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Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie

McHardie and McKenzie secure NZ's third medal at Kiel

Issue date

Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie are building nicely for a couple of big events later in the year after finishing third in the 49er at Kiel Week overnight (NZ time).

The pair started the race in third but had little wriggle room, with anyone in the top-10 medal race capable of finishing on the podium.

It didn't look good for the majority of the race, with McHardie and McKenzie trailing the fleet midway through in the light and shifty conditions, but they hooked into some better pressure on the final run as the Danish combination went backwards and their sixth placing was enough to secure the bronze by one point.

"Today was pretty tricky, extremely shifty – not like anything we’ve had this week – but we’re pretty happy to come away with a bronze medal," McKenzie said. "We just sneaked into third [overall] on the line.

"It was a good regatta for us. We managed to keep things consistent and scored some solid results throughout the event and we’re looking forward to pushing forward to [the European championships in] Aarhus."

They will head there full of confidence following their fifth at the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma and 13th at French Olympic Week in their first international regattas in two years.

Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson are also tracking well, and just missed out on a medal in the Nacra 17 overnight.

The pair went into their double-points race in third and punched out to a handy position after a good start but dropped to 10th after incurring a penalty for a port-starboard incident.

They did well to recover to fourth around the top mark for the last time but a combination of Italian's Vittorio Bissaro and Maelle Frascari winning the race and the Kiwis being pushed over the layline, costing them a couple of places, meant they finished out of the medals by two points.

"Today was awesome to be in the mix with some of the top teams," Dawson said. "Unfortunately, we missed out on the podium but we were proud of our comeback in that race."

Wilkinson added: "It was good to see some consistency from us during the week. We’ve been known to be a bit up and down in the past so it was good to bank all top 10s during the regatta.

"We have finished sixth, fifth and fourth this season so hopefully that means we'll be on the podium for the next one."

Wilkinson and Dawson also head to Aarhus for the European championships starting next week but their main focus is September's 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 world championships in Canada.

There were some promising signs throughout the Kiwi contingent at Kiel Week, with McHardie and McKenzie's bronze the third medal for New Zealand at the regatta. George Lee Rush and Seb Menzies collected gold in the 29er and Caleb Armit silver in the ILCA 6 (open).

Lucas Day and Sam Scott were 11th in the 420, Jo Aleh and Molly Meech 16th in the 49erFX and Sam Bacon and Henry Gautrey 22nd in the 49er in what was their first taste of gold fleet racing at an international event.

The regattas come thick and fast over the next four months for New Zealand's top Olympic and youth sailors, starting with this week's 29er European championships in Denmark.

The world championships in each of the classes remain the pinnacle events of the year and a swathe of Olympic class world champs are scheduled for September and October.

Results and standings after the final day of Kiel Week in Germany:

49er (91 boats) 

1st: James Peters / Fynn Sterritt (GBR) (11) 5 9 4 1 6 3 4 2 - 34 points
2nd: Diego Botin / Florian Trittel Paul (ESP) 6 6 5 6 (16) 5 11 1 4 - 44 pts
3rd: Isaac McHardie / William McKenzie (NZL) 6 10 1 2 6 7 6 (19) 12 - 50 pts

22nd: Sam Bacon / Henry Gautrey (NZL) 6 5 11 12 11 19 (23) 11 - 75 pts
47th: Logan Dunning Beck / Oscar Gunn (NZL) 14 10 13 8 14 15 (34 BFD) 34 BFD 108 pts
49th: Campbell Stanton / Will Shapland (NZL) 17 24 15 11 13 (27) 21 11 - 112 pts
53rd: Scott McKenzie / Blake McGlashan (NZL) 9 8 20 25 (28) 12 22 24 - 120 pts
60th: Sam Morgan / Pat Morgan (NZL) 19 17 16 (23) 3 5 9 14 5 - 88 pts

49erFX (65 boats)

1st: Sophie Steinlein / Thomas Plossel (GER) 3 2 2 1 8 2 1 1 1 (14) 4 - 25 pts
2nd: Vilma Bobeck / Rebecca Netzler (SWE) 10 1 1 2 1 1 6 2 10 (22) 8 - 42 pts
3rd: Georgia Lewin-Lafrance / Antonia Lewin-Lafrance (CAN) 4 1 6 7 2 13 (14) 3 8 8 2 - 54 pts

16th: Jo Aleh / Molly Meech (NZL) 5 8 11 3 (22) 10 12 15 9 17 - 90 pts
39th: Courtney Reynolds-Smith / Brianna Reynolds-Smith (NZL) 13 10 13 10 10 12 13 13 (22 BFD) 94 pts

Nacra 17 (31 boats)

1st: Ruggero Tita / Caterina Banti (ITA) (14) 1 1 1 13 1 1 1 8 - 27 pts
2nd: John Gimson / Anna Burnet (GBR) 6 7 4 2 3 (8) 2 2 10 - 36 pts
3rd: Vittorio Bissaro / Maelle Frascari (ITA) 3 2 2 5 20 5 7 (21) 2 - 46 pts

4th: Micah Wilkinson / Erica Dawson (NZL) 4 4 (10) 4 4 2 8 10 12 - 48 pts

420 (87 boats)

1st: Leonard von Holtum / Josh Berktold (GER) 3 3 (17) 3 2 4 1 2 - 18 pts
2nd: Severin Gericke / Xaver Schwarz (GER) 7 4 1 (11) 1 5 2 1 - 21 pts
3rd: Johann Emmer / Jannis Liebig (GER) 1 1 3 2 5 6 11 (40) 29 pts

11th: Lucas Day / Sam Scott (NZL) 13 9 7 2 3 13 7 (17) 54 pts

Full results

  • Pic: A sixth placing in their medal race was enough for Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie to claim bronze in the 49er. Photo: Sailing Energy.