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It’s winner takes all as Kiwi teammates battle it out for 49er gold at the Princess Sofia Regatta in Spain tomorrow – while New Zealand’s top two ILCA 7 sailors will be keeping a close eye on each other in the race for silver.
Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie head into the finale of the year’s first top-level event for Olympic classes in Palma de Mallorca at the top of the 49er fleet, having displaced teammates Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn on the last day of finals racing.
McHardie and McKenzie were the only crew in the gold fleet of 25 to manage top-10 finishes in each of their three races overnight.
They lead Dunning Beck and Gunn by two ahead of the double-points medal race featuring the top 10 crews in the fleet. Australian duo Tom Burton and Max Paul are in third, a further point back.
Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie lead the 49er fleet heading into the medal race. Photos / Sailing Energy
“It's exciting with the top three all sitting on very similar points,” McHardie said. "The winner of the race will most likely win the regatta, so it'll be hammers down and all go for us.”
McHardie and McKenzie spent much of the summer working with Dunning Beck and Gunn on boat speed and sail testing and the team-first approach – introduced by Kiwi Finn sailors Josh Junior and Andy Maloney during previous Olympic cycles - seems to be paying off.
Logan Dunning Beck and Oscar Gunn are second in the 49er competition. Photo / Sailing Energy
“It’s cool to have the Kiwi boats one-two. It’s something we’ve both been working hard toward – to get the Kiwis at the top of more fleets – and it’s great to see the results of that coming through now,” McHardie said.
Meanwhile, Tom Saunders admits there will be a bit of number crunching before – and plenty of scouring the fleet during – the ILCA 7 medal race.
With Britain’s Michael Beckett guaranteed gold after dominating the first five days, Saunders and compatriot George Gautrey line up with their sights set on silver.
Former world champion Saunders sits second overall on 58 points, three ahead of Cypriot Pavlos Kontides, 11 clear of Croatia’s Tonci Stipanovic and 12 ahead of Gautrey in fifth.
“The approach does change ever so slightly for the medal race. We’ll be working through the points to see where we're at and who's in contention but it's all pretty close,” Saunders said.
“I’ll still be looking to win the race while also keeping an eye on Pavlos and where he is in relation to me. We also have Tonci, George and Elliot [Hanson, sixth] not too far behind either and they will be looking to win the race to get into medal contention. As long as I'm within reach of the others, it should keep me in good shape.”
George Gautrey has his sights set on a medal in the ILCA 7. Photos / Sailing Energy
Gautrey is looking forward to the pressure of an international medal race – somewhat unfamiliar territory for the 25-year-old.
“It’s all to play for tomorrow. It's super tight between the top six,” Gautrey said.
“I haven't done a whole lot of medal races, so it's a pretty good chance to put the pressure on myself and see what can happen.”
Also in a good position to get on the podium is Veerle ten Have – she finished second in her two final races in the women’s iQFOIL (windfoiling) today and is hoping to go one better in a slightly different finals format to the other classes.
Veerle ten Have has advanced to the semifinal in the women's iQFOIL. Photos / Sailing Energy
“I am second overall, which means I go straight into the semi-final and battle it out there to get a spot into the [three-board] final,” ten Have explained.
“It feels like a 50-50 [medal] chance and I’m just hoping for some good breeze. I am excited to race - it's another chance to win."
Josh Armit finished gold-fleet racing in the men’s iQFOIL in sixth place which means he will line up against six other riders in the quarterfinal.
Results and standings after day 5 of the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma de Mallorca, Spain:
49er fleet (99 boats):
1st: Isaac McHardie/William McKenzie (NZ) 2 5 5 7 8 1 6 7 (10) 6 6 8 - 61 points
2nd: Logan Dunning Beck/Oscar Gunn (NZ) 5 12 4 7 3 11 1 1 3 12 (14) 4 - 63 pts
3rd: Tom Burton/Max Paul (Aus) (34) 8 7 5 6 12 3 3 5 3 11 1 - 64 pts
35th: Sam Morgan/Pat Morgan (NZ) 7 12 (34) 14 12 19 3 13 20 12 26 4 - 142 pts
38th: Scott McKenzie/Blake McGlashan (NZ) 23 15 13 22 11 5 7 15 10 10 23 (38) – 154 pts
71st: Campbell Stanton/Will Shapland (NZ) 17 8 26 23 26 26 16 (28) 6 16 23 10 - 197 pts
72nd: Mattias Coutts/Henry Haslett (NZ) 18 19 30 26 25 21 21 17 (38) 12 1 8 - 198 pts
49er FX (60 boats):
1st: Martine Soffiatti Grael/Kahena Kunze (Bra) 6 9 5 (12) 2 5 1 8 5 10 1 7 – 59 pts
2nd: Maria Sol Branz/Cecilia Carranza Saroli (19) 15 1 17 7 5 2 2 4 4 7 6 - 70 pts
3rd: Odile van Aanholt/Annette Duetz (Ned) 11 6 2 3 1 2 9 4 16 15 (23) 3 - 72 pts
17th: Jo Aleh/Molly Meech (NZ) 5 1 20 19 14 14 16 1 (20) 14 5 18 - 127 pts
26th: Alex Maloney/Olivia Hobbs (NZ) 10 (18) 8 15 18 13 4 1 2 4 14 6 - 95 pts
47th: Courtney Reynolds-Smith/Brianna Reynolds-Smith (NZ) 13 6 21 24 20 21 10 24 5 (29) 29 24 - 197 pts
ILCA 6 (107 boats):
1st: Marit Bouwmeester (Ned) 3 1 3 14 5 1 2 16 3 (22) - 48 pts
2nd: Zoe Thomson (Aus) 6 2 1 3 17 (39) 21 20 7 6 – 83 pts
3rd: Maxime Jonker (Ned) 7 6 12 8 10 7 3 (41) 16 15 - 84 pts
49th: Olivia Christie (NZ) 32 13 18 25 12 51 (53) 44 43 29 - 267 pts
ILCA 7 (184 boats):
1st: Michael Beckett (GBR) 2 2 7 2 (14) 1 1 3 2 10 – 30 pts
2nd: Tom Saunders (NZ) 3 5 2 3 6 9 (BFD 63) 8 15 7 - 58 pts
3rd: Pavlos Kontides (Cyp) 8 2 10 3 3 7 26 1 (32) 1 – 61 pts
5th: George Gautrey (NZ) (25) 1 2 12 9 10 5 10 7 14 - 70 pts
84th: Luke Cashmore (NZ) 19 27 18 47 27 25 (49) 42 7 23 - 235 pts
86th: Caleb Armit (NZ) 39 20 31 41 24 (45) 20 6 44 14 - 239 pts
112th: Luke Deegan (NZ) 26 25 37 26 28 44 (47) 46 40 34 - 306 pts
Nacra 17 mixed (52 boats):
1st: Vittorio Bissaro/Maelle Frascari Diotallevi (Ita) 3 3 1 1 1 6 6 4 (9) 2 1 3 - 31 pts
2nd: John Gimson/Anna Burnet (GBR) 6 1 3 3 2 4 1 5 1 3 10 (10) - 39 pts
3rd: Gianluigi Ugolini/Maria Giubilei (Ita) 4 2 2 3 7 (27) 3 1 18 6 3 2 – 51 pts
15th: Micah Wilkinson/Erica Dawson (NZ) 1 13 12 5 9 10 19 (19) 12 15 11 5 - 112 pts
470 mixed (72 boats):
1st: Keiju Okada/ Miho Yoshioka (Jpn) 9 7 1 3 3 1 7 4 (16) 3 - 38 pts
2nd: Jordi Xammar Hernandez/Nora Brugman Cabot (Esp) - (12) 1 8 10 4 5 1 9 9 9 – 56 pts
3rd: Luise Wanser/Philipp Autenrieth (Ger) 4 3 2 9 8 6 18 7 4 (20) - 61 pts
55th: Brittany Wornall/Sam Street (NZ) 26 (31) 28 25 19 13 22 23 17 16 - 189 pts
iQFOIL men (136 boards):
1st: Samuel Sills (GBR) (9) 3 2 5 3 3 1 1 (25) 1 4 7 1 (17) 1 – 32 pts
2nd: Sebastian Koerdel (Ger) 1 3 1 3 2 1 (4) 1 (47) 3 1 (27) 2 14 5 - 37 pts
3rd: Nicolas Goyard (Fra) 1 (47) 1 1 1 1 3 1 9 (27) 16 3 15 3 (69) - 55 pts
6th: Josh Armit (NZ) 1 1 3 (18) 11 6 9 21 15 1 9 (23) (26) 4 2 – 83 pts
28th: Thomas Crook (NZ) 27 (47) 19 13 10 24 26 27 1 (31) (36) 12 17 20 16 - 212 pts
50th: Patrick Haybittle (NZ) – 19 9 (40) 17 30 19 31 43 45 33 (52) (58) 45 31 18 - 340 pts
71st: Eli Liefting (NZ) 9 27 34 27 (42) 41 30 (47) 9 3 - 180 pts
iQFOIL women (98 boards):
1st: Emma Wilson (GBR) (9) 3 1 1 4 1 4 1 (5) (31) 5 27 3 2 1 1 - 54 pts
2nd: Veerle ten Have (NZ) 7 5 (39) 3 10 4 (24) 10 6 1 13 (21) 1 20 2 2 - 84 pts
3rd: Lucie Belbeoch (Fra) 13 9 5 5 (18) 12 5 4 (16) 11 1 (13) 5 8 6 7 – 91 pts
Formula kite women (53 boards):
1st: Lauriane Nolot (Fra) 5 1 (28) 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 3 2 (29) (13) 1 - 23 pts
2nd: Ellie Aldridge (GBR) 3 (4) 1 2 3 2 2 2 3 2 4 (6) 1 (5) 4 2 - 31 pts
3rd: Daniela Moroz (USA) 3 1 (28) 3 (20) 1 1 1 (29) 3 8 1 3 3 2 3 – 33 pts
23rd: Justina Kitchen (NZ) 12 (15) 7 9 7 6 15 7 17 14 17 22 17 (29) 18 (29) - 168 pts
Formula kite men (115 boards):
1st: Maximilian Maeder (Sgp) 1 (30) 2 2 1 (3) 1 1 (14) 1 1 1 1 3 1 2 - 18 pts
2nd: Connor Bainbridge (GBR) 1 2 (30) 1 1 2 2 2 3 2 (12) 4 (7) 6 2 3 – 31 pts
3rd: Max Nocher (Fra) 3 (5) 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 8 2 (20) 3 2 4 (15) - 34 pts
75th: Lochy Naismith (NZ) 11 (23) (30) 14 16 14 13 18 (30) 21 23 17 13 10 13 18 - 201 pts
Full results here.
