) 6,6,7,1,(31),4,24; 3. Maiken Foght Schütt (DEN) 7,10,5,1,(30),2,25; 4. Alberte Holm Lindberg (DEN) 5,1,2,4,(31),16,28; 5. Tatiana Drozdovskaya (BLR) 2,1,3,5,(30),18,29; 6. Krystal Weir (AUS) 7,2,5,11,(31),6,31; 7. Sarah Lihan (USA) 3,7,6,6,(30),12,34; 8. Nathalie Brugger (SUI) 4,5,3,8,(31),14,34; 9. Alicia Cebrián (ESP) 3,15,1,7,(31),10,36; 10. Sarah Gunni (DEN) 5,3,1,13,(31),20,42;

RS:X M (8): 1. Julien Bontemps (FRA) (2),1,1,1,1,1,1,2,8; 2. Ivan Pastor (ESP) 1,1,1,2,5,2,(5),8,20; 3. Grodzicki Lukasz (POL) (8),5,6,1,1,3,2,4,22; 4. Micha Majewski (POL) 1,2,2,2,2,10,(13),10,29; 5. Toni Wilhelm (Dogern) 6,3,7,3,2,(8),4,6,31; 6. Maksym Oberemko (UKR) 2,4,4,4,4,(7),6,12,36; 7. Michal Przybytek (POL) 3,3,4,3,3,6,(12),18,40; 8. Hyung Kwon Kim (KOR) 6,4,3,6,5,(12),8,14,46; 9. King Yin Chan (HKG) 11,(11),9,5,3,4,3,16,51; 10. Ho Tsun Leung (HKG) 5,6,5,5,6,9,(11),20,56;

RS:X W (7): 1. Agata Brygo (POL) 2,4,(9),7,2,1,4,20; 2. Blanca Manchon (ESP) 4,2,4,(24),1,4,8,23; 3. Jessica Crisp (AUS) 6,6,7,2,4,(7),2,27; 4. Moana Delle (Soest) 8,(9),6,3,3,5,6,31; 5. Olga Maslivets (UKR) 1,1,1,4,(7),6,18,31; 6. Jannicke Stalstrom (NOR) 5,8,(10),1,5,2,14,35; 7. Bryony Shaw (GBR) (9),3,2,6,6,3,16,36; 8. Maja Dziarnowska (POL) 3,5,3,10,(11),10,12,43; 9. Demita Vega de Lille (MEX) 11,10,8,8,12,(14),10,59; 10. Hei Man Chan (HKG) 10,7,5,11,(13),8,20,61;

49er (10): 1. John Pink / Rick Peacock (GBR) 6,2,3,1,9,9,(10),4,6,7,47; 2. Allan Norregaard / Peter Lang (DEN) 4,7,6,5,1,10,5,(11),2,7,47; 3. Nico Luca Marc Delle Karth / Nikolaus Leopold Resch (AUT) 9,3,7,2,5,5,11,6,(11),2,50; 4. Chris Draper / Peter Greenhalgh (GBR) 1,1,12,3,2,11,2,(13),8,10,50; 5. Dylan Fletcher / Alain Sign (GBR) 6,6,9,1,1,4,(14),3,7,18,55; 6. Emil Toft Nielsen / Simon Toft Nielsen (DEN) 7,7,4,2,5,1,4,7,(9),20,57; 7. Lennart Briesenick-Pudenz / Morten Massmann (Flensburg) 4,3,7,6,17,(25),1,8,10,4,60; 8. Yann Rocherieux / Morgan Lagraviere (FRA) 3,2,4,15,4,12,6,(26),1,14,61; 9. Peter Krüger Andersen / Nicolai Thorsell (DEN) 15,4,1,10,(21),8,8,5,5,12,68; 10. Erik Storck / Trevor Moore (USA) 10,1,(18),8,6,3,15,2,16,16,77;

Womens Match Race: 1 Ekatarina Skudina (RUS); 2 Claire Leroy (FRA); 3 Anna Tunnicliffe (USA); 4 Genny Tulloch (USA); 5 Katie Spithill (AUS); 6 Silke Hahlbrock (GER);

Paralympic class
2.4mR (12x): 1. Heiko Kröger (Timmerhorn) 1,3,9,12,4,4,6,6,3,4,5,(14),1,3,61; 2. Helena Lucas (GBR) 17,6,6,1,8,8,7,1,1,1,4,(35),6,8,74; 3. Thierry Schmitter (NED) 7,1,1,14,5,7,14,12,8,(14),3,3,7,1,83; 4. Barend Kol (NED) 16,4,2,3,2,9,5,3,11,(18),10,6,2,12,85; 5. Jens Als Andersen (DEN) 6,8,3,4,6,12,4,10,(13),6,6,2,11,10,88; 6. Bjørnar Erikstad (NOR) 5,5,11,6,10,5,1,(35),7,7,9,12,4,7,89;

Full results here

Robert Deaves' Finn Focus

After another light and shifty race, Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) took the Finn class in Kieler Woche from Oleksiy Borysov (UKR) and Rafa Trujillo (ESP). The medal race was eventually won by Zach Railey (USA).

Sailed in an offshore breeze of 3-6 knots with a lot of different pressure over the course area, there were lots of place changes during the 30 minute race.

Having sailed the regatta of his life this week, Oleksiy Borysov led at the first mark followed by Mike Maier (CZE), Rafa Trujillo and Zach Railey. The fleet was pretty evenly split on the first upwind and Trujillo looked to have the race and the series under control in third place with his main opposition some way back.

Maier immediately headed left on the downwind with Borysov and Trujillo favouring the right. The top few boats were very tight around the bottom mark with Borysov still leading, but Railey was about to make his move.

Railey said, "I was able to get out in front and round with the top group at the first weather mark. We stayed pretty much the same order down first downwind and then the second upwind got pretty tricky. It looked like the left was going to pay, but the wind was very patchy. I was able to make it up the middle left and round first just ahead of UKR."

However, it all went wrong for Trujillo on the second upwind. He said, "I made poor decisions. I was not thinking clear. I positioned myself to the left of the fleet and had less wind so lost a lot of ground. But without counting the medal race I am pretty happy this week, but I do need to work on the medal race." Trujillo ended up ninth in the race but just hung on to the bronze medal.

Railey continued, "The two of us had a pretty good fight down the last downwind for the race win. Behind us the fleet was really changing all the time with the shifts and puffs and I was glad to have been ahead as there were some big gains and losses for guys. I feel good about the race win. I had a tough race in first one yesterday so to bounce back and come back strong with the last race yesterday and medal race today feels good."

Deniss Karpak (EST), who started the day in third, said, "Today was a disastrous conditions. There were holes with no wind at all, 45 degrees shifts... I was a bit unlucky and was last at the first mark first time, so I was sailing to try and not be last. Zach and Oleksiy were extremely fast and got it right tactically. So, I lost the medal, but I'm happy to be sixth overall, and to be in the medal race for the first time this year."

In winning the race, Railey recorded his second major medal race win of the year with Borysov in second and Björn Allansson (SWE) moving through into third. A fourth place for the European Champion, Kljakovic Gaspic, was enough to take the week by just one point. With just two major regattas left this season, the Croatian has won the last three and will go into Sail for Gold in Weymouth and the World Championships in San Francisco as one of the absolute favourites.

Weymouth will be the final regatta in the ISAF Sailing World Cup, in which Trujillo has now taken a two point lead from Kljakovic Gaspic and a five point lead from Railey. The previous leader and last year's winner, Ed Wright (GBR), drops to fourth place, some seven points off the lead.