More medals on cards for hungry Brits?
Skandia Team GBR’s summer medal assault continues this weekend as the Women’s Laser Radial European Championships get underway in Denmark while Brits are well poised for podium glory at the Finn Worlds and Star Europeans.
Performance squad trio Andrea Brewster, Charlotte Dobson and Christina Bassadone head the British cast at the Radial Europeans, which are taking place in Charlottenlund, Denmark with racing starting tomorrow (Saturday 11 July).
Among those bidding for European glory in Denmark will be reigning World Champion Sarah Steyaert (FRA) and defending European Champion Sari Multala (FIN).
Racing for the ladies is scheduled over six consecutive days, with a qualifying series of eight races followed by a finals series of four races, with the medals set to be presented on Thursday (16 July).
Meanwhile, rising Skandia Team GBR Finn star Giles Scott is poised for the biggest race of his career as he goes for Finn World Cup glory in Copenhagen tomorrow.
Huntingdon’s Scott, who only turned 22 in June, goes into the Finn Worlds double points medal race sat in third place overall just five points adrift of Beijing 2008 silver medallist Zach Railey (USA) at the top of the pack.
Having picked up a 13th from the first race of today (Friday) – race nine overall – Scott, the 2008 Under 21 Finn World Champion, hit back in style to claim race 10 victory and put himself in a solid position looking ahead to tomorrow’s medal showdown.
Scott will be joined in the medal race by Skandia Team GBR teammates Ed Wright and Andrew Mills, although Wright, who had held the overnight lead going into today’s racing, will curse the Black Flag Disqualification (BFD) he received in race nine, which effectively ended his hopes of landing any silverware.
Wright recovered well with a race 10 second but sits ninth overall with Mills 10th. Fellow Brit Mark Andrews lies in 11th and narrowly misses the cut for the medal race. The medal race is due for the off at 11am local time / 12pm British time.
Just across the Baltic Sea, 2008 Olympic Star champions Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson will also be looking to add to their trophy collection with victory at the 2009 Star Europeans in Kiel, Germany.
With just one race possible today due to storms causing a three-hour delay to the start of racing, Percy and Simpson, who led the field following yesterday’s lay day, finished third to put them second overall going in to the final day of the regatta.
The Brits sit just a point behind leaders Robert Scheidt / Bruno Prada (BRA) and four ahead of third-placed Freddie Loof / Johan Tillander (SWE).
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