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Olivia Christie

Christie qualifies Laser Radial for NZ for Tokyo Olympics

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Olivia Christie finished 47th at the Laser Radial world championships in Japan, qualifying the boat for New Zealand for next year's Tokyo Olympics in the process.

It means New Zealand has now qualified in seven of the 10 Olympic classes, after spots in the 49er, 49erFX, Nacra 17, men's 470 and Laser were all confirmed at last year's sailing world championships in Aarhus.

The final New Zealand squad to compete at the Olympics will be confirmed by the selectors early next year.

There will be 44 boats in the Laser Radial in Tokyo next year - only one boat per country is permitted - and 10 qualification places were up for grabs at the Laser Radial world championships in Sakaiminato, Japan.

Denmark's Anne-Marie Rindom won the event by 36 points over Marit Bouwmeester of the Netherlands, with Alison Young of Great Britain a further three points behind in third.

Christie achieved two top-15 results in gold fleet, including an 11th in the penultimate race.

"It was probably one of the toughest events I've sailed in, with challenging conditions and an intense fleet," Christie said on her Facebook page. "However, I was delighted and very excited to qualify Aotearoa for a spot in the Laser Radial at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

"Now comes the hard(er) part, which is convincing the Olympic selectors/YNZ that I am good enough to be selected.

"Thanks, as always, to my coach Rosie Chapman and teammate Annabelle Rennie-Younger, as well as many others who have been with me through all the ups and downs this year... hopefully we'll have many more ups to come."

Rennie Younger was fourth in silver fleet and 60th overall and rounded out her regatta with a fourth in the final race.

Results and standings from the Laser radial world championships in Sakaiminato, Japan:

Gold fleet (56 boats)

1st: Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) 1 (57 BFD) (28) 1 4 12 4 2 5 6 15 - 50 points
2nd: Marit Bouwmeester 5 (15) 4 5 8 23 10 12 9 (57 BFD) 10 - 86 pts
3rd: Alison Young (30) 8 9 4 12 25 6 8 6 (37) 11 - 89 pts

47th: Olivia Christie (NZL) 24 24 14 23 (35) 46 37 18 37 11 (52) - 234 pts

Silver fleet 

60th: Annabelle Rennie-Younger (NZL) 21 (39) (57 BFD) 33 38 8 6 14 8 8 4 - 140 pts

Full results

  • Olivia Christie was 47th at the Laser Radial world championships in Japan. Photo: Junichi Hirai / Bulkhead Magazine.