New leaders at Laser Radial Worlds

Sakaiminato, Japan (July 23, 2019) – The penultimate day of the 2019 Laser Radial Women’s and Men’s World Championship delivered clear skies and a mostly steady 18-20 knot Westerly. They call this the Kamikaze Wind, and while the heading varied five degrees around the average, and maybe ten at a few points, it was never sustained long enough for a major course change. It was a 2-race day to stay in phase and stay in the pressure.

The shake-up of the leaderboard for Radial Women’s that began yesterday continued today. Yesterday’s leader, Ecem Güzel (TUR), finished 26th in the first race today, which is now her discard. Several others in the top-ten had double digit finishes in that race, as well, which was won by Josefin Olsson (SWE), working to recover from letter scores yesterday.

The top three in the second race were Line Flem Høst (NOR), Mária Érdi (HUN), and Emma Plasschaert (BEL), none of whom are in contention to win but their finishes influenced the standings for the end of today.

Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN) sailed the most consistently, with a 2-5, and is currently leading. A second discard becomes available to the racers after one race tomorrow. For Rindon, a second discard will allow her to discard a 28th from the Qualifying Series, making her a strong contender to win the event.

In the Radial Men’s Worlds, two races today brought a second discard into play. Simon de Gednt (BEL) now only counts a string of 1sts and one 2nd, discarding a UFD and a 23 and is the clear leader with 9 points. Zac West (AUS) is safely in second place with 20 points, followed by Mark Louis (AUS) with 39.

But berths for the 2020 Olympic Games is an important factor in the Women’s Worlds – fourteen countries in the Gold fleet are competing for the ten spots allocated for this event. At the end of today, Croatia (CRO), Argentina (ARG), and Australia (AUS) are likely to compete in 2020. Russia (RUS), Lithuania (LTU), Belarus (BLR), and New Zealand (NZL) would be qualified if racing ended today, but they are closely followed by Guatemala (GUA), Thailand (THA), Spain (ESP), and Saint Lucia (LCA).

Event details – Entry list – Results – Facebook

The first three days of the event were qualification rounds for the 111 women, with the top 56 advancing to gold fleet. The 32 men are racing as one fleet. Twelve races are planned on July 19-24.

DAY FIVE RESULTS:

Women (Top 10 of 111; 9 races, 1 discard)

Men (Top 10 of 32; 10 races, 2 discards)

Ten nation places for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are available at the end of this event following the 20 places already allocated out of a total of 44 berths in the women’s event at the next Olympics.

Source: ILCA