Star World title goes to Scheidt and Prada

Second Star world title for Brazilian legend

Brazil’s Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada have been crowned the new Star class World Champions at Perth 2011. For competitors in the remaining Gold fleets, it was their last chance to make the top ten and a place in Sunday’s four medal races: Women’s 470. 49er, Men’s RS:X and Laser.

Star

In today’s medal race on Bather’s Bay, Poland’s Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki led the fleet in a 13-knot sea breeze for most of the race and crossed the finish line first, followed by Norway’s Eivind Melleby Petter Morland Pedersen and the two German teams.

The Brazilians, who started the day with a 20 point lead finished fifth, more than enough to secure them overall gold. The pair won the last ISAF Worlds in Cascais in 2007, as well as silver in Beijing in 2008.

“It’s a big achievement because all my life when I was sailing Laser I was dreaming about sailing the Star and winning the World Championship one time, so managing to do it twice is a really big thing for me,” Scheidt said.

“This year we have improved a lot in our sailing and our main goal was always to do well here in Perth, so coming through this year and managing to peak at this moment is very special. It means that we are on the right track for the 2012 Olympics.”

His crew Bruno Prada added: “To be Star world champion I think is the biggest achievement that a sailor can have. To win two times is to be a part of the story of Star class, it means a lot. The Star class is very special. It’s the class of all the biggest names.’’

Silver went to Germany’s Robert Stanjek and Frithjof Kleen, while the USA’s Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Faith took bronze.

“Yesterday we qualified for the Olympics and that was the aim of coming here,” said Kleen. “Now we are even happier. The silver medal is just a little extra on top. To sail against Scheidt is amazing because he is a legend in sailing.”

Commenting on his bronze medal, American skipper Mark Mendelblatt said he had faced “tough competition” in Scheidt. “I have been sailing against Robert Scheidt for 20 years,” he said. “The thing about him is he is very difficult to beat when he is at his best. Everyone has great regattas and not so great regattas. All we can do is improve our level.”

Top 20 results:

49er

Today the inevitable happened with Aussie favourites Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen turning on the after burners. They will start tomorrow’s medal race with commanding 17 point lead. Outteridge and Jensen placed fifth, seventh and 10th today to bring their points tally to 85.

World number two Austria’s Nico Delle Karth and Nikolaus Resch also had a great day on the water, making a stunning come-back from 22nd place to make it into the top 10 thanks to three wins in the last two days.The Austrians posted two firsts and an eighth, putting them seventh overall with 123 points.

Despite holding first place throughout the week, John Pink and Rick Peacock (GBR) had a disappointing day, placing 24th in race 13 and 23rd in race 15, after slow starts left them at the back of the fleet in two of their day’s three races.

“It was a tough day and we didn’t do as well as we could have hoped, but we’re still hanging in there and in with a chance of a medal,” the 2009 World silver medallist Pink explained. “We’re third now with the possibility of second so it’s all still to play for. It would have been a bit nicer to have a slightly better day, but these things happen, and we’ll hopefully do well on the water tomorrow.

“It was a difficult start in the first race. It was kind of a gain feature left and we just didn’t get a very good start. We tried to double tack up a bit too late and we were sat on the line not moving when everyone was going really. In the second race we got off the line, we got a good start, we sailed well, we overtook boats and we were making gains all the way around the course which was good.

“Then coming into the third race, we knew what was winning in terms of the tactics for the day and we just executed our start badly again, annoyingly, and that set us up not very well for that beat. We made a few bad choices and that then put us back, and it’s always frustrating when you go backwards rather than forwards!”

As to their prospects in tomorrow’s medal race Pink said: “We’re as confident as we ever can be. We’ve sailed really well all week and we’re still in with a chance of a medal. If you’d said at the beginning of the week that we’d have the chance of doing as well as we have then we would probably have taken it. It’s just always frustrating when you go backwards.”

Stand-outs for Saturday’s racing also included France's Yann Rocherieux and Mathieu Frei, who battled closely with their teammate, Noe Delpech and Julien d’Ortoli, to cross the line second in race 13 and first in race 14.

Outteridge and Jensen are guaranteed a medal in Sunday’s final but must beat the Toft Nielsen brothers in order to secure the World Championship. Skandia Team GBR's Dave Evans and Ed Powys will also feature in Sunday’s 49er medal race, having made the cut in ninth overall.

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Laser

Fluky winds played havoc with the Laser Gold fleet’s final two races with two outsiders in the USA’s Rob Crane and Croatian Milan Vujasinovic claiming victories.

As the Laser Gold fleet went into its last two races today, the big question was whether Australia’s reigning Laser World Champion, Tom Slingsby, could gain the necessary 20 point lead to secure himself gold with a day to spare. In the event it was not to be, with Slingsby, who has won five of the 10 races so far, having his worst day posting 10th and 12th-place finishes. However, it still leaves him 14 points clear of German Simon Goteluschen, who came in under the radar with a second and a 23rd (his discard).

However the battle for the remaining podium spots will be a close one as just 11 points separate the second to seventh-placed boats, Austrian Andreas Geritzer, just four points behind second-placed Groteluschen at the end of race 10, moved from seventh to fourth after posting fifth and sixth placings.

Paul Goodison’s challenge was dented with 21,11 from his two races today, but in sixth place and just seven points from his teammate Nick Thompson, he still has a chance of a podium spot.

Meanwhile Thompson will look to make it a hat-trick of Worlds podium finishes in the Laser class when he heads out on Sunday. Thompson, who claimed bronze at the 2009 event and silver last year on home waters at Hayling Island, finished 31,10 in his two races but retains the bronze medal spot going into the final day.

“There are certainly a lot of guys who are chasing my tail and I’m not too far away from second so I think tomorrow it will be just about treating it as an open playing field,” said Thompson on his approach to Sunday’s finale. “There’s not much I can do other than try and do as best I can in the race. The points are all very close all the way through so I’ll try and win the race.”

Having a stellar day was the USA’s Rob Crane with victory in race 9 and second in race 10 for 14th overall, a big leap from 33rd at the start of the day.

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Women’s 470

Spain’s Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos look certain to finish on the podium leading the fleet on 49 points. This comes after a strong week on the water, with the exception of a lesser performance from the pair in the final day of fleet racing.

There was some close sailing in race 9 with a number of lead changes, but ultimately it was New Zealand’s Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie who crossed the line first in front of the Spaniards.

Race 10 saw the Spanish team slip back to 16th position, well behind race winners Skandia Team GBR’s Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark. The British duo, who have already got the ticket to go to London 2012 managed to convert their average week into a late surge into the top three of the 470 women’s event today, with the help of today’s win. They’re now sitting in third overall, six points behind the second-placed Israeli team, but with three crews poised ominously just behind them in the standings

“Now we’re looking back on our points we’re a bit gutted about that first race as we lost a few points which would’ve been nice to have going into tomorrow,” said Clark, who added that a good start will aid their pair’s prospects. “We’ve really struggled to get off the startline this week and actually in the two races that we have, the one we did today we came first and the one earlier in the week we came third. That’s really let us down this week. Other than that, from the first windward mark we’ve sailed really well. We just need to work out or starting and our first beat really. We’ll go full on into tomorrow to try and improve a bit and try and hold on to what we’ve got.”

Skandia Team GBR will have a second crew in the medal race, with Penny Clark and Katrina Hughes currently in seventh.

Pacheco and Betanzos’s closest competition going into the Medal Race is the Israeli duo of Gil Cohen and Vered Buskila, sitting 11 points behind on 60.

With only 10 points separating second and sixth places, competition for the remaining spots on the podium will be high.

Despite a disappointing start to the regatta Australia’s Elise Rechichi and Belinda Stowell earned a spot in the top 10, finishing third in race 9 and fifth in race 10 to qualify their class for London 2012.

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Men’s RS:X

There was fast wind and equally fast windsurfing for Men’s RS:X Gold fleet today, with Poland’s Piotr Myszka, Dutch favourite Dorian van Rijsselberge and Poland’s Przemyslaw Miarczynski filling the top three places overall. Just one point separates world number one Myszka on 24, and van Rijsselberge ogin into tomorrow’s Medal race.

Race 9 and 10 on Saturday produced mixed results and slightly shuffled the top 10.

The first race of the day was marked by two things; a constant divide of athletes and a consistent top three that lead for much of the race. Greece’s Andreas Cariolou took a third of the sailors to the left, while Beijing gold medallist Tom Ashley from New Zealand led the remaining two thirds right.

15 minutes into the race and a strong top three emerged with Ashley blazing the trail, followed by Piotr Myszka and Brazil’s Ricardo Winicki Santos.

After another split Skandia Team GBR’s Elliot Carney sped ahead, warding off teammate Nick Dempsey while Greece’s Byron Kokkalanis was tailed by Miarczynski.

Dorian van Risselberge appeared to be lost in the crowd for much of the race, but in a dramatic turn of events began to overtake his rivals, first Cariolou, then Santos. But despite his efforts, the Dutchman couldn’t gain enough pace to outdo Ashley and Myszka.

Ashley spent most of the race well out in front, but Myszka caught up to cross just one second later. That win saw Ashley move from 9th to 5th overall.

In race 10, no-one could come between the two Polish sailors Myszka and Miarczynski. Van Risselberge once again started poorly, but in the second race of the day he didn’t recover. Similarly, Israel’s Nimrod Mashich fell short of his recent winning streak, placing 8th and 9th on Saturday.

Having struggled with the Perth conditions this week, Nick Dempsey had his best day of the regatta, picking up 10,4 to finish in 13th overall and one place ahead of development squad sailor Elliot Carney in 14th.

The men’s RS:X Medal Race is scheduled to begin on Centre course at 1510 local time on Sunday.

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