Staying on schedule at Paris 2024

Marseille, France (August 4, 2024) – The eighth day at the Paris 2024 Olympics completed the planned schedule for the six events, with history made as the first ever Formula Kite races were held at an Olympics.

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Event details – Results – Notice Board

Men’s and Women’s One Person Dinghy
Australia’s Matt Wearn maintained his firm grip on the overall standings after picking up two tenth placed finishes, which means he is now 14 points ahead in the rankings.

Behind him sits Cyprus’ Pavlos Kontides who moved up a spot, after placing third and seventh in the fourth day of racing.

Peru’s Stefano Peschiera moved back into the top three with a better outing in Marseille, which saw him finish fourth in race nine, meaning he is now ten points off the Cypriot sailor.

“The wind was very up and down so there were a lot of chances to gain, but also a lot of chances to lose,” shared Kontides. “I feel good every day. It’s been better and better for me. I’m confident and comfortable and you can see from the regatta how high scores are in general and this shows the depth of the fleet and the trickiness of the bay.”

Marit Bouwmeester (NED) opened the day with a third placed finish in race seven and then came 11th in the subsequent race which was her weakest finish of the regatta so far. Despite the result the Dutch sailor is still far ahead of the fleet, sitting 28 points clear of Anne-Marie Rindom (DEN).

The Danish athlete began the day with an underwhelming 15th, but recovered well to take fourth in the next race and solidify her hold over second overall.

Switzerland’s Maud Jayet sits in third, 12 points adrift of Rindom, following seventh and eighth finishes today.

“This Olympics is quite the same as Rio, where you’re in the middle of the bay,” said Bouwmeester. “I’m just focusing on myself and sailing as well as possible.”

Rindom added, “It has been tricky and there have been some really long days for us girls starting out. The heat takes the energy out of you. We were prepared for the heat, but this is another level. I was a little disappointed in the first race about my decisions at the start. I started alone on the left side and it was too much of a risk looking back now.”

North America Results:
Men
16. Juan Maegli (GUA)
34. Pedro Luis Fernandez Gamboa (PUR)
38. Thad Lettsome (IVB)

Women
9. Erika Reineke (USA)
11. Sarah Douglas (CAN)
30. Elena Oetling Ramirez (MEX)
35. Adriana Penruddocke (BER)
41. Charlotte Webster (CAY)

Mixed Two Person Dinghy
Lara Vadlau and Lukas Maehr continued their rise up the rankings with another consistent series of races in the Mixed Dinghy. The Austrian crew began the day in second, but moved up to lead the fleet, following an impressive win in race six in tricky, light winds.

Spain’s Jordi Xammar and Nora Brugman also mastered the mild conditions, with a sixth and third, pushing them back up to second overall.

Leading into today, Japan’s Keiju Okada and Miho Yoshioka experienced their weakest day on the water so far after a few tactical mistakes saw them finish 14th and 12th. They moved down to third in the rankings, but are still just a point off the Spanish 470 crew.

“It was quite challenging with a super tricky wind,” explained Vadlau. “We tried to stay cool as much as we could and just made the best out of it and luckily it worked well. We are happy we had a good day.”

Maehr added, “We look at it day by day, because we know the bay of Marseille well. We’ve trained a lot here and I think it’s so different day after day. It’s so wonderful to sail here, but it’s also very tough to get the good side well.”

North America Results:
12. Stuart McNay Lara Dallman-Weiss (USA)

Mixed Multihull
Italy’s Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti upheld their complete dominance with three consecutive wins in lighter wind. The pair are going from strength to strength and will take some beating over the next few days of racing.

New Zealand’s Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson climbed up the standings with two second place finishes on an excellent day of racing for the duo.

Argentina’s Mateo Majdalani and Eugenia Bosco completed the top three with two consecutive sixth place finishes.

North America Results:
15. Sarah Newberry Moore/ David Liebenberg (USA)

Men’s and Women’s Kite
Austria’s Valentin Bontus won the opening race in the Men’s Kite and he followed that up with second in race two, which was enough to rank him second after the first four races.

Former world champion Toni Vodisek of Slovenia also started strongly, placing second in the inaugural race, and he followed that up with a win in race three. He enjoyed the best day of all the sailors and sits top of the standings, right above Bontus.

Tennage sensation Max Maeder won the second race of the day, but a DNF in the last race means he sits third overall, tied on points with Bontus.

After winning the first women’s race, Great Britain’s Ellie Aldridge followed that performance with back-to-back second place finishes. However, France’s Lauriane Nolot narrowly edged in front of Aldridge in the overall rankings, carried by a win in race two, though the French and British athletes are level on points.

USA’s Daniela Moroz got in on the action at the end of the day, winning race four, to take third in the standings.

North America Results:
Men
13. Markus Edegran (USA)
19. Tiger Tyson (ANT)

Women
3. Daniela Moroz (USA)
20. Emily Bugeja (CAN)

Tomorrow:
Rinse and repeat as the today’s plan returns tomorrow. The Men’s and Women’s One Person Dinghy fleets and the Mixed Two Person Dinghy two races scheduled. The Mixed Multihull has three races planned while the Men’s and Women’s Kite have four races each.

Event details – Results – Notice Board

Medal Count (G-S-B) – Four of 10 events completed
Israel: 1-1-0
Netherlands: 1-0-1
Italy: 1-0-0
Spain: 1-0-0
Australia: 0-1-0
New Zealand: 0-1-0
Sweden: 0-1-0
Great Britain: 0-0-1
France: 0-0-1
USA: 0-0-1

Source: World Sailing