Scott takes Finn gold

As the Princess Sofia Trophy concludes in Palma

The medals across ten Olympic events were decided on the final day of racing at ISAF Sailing World Cup Mallorca – Trofeo Princesa Sofia.

A light northerly breeze picked up as the day went on ensuring the full schedule of medal races across the ten Olympic events were completed.

Finn

Great Britain's Giles Scott found the going tough in the Finn medal race as he came through in eighth. Fortunately for the Brit he had a solid advantage heading into the final day and picked up gold.

Scott got the better of his gold medal rival Thomas Le Breton in a pre-start match race. “I was trying to put him towards the wrong end of the line – it was a pretty biased line towards the starboard end so I engaged him pretty early and didn’t let him tack onto port or gybe onto port to get to the starboard end,” the 26-year-old explained.

“I just held him out to the pin end of the line, left him with about 20 seconds to go and got a good start which enabled me to be on top of him. So that side of things was pretty good. It was super tight towards the finish. I ended the race a little frustrated to be honest – I picked up two yellow flags, which of course I thought were unfair, but I would. The race up until the windward mark I thought I got pretty much spot on. Thomas ended up finishing just one place in front of me which was enough for the win which was great.”

Scott had been strong all week and from nine races secured four victories. Despite the win he wasn't 100% happy with his final day: "Massive frustration really, especially after having done what I thought was quite a good job early on in the race, to then make two very silly errors is pretty stupid. I was pretty frustrated towards the end but thankful that I had done enough to come away with the regatta win.”

With this Palma victory, Scott has remained unbeaten since his full-time return to Olympic campaigning following his stint America’s Cup sailing last year.

The Portland-based sailor is content with his performance this week, but believes there’s more to come: “I’m very happy – I can’t complain. I do feel there’s still a lot to work on. I’m pretty happy with where I am on the heavy weather sailing but there are a few little things I need to amend for the lighter stuff I think. I’ve sailed very consistently and certainly have had the most consistent series out of anyone in the fleet, which I think is very positive so there’s a lot to build on.”

Le Breton's compatriot and London 2012 bronze medallist Jonathan Lobert ended up in third. The Medal Race bullet went to Andrew Wills (GBR) who finished in fourth overall, while fellow Brit, Ed Wright, was eighth in today’s race, and eighth overall.

Men's 470

The Men's 470 lead went to and fro all week, but Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic (CRO) held their nerve to add a gold medal to their two silvers so far from the 2013-2014 ISAF Sailing World Cup series.

Fantela and Marenic played second fiddle to Lucas Calabrese and Juan de la Fuente (ARG) at ISAF Sailing World Cup Qingdao and to Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS) at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne. A disappointing fourth at ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami followed before they took their first gold of the series in Mallorca.

Holding a seven point lead going into the medal race the Croatians had breathing space as a sixth place sealed the deal. On their victory Fantela said: "In two words: Really happy. We worked quite hard this winter, we've been to all of the World Cups and we really like that we won. For us this is the hardest race since we started and winning this means a lot to us.”

He added: "Winning here is really special. All week we sailed really good and to end the regatta with such an interesting Medal Race was really fun and we are really happy with our performance.”

An OCS for Lucas Calabrese and Juan de la Fuente saw the Argentineans drop out of the top three. Sweden's Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergstrom were the benefactors of the Argentineans demise and having won the Medal Race they slipped into second.

ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Mat Belcher and Will Ryan (AUS) finished fifth in the Medal Race and whilst they end tied on 72 points with the Swedes they take bronze by nature of count back.

Women's 470

London 2012 gold medallist Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie (NZL) won the Women's 470 medal race and with it gold as they made it three consecutive 200-point regatta wins in a row. They took top spot at ISAF Sailing World Cup Qingdao and added Mallorca honours to their list.

Aleh explained the day: "It was a pretty stressful Medal Race, it went well for us but it was pretty hard work. The French were seven points clear of us and we knew we had to get three points between us to beat them. We stayed really close and came out of the start better, from there we just tried to sail the race, get away and get boats in between and we just managed to get enough boats in.

"It took us a while to fire, we were a bit slow at the beginning but we've come right by the end.”

France's Camille Lecointre and Hélène Defrance had held the lead in the Women's 470 for the large part of the week but came undone on the final day as a sixth knocked them off gold medal position. They were made to settle for silver while bronze went to Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark (GBR).

Mill and Clark, the London 2012 silver medallists turned back as a precaution at the beginning of Saturday’s double-points 10-boat race, thinking they may have been OCS, but pulled back through the fleet. Although Clark was happy with their podium finish, she insists their focus was not solely on the medals at this first major event back for the duo: “Importantly for us it was just about seeing where we were within the fleet, to see what the fleet had been up to over the winter and where we fitted in with that,” she explained. “I think we’ve come away from here quite happy about the winter programme that we put together and knowing the gains to go forward with in the few months before the big regattas.”

49er

2013 49er World Champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke (NZL) came into the final day with a healthy lead in the 49er. They maintained their consistency to pick up a deserved gold.

With 30 points from three single point races on the cards, anything was possible and even though they came into the final day with a 21 point lead, Burling and Tuke could have been overthrown.

The experienced duo, who also won silver at the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition, were steady all day. After racing Tuke said: "It was really fun. We sailed really well and did what we had to do in the first race after the lead we'd created throughout racing this week. We then managed to get a win and it wasn't such a great final race but it was a lot of fun.”

Burling echoed his team mate, "We obviously went into the Medal Race with a pretty comfortable margin but we still had a bit of work to do just to finish it off. We managed to do that in the first race and then we had a bit of fun.”

The 2013 49er World Champions are buoyed by their week and head into the remainder of the year full of confidence. Tuke added: "What we've got going on is going pretty well and we haven't been beaten in a while so we'll just keep doing what we're doing. We certainly had our work cut out this week but we sailed better and better as it went on.”

There was no change in the remaining podium spots as Jonas Warrer and Peter Lang (DEN) added silver to their ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami gold whilst Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign (GBR) won bronze.

Fletcher and Sign got the perfect start to their day, winning the first of the three races, but Sign admitted they struggled on the downwind legs of the second two races in the light and shifty breeze: “It’s more mentally challenging in that stuff. You’ve got to really think on your feet, and try and be a step ahead – a bit like playing chess – and I guess three of four places ahead to where you want to be.

“We had a good first one, but then were just struggling downwind a little bit and were getting rolled by a few boats. We were doing all the right things up the beat and threw it all away downwind, so we’ve got a few work-ons before now and Hyeres and hopefully they’ll come through for next time.”

Fellow British sailing team crews Dave Evans-Ed Powys and John Pink-Stuart Bithell were also in 49er medal race action, finishing fifth and seventh overall.

49erFX

Brazil's Martine Grael and Kahena Kunze maintained control in the 49erFX to take gold on the final day of racing.

With three single point quick fire races on the 49erFX race course anything was possible. The Brazilians raced steady and in three races they recorded a 5-3-7 to finish seven points clear of Ida Marie Baad Nielsen and Marie Thusgaard Olsen (DEN) in silver medal position.

After racing Kunze said: "We are really happy about our week and reached our goal and hope to go to Hyeres and do the same thing there.”

Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth (GBR) picked up bronze, proving their boat-handling and consistency in the light conditions. The duo placed 4,5,5 in the three races.

“We’ve had a really good winter of training but we’ve never been able to get on the podium and had a bit of a disastrous Worlds last summer. At the beginning of the season we wanted to get back on track and prove to ourselves that we could do it,” Ainsworth explained.

“There are certainly plenty of things still on the to do list and a couple more have been added, but it’s nice some progress being made on some fairly big areas we were working on this winter,” added Helensburgh’s Dobson. “I think to come away with a medal at the first regatta of the season is the icing on the cake and a really good platform to move forward.”

Men's RS:X

Having fought hard for valuable points all week Pierre Le Coq (FRA) picked up a deserved victory in the Men's RS:X. He fended off a final assault from race winner Byron Kokkalanis (GRE) and was pleased with his week: "The Medal Race was really close and we were fighting a lot with all the other guys. The positions were really close right up until the last downwind so it was a really nice fight. I didn't have a very good start but I used my speed and came back up so I kept my first place.”

Kokkalanis was devastatingly quick on the final downwind as he used every last ounce of strength he had left. Punching his sail to the sound of jubilant admirers he moved up from fifth to second and was thrilled with how things went on the final day, "It was one of the most intense races I've had because yesterday I had two really bad races. I came into the Medal Race disappointed. On the downwind I had to give it all and I managed to catch planing so that pushed me into first place and into second overall. I'm really happy after yesterday's bad day.”

Bronze went the way of France's Louis Giard who finished the Medal Race in third. ISAF Sailing World Cup Mallorca acted as the French Men's RS:X qualifier for the Aquece Rio - International Sailing Regatta 2014. The two spots available went to Le Coq and Louis Giard (FRA).

Britain's Nick Dempsey finished sixth.

Women's RS:X

Charline Picon (FRA) came into the Women's RS:X Medal Race with an unassailable 42 point lead. With gold wrapped up the pressure was off the French sailor and she enjoyed the last race of the regatta, coming in third.

Picon was dominant and was visually delighted with her week following racing: "I'm very happy with the whole competition because I was very consistent. My worst race was ninth. We had all conditions here with planing, no wind and pumping and I'm happy with my work in the winter.”

The fight for the remaining podium spots was on with any one of Lilian De Geus (NED), Blanca Manchon (ESP), Bryony Shaw (GBR) and Flavia Tartaglini (ITA) in with a shout of the medals.

De Geus was the leading sailor of the four going into the Medal Race and managed to hold on to second overall. The Dutch sailor said, "It was a nice battle with Blanca and I managed to stay in second place so I am very happy.” Manchon narrowly finished behind De Geus with bronze going her way.

Britain's Bryony Shaw finished fourth.

Nacra 17

Billy Besson and Marie Riou went into the Nacra 17 medal race with an unassailable 22 point lead and the gold medal sewn up.

With the pressure off the French pair enjoyed the race and came through in second to round up an excellent week. Besson explained: "Today the race was great. We had a lot of points between us and second. Our start was bad but we came back with good racing to finish second.”

On his latest Nacra 17 victory, he added: "We are very happy to win here because it was a selection for the Olympic test event in Rio. We needed to prove ourselves. Palma was a really good World Cup. I love this place and I'm really happy to win.”

ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami gold medallists Vittorio Bissaro and Silvia Sicouri (ITA) added a World Cup silver to their collection having finished in fifth.

The heat was on for the remaining podium spot. Darren Bundock and Nina Curtis (AUS) did exactly what they needed to do to take bronze and kept the chasing pack at bay. A fourth in the Medal Race meant that they got the job done to walk away with a medal.

Britain's Lucy Macgregor-Andy Walsh won the Nacra 17 medal race but closed off their week in seventh, with Ben Saxton-Hannah Diamond a point ahead of their teammates in sixth.

Laser

Tom Burton (AUS) led the Laser Medal Race from start to finish as he jumped up the leader board to emphatically claim gold.

The ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne winner ventured into the final day third overall and sailed the medal race with intent from the word go. Sailing out in front of the chasing pack with clean wind in his sail, the Australian made amends for losing gold on the final day of the 2013 edition.

Immediately after the race finish a delighted Burton said: "My goal coming here was to win. Two years ago I came third and last year I came second and I wanted to keep stepping it up. I was really disappointed to not win here last year with the points I had and I'm really stoked to win it.

"It's been a tough week and I haven't been as consistent as I would have liked to have been but I had a good first day of finals to put me back in the game. All the points were pretty close. I wanted to have a good start. I had a really good first beat and all the guys were around me but it was a really close bunch in the end.”

Jean Baptiste Bernaz (FRA) finished the medal race in fourth and ended up just a single point behind Burton. Overnight leader Tonci Stipanovic (CRO) fell to third following a ninth.

Laser Radial

The Netherlands' Marit Bouwmeester had gold in the bag going into the Laser Radial Medal Race and sailed with ease on the final day.

A second in the Medal Race wrapped up what was a consistent display of Radial racing in Mallorca. "I'm very happy,” said Bouwmeester. "I managed to do well in all sorts of wind conditions and it's nice to get that confirmation.”

Evi Van Acker (BEL) engaged with Tuula Tenkanen (FIN) as she set her sights on overthrowing the Finnish sailor from silver medal spot. But it didn't turn out so well for the Belgian as she finished last in the medal race and out of the medal spots. Tenkanen had plenty of points to play with and took a ninth.

Great Britain's Chloe Martin took full advantage and picked up her first World Cup medal.. The Poole sailor saw off Van Acker to secure the third spot of the podium.

“It’s my first World Cup medal, so I’m delighted!” Martin enthused. “Me and my coach Hugh have worked really hard on the boat-handling and the speed side of stuff, so I’ve been really confident going into the races that I had the pace and the boat-handling to go with it. In the pressure moments I was keeping on top of doing all those things so it all went well.

“We’ll see how Hyeres goes – I just need to keep remembering the good things about this week and what I did well and keep trying to replicate them for the next event.”

Overall RYA Olympic Manager Stephen Park commented of the British performance: “We’ve had a full week with very mixed, that certainly served to keep the leaderboards changeable, and leaving some of our sailors wondering what might have been.

“Despite difficult conditions both for boats and people, and what appeared to be some inconsistencies in race management starting procedures, we’ve come away with reasonable haul of medals and sailors keen to build on this event and looking to upgrade what is a significant number of bronze medals to more shiny ones at the next World Cup in Hyeres which starts in two weeks’ time.

“We’ve had some good highlights this week,” Park continued, “including our dominance in the 2.4mR with Helena and Megan. Chloe Martin getting her World Cup medal is a great step forward, as well as good performances under pressure in the medal races from Hannah and Saskia, and excellent display of match racing by Giles Scott. It shouldn’t go unnoticed that Andrew Mills, and Lucy Macgregor and Andy Walsh won their medal races today as well.

“So it’s so far, so good. We’ve had a lot of sailors in the medal zone this week, which we’ll look to build on as the season progresses.”

Attention now turns to the final ISAF Sailing World Cup regatta of the 2013-2014 in Hyeres, France from 19-26 April 2014.