Lack of wind tees up massive medal race day

Another medal race scheduled, another medal race postponed. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out if Micky Beckett can make the podium at his first Olympics, but there was good news elsewhere in the fleets.

Here’s what went down on day ten.

ILCA 7

We waited and waited, but wind on the Marseille medal race course, just a few hundred metres from the shore, never materialised.

Micky Beckett will go again tomorrow. He’s 15 points off silver medal position – a big ask to make up in a ten-boat race – but only five off bronze.

“These medal races, they're always chaotic,” Beckett said. “They're fast, and kind of anything can happen. So, I'm quite looking forward to it. I've really got nothing to lose.”

Nacra 17

John Gimson and Anna Burnet had to wait until the fifth day of racing to bank their first race win – and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Light winds in the early afternoon prevented the flying Nacra 17s from taking off, but the Tokyo 2020 silver medallists held their nerve under mounting pressure.

They end the day in the bronze medal position, tied on points with fourth-placed Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson of New Zealand, and six points behind Argentinian pair Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco.

“I think in terms of the mental toughness we've had in a really difficult week to just keep chipping away, keep grinding away and doing what we do, we're really happy with that,” Burnet said. “It's not over yet. We'll keep fighting until the end.”

Kite women

Ellie Aldridge was promoted to overall leader overnight as a protest against the race jury’s decision to give rival Elena Lengwiler redress was upheld. 

However the celebrations were shortlived, as she dropped her kite into the water in the fickle breeze on the Marseille course, missing the first race of the day.

Unfortunately it was to be the only race of the day, as the second race of the day – which Aldridge was leading – was abandoned.

Aldridge goes into the penultimate day of action in second, tied on points with French leader Lauriane Nolot.

“We normally have quite a lot of discards, so we can drop for quite a few races, but because we don't have enough races we won't have as many discards, so it just means that every race is really important,” she said. “I need to not make any mistakes tomorrow.”

Kite men

Connor Bainbridge rued two average race results in super light winds which drop him to eighth overall.

“It was definitely a blow today for me,” Bainbridge said. 

But the beauty of our racing is that it isn't over until the last day and I'm confident that I can beat anyone in this fleet in the final series in a four boat regatta. 

“What I'm focusing on now is putting myself in the best position so I can attack that final day.”

470

Three races were scheduled for the mixed dinghy class today, but only two were completed.

Cruelly, after eight races, Vita Heathcote and Chris Grube lay 11th, one point behind tenth place. 

They needed one more race… but it never came. They bow out with heads high, knowing that another week it could have been a very different result.

“It is hard but at the same time we know that we put our best foot forward and did the best preparation we could,” said Heathcote, Team GB’s youngest sailor aged just 22. “We wouldn’t change anything. 

“So that’s all you can say really, all you can think, and it just wasn't our week. It wasn't to be.”

See the full results.

What’s coming up

Wednesday promises to be a smorgasbord of medal racing, with the ILCA 6 and 7, Nacra 17 and 470 finales all scheduled.

See the full schedule.

Find out more

Head to the RYA’s Paris 2024 hub for all the latest news and updates, as well as information about the team, classes, how to watch and more.