Team GB women dominate new foiling disciplines
After 12 days of fierce competition on the water in Marseille, the Paris 2024 sailing competition came to a close for Team GB with a mega medal race day on Thursday 8 August.
The 2024 Games has been a rollercoaster of soaring highs and crushing lows for the British Sailing Team, ultimately taking home two medals to finish in 6thplace overall.
What has been clear is the sheer dominance of Team GB in the new foiling classes, with both Ellie Aldridge and Emma Wilson taking home medals in the women’s kite and women’s windsurfing classes respectively.
Both women have made history, with Wilson becoming the first British woman to win back-to-back windsurfing medals and Aldridge named the first ever kite foiling Olympic champion.
Here are your headlines from the Paris 2024 Olympic sailing competition in Marseille.
Historic kite gold for Ellie Aldridge
For the past two years there have been two women battling it out for supremacy in the women’s kite competition – France’s Lauriane Nolot, and Britain’s Ellie Aldridge.
Nolot came into Paris 2024 as the favourite having won the 2023 and 2024 world championships, but Aldridge has timed her performance peak to perfection.
The pair went into the women’s kite final yesterday (Thursday 8 August) in first and second respectively, with Nolot needing only one race win to secure gold and Aldridge needing two to unseat her French rival.
A race win for Aldridge levelled the playing field – and then came the moment we’d all been waiting for as she sailed a perfect second race to cross the finish line in front, becoming the first women’s kite Olympic champion and claiming Team GB’s 50th medal of the Games.
“This event has been totally different to any event I’ve ever done,” Aldridge said. “It’s been tricky but amazing, and to perform like this on the last day is a dream.
“It’s not been an easy Olympics for the team but I’m so happy to get this gold medal for them and put a smile on the team’s face.”
This medal means Great Britain has won a gold medal in sailing at every Olympics since Lottery funding was introduced in 1997.
Back-to-back medals for windsurfing wonder Emma Wilson
Emma Wilson went into the iQFOiL medal series on Saturday (3 August) as the gold medal favourite on the back of an incredible eight wins from 14 races in the qualifying series.
Her sheer dominance was unquestionable – no other athlete even came close to matching her brilliance over the course of the competition.
But the route to an iQFOiL medal is fraught with jeopardy, and despite her authority she needed to win the three-athlete final-race shoot out.
Wilson started strongly and led after one lap of the course, but a layline error gave rivals Marta Maggetti and Sharon Kantor a chance back into the race.
Wilson ultimately crossed the line in third, taking home the bronze medal and becoming the first British women to win back-to-back windsurfing medals.
Disappointment for Tokyo silver medallists John Gimson and Anna Burnet
Tokyo silver medallists John Gimson and Anna Burnet went into the Nacra 17 medal race on Thursday (8 August) six points off the silver medal position in third, and tied on points with fourth.
As the race began in painfully light winds Gimson and Burnet looked in a solid position towards the front of the fleet, but their world came tumbling down when they were judged to be over the line at the start of the race.
Despite the crushing disappointment the pair, who are due to marry next month, both talked of their pride in the way they’d performed in Marseille.
“I’m so proud if this week, how we sailed,” said Gimson. “We knew it would be a hard venue and we chipped away in every race and got ourselves to where we wanted.
“I felt so in control going into that start, what the plan was, where the Kiwis were. We made one mistake and it's cost us another Olympic medal so you can imagine what we’re going through.”
Fighting back tears, Burnet added: “In that moment, it's devastating. It's a bad dream. But we’re proud of all we've done.
“We’ve been on the podium at every single regatta this campaign. That’s sport, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. What a journey. We did our best.”
A team to be proud of
“Following the close of what has been an unprecedented regatta in Marseille we are proud of our team who fought for every point right up until the end,” said RYA Performance Director, Mark Robinson.
“As we mark two unique moments in history; the first British woman to win back-to-back windsurfing medals in Emma Wilson, who proved a dominant force this week and the first ever kite foiling Olympic Champion in Ellie Aldridge whose calm nerve won through to see her take the medal, we feel immensely confident of the future.
“For us, like after every Olympics there will be a period of reflection. We will recognise what worked well and what didn’t go our way so that we can adapt and grow from these learnings moving forward to enable us to continue our reign as the most decorated Olympic sailing team in history.”
Final standings
- Gold medal, Ellie Aldridge, women’s kite
- Bronze medal, Emma Wilson, women’s windsurfing
- 8th, Connor Bainbridge, men’s kite
- 5th, Sam Sills, men’s windsurfing
- 6th, Micky Beckett, men’s dinghy
- 12th, Hannah Snellgrove, women’s dinghy
- 7th, James Peters and Fynn Sterritt, men’s skiff
- 16th, Freya Black and Saskia Tidey, women’s skiff
- 11th, Chris Grube and Vita Heathcote, mixed dinghy
- 4th, John Gimson and Anna Burnet, mixed multihull
Team GB finish the Paris 2024 Olympic sailing competition in 6th place overall. See the full results.
Find out more
You can still visit the RYA’s Paris 2024 hub for more information about the team, classes and more, as well as catching up on our daily updates from the competition.