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Three New Zealand boats are assured of a spot on the start line at next year's Olympics as Kiwi sailors advanced to medal races in their respective classes at the Sailing World Championships overnight.
In reaching the 10-boat finals in The Hague, the country booked Games spots in the 49er, 49erFX and Nacra 17 classes at the earliest opportunity - and more could follow after several other impressive performances on day 6 of the world champs.
Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie wrapped up gold-fleet racing in sixth and trail third-placed Swiss pair Sebastien Schneiter and Arno De Planta by 22 points.
It’s a deficit they’re unable to overturn, following the tough decision to retire from their first race yesterday after a protest from a competitor.
Isaac McHardie and Will McKenzie in action on day 6. Photos / Sailing Energy/World Sailing
“We could have fought it [the protest] but we decided against it and chose to retire so we wouldn’t risk a DNE [disqualification and maximum points for the race],” McKenzie explained.
“This way we were able to confirm an Olympic 49er spot for New Zealand.”
Ensuring New Zealand has the opportunity to add to its recent Olympic success in the class – following Peter Burling and Blair Tuke’s gold and two silver medals at the last three Games - was always the goal, McHardie added.
“The medal race is going to be an exciting one – even if the podium is out of reach now,” he said.
“It’s another opportunity to climb a few places and work on certain things.”
After securing the Olympic entry, McHardie and McKenzie – like the rest of the NZL Sailing Team – will attempt to gain selection for the global showpiece over the coming months.
Jo Aleh and Molly Meech will also line up in sixth in their 49erFX medal race on Friday, with another consistent day securing a significant first for the pair who only started sailing together last year.
“Getting into the medal race and qualifying New Zealand for the Olympics was super cool,” Meech said.
“It's going to be our first medal race together, which is really exciting and a really cool milestone for the team.”
They are 18 points behind third-placed Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine of Australia and have little more than a mathematical chance of claiming bronze.
“It’s been pretty tough racing out there. Everyone is really close and though we haven’t been looking at the points all week we know we've got one more race to go and there's still some opportunities.”
It's a similar equation for Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson in their Nacra 17 final tonight (NZ time). The pair finished eighth overall, following an impressive second place in their last qualifying race, and are 15 points off a podium spot.
“We’re stoked to make the medal race and it’s great to be able to tick off qualifying the country [for the Games] here,” Wilkinson said.
“It’s been a scrappy week – we’ve had some good moments and some pretty average ones, but overall, we've seen more consistency in our racing. Now we just need to work on being razor sharp and winning races.”
Elsewhere, George Gautrey continued his charge up the leaderboard in the ILCA 7 (Laser) competition, overcoming more strong current and tough competition to take out his first race win on the first day of gold fleet.
George Gautrey has made up 19 places since a slow start to the ILCA 7 competition. Photos / Sailing Energy/World Sailing
Gautrey has now climbed 19 places to fifth after a sluggish start to the event and has the leaders in his sights.
“It’s good to be racing against the guys you’re trying to beat but there are a lot of twists and turns yet to come,” he said.
“I’m just trying to keep plugging my way through the fleet and trying to make up for a slow start.”
Light breeze and lengthy delays meant Josh Armit could only complete one race in the men’s windfoil competition – finishing third to sit ninth overall.
Veerle ten Have also showed encouraging signs to move up five places to 25th halfway through fleet racing.
Results and standings from day 6 at the 2023 Sailing World Championships in The Hague.
49er (83 boats)
1st: Bart Lambriex/Floris Van De Werken (Ned) 1 4 5 2 1 1 3 5 2 10 (13) 6 1 1 3 - 45 points
2nd: Diego Botin/Florian Trittel (Esp) 1 1 5 3 8RDG 2.8RDG 1 1 2 8 12 7 4 (26BFD) 16 - 71.8 pts
3rd: Sebastien Schneiter/Arno De Planta (Sui) 3 4 3 9 7 5 2 1 6 (25) 9 4 12 5 5 - 75 pts
6th: Isaac McHardie/Will McKenzie (NZ) 2 (15) 8 7 2 6 6 6 4 2 7 10 (26RET) 9 13 - 97 pts
23rd: Logan Dunning Beck/Oscar Gunn (NZ) 2 (29UFD) 12 10 2 1 4 17 3 20 14 20 14 19 22 - 160 pts
41st: Campbell Stanton/William Shapland (NZ) 16 5 (26) 16 10 20 22 14 13 18 2 14 13 16 14 - 193 pts
81st: Sam Bacon/Cailen Rochford (NZ) 12 29UFD 18 16 15 7 29DNC 29DNC 29DNC (30DNC) 30DNC 30 DNC 30DNC 30DNC - 304 pts
49erFX (59 boats)
1st: Vilma Bobeck/Rebecca Netzler (Swe) 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 2 3 19 (26BFD) 1 9 - 48 pts
2nd: Odile Van Aanholt/Annette Duetz (Ned) 3 10 7 1 10 (30DSQ) 1 1 8 7 11 9 2 2 12 - 84 pts
3rd: Olivia Price/Evie Haseldine (Aus) 1 4 2 3 2 5 3 10 9 3 12 (23) 4 10 20 - 88 pts
6th: Jo Aleh/Molly Meech (NZ) 4 7 3 13 5 2 12 1 10 15 10 11 6 (18) 7 - 106 pts
49th: Courtney Reynolds-Smith/Brianna Reynolds-Smith (NZ) 21 14 25 24 23 22 23 28 22 23 24 19 25 (30) - 293 pts
Nacra 17 mixed (49 boats)
1st: Ruggero Tita/Caterina Banti (Ita) 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 9 (12) 5 1 1 3 - 29 pts
2nd: John Gimson/Anna Burnet (GBR) 3 2 2 3 3 1 3 5 5 1 (20) 4 3 6 4 - 45 pts
3rd: Emil Jarudd/Hanna Jonsson (Swe) 2 7 3 4 6 4 6 1 (17) 2 7 1 7 5 7 - 62 pts
8th: Micah Wilkinson/Erica Dawson (NZ) 5 (26UFD) 7 3 2 5 3 4 4 7 6 11 8 10 2 - 77 pts
470 mixed (64 boats)
1st: Keiju Okada/Miho Yoshioka (Jpn) 1 4 1 6 3 2 5 1 (24) 3 13 - 39 pts
2nd: Jordi Xammar Hernandez/Nora Brugman Cabot (Esp) 7 13 4 4 15 5 (20) 4 3 8 14 - 77 pts
3rd: Malte Winkel/Anastasiya Winkel (Ger) 5 14 (16) 7 5 14 12 3 8 11 1 - 80 pts
53rd: Derek Scott/Rebecca Hume (NZ) 27 28 27 21 23 17 7 6 (32UFD) 14 22 - 192 pts
57th: Brittany Wornall/Sam Street (NZ) 29 24 12 19 26 (32UFD) 32RET 30 22 7 24 - 225 pts
60th: Annabelle Rennie-Younger/Blake McGlashan (NZ) 26 32 (33RET) 25 24 12 24 31 15 13 27 - 229 pts
ILCA 7 (138 boats)
1st: Michael Beckett (GBR) 3 1 3 2 (70BFD) 2 - 11 pts
2nd: Matt Wearn (Aus) (11) 11 6 5 1 3 - 26 pts
3rd: Pavlos Kontides (Cyp) 4 2 19 1 5 (35) - 31 pts
5th: George Gautrey (NZ) 15 (16) 3 4 16 1 - 39 pts
11th: Tom Saunders (NZ) 10 13 21 3 17 (30) - 64 pts
74th: Luke Deegan (NZ) 43 23 (50) 30 7 - 103 pts
99th: Caleb Armit (NZ) 39 (56) 51 22 35 - 147 pts
ILCA 6 (109 boats)
1st: Maria Erdi (Hun) 5 1 3 7 (17) 4 - 20 pts
2nd: Emma Plasschaert (Bel) 7 11 (30) 2 2 3 - 25 pts
3rd: Casey Imeneo (Aus) 16 5 8 (35) 3 1 - 33 pts
64th: Greta Pilkington (NZ) 23 (45) 30 14 22 - 89 pts
67th: Olivia Christie (NZ) 19 43 17 (55) 14 - 93 pts
Men's windfoil (93 boards)
1st: Nicolo Renna (Ita) (15) 3 3 5 (9) 5 1 1 1 - 19 pts
2nd: Luuc Van Opzeeland (Ned) 1 5 1 3 (6) 1 3 (21) 5 - 19
3rd: Sebastian Kordel (Ger) 10.7RDG 3 1 1 4 (31) (27) 1 1 - 21.7 pts
9th: Josh Armit (NZ) 7 (19) 9 (31) 6 9 7 3 3 - 44 pts
35th: Eli Liefting (NZ) (51BFD) 11 (27) 15 17 19 21 9 13 - 105 pts
39th: Thomas Crook (NZ) 15 9 21 (51BFD) 18 24.7RDG (35) 17 11 - 115.7
69th: Patrick Haybittle (NZ) (51BFD) 15 (39) 33 31 39 31 23 23 - 195 pts
Women's windfoil (88 boards)
1st: Emma Wilson (GBR) 4 3 2 1 2 (7) (7) 1 3 - 16 pts
2nd: Shahar Tibi (Isr) 3 (10) 1 8 5 3 (11) 1 1 - 22 pts
3rd: Helene Noesmoen (Fra) 5 (7) 3 1 1 7 1 (13) 7 - 25pts
25th: Veerle ten Have (NZ) (25) 18 10 17 8 9 (47DNC) 9 11 - 82 pts
59th: Aimee Bright (NZ) 25 25 22 (38) 16 29 17 39 (33) - 173 pts
79th: Stella Bilger (NZ) 30 (40) 36 33 (39) 39 33 35 37 - 243 pts
Men's kitefoil (84 boards)
1st: Toni Vodisek (Slo) 1 1 1 (3) (4) 1 1 (2) 1 2 1 - 9 pts
2nd: Maximilian Maeder (SGP) 1 1 1 (2) 2 1 1 1 2 (4) (8) - 10 pts
3rd: Axel Mazella (Fra) (16) 1 1 (4) 2 3 2 1 2 2 (14) - 14 pts
29th: Lukas Walton-Keim (NZ) 9 5 7 (15) 4 10 12 10 (29DNF) (13) 13 - 70 pts
Women's kitefoil (53 boards)
1st: Lauriane Nolot (Fra) (7) 1 1 (2) (28DNC) 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 - 10 pts
2nd: Eleanor Aldridge (GBR) (13) (28DNF) 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 (3) - 14 pts
3rd: Lily Young (GBR) (28DNF) 2 2 1 2 (28DSQ) 2 3 (28UFD) 6 2 4 - 24 pts
25th: Justina Kitchen (NZ) 4 11 (28RET) 10 8 (14) 8 9 (18) 7 9 11 - 77 pts
Full results here.
