Another day of racing and another style of breeze for the Tokyo2020 Olympic Test event in Enoshima, Japan. In a much more stable and predictable sea breeze the Nacra17 leaderboard tightened up around the top five teams as we head into tomorrow’s double points medal race.
Italian’s Ruggero Tita & Caterina Banti and Argentina’s Santiago Lange & Cecilia Carranza Seroli both recorded two respectable scores but deep finishes outside of the top ten allowed the chasing pack to close the gap.
The British Sailing Team arguably had the best day on the water out of the potential podium placing teams, with John Gimson & Anna Burnet and Ben Saxton & Nicola Boniface both finishing the day with one win and 13 points apiece, moving them into 2nd and 5th respectively.
Rio 2016 silver medallists Jason Waterhouse & Lisa Darmanin from Australia moved to within two points of the podium with a 2-3-9 scoreline, almost matching the consistent performance of the British teams.
Today’s top-scoring team was Lin Ea Cenholt and Christian Peter Lubeck from Denmark, while France’s Quentin Delapierre & Manon Audinet notched up their first race win of the regatta.
The implications of the results from Ready Steady Tokyo should not be overlooked. Out of the top five boats, only Lange & Saroli are the stand out performer in their national squad for Argentina and will more than likely have their Tokyo 2020 tickets booked well in advance.
For the British Sailing Team, things are not so clear cut. Ben Saxton and Nicola Boniface won the recent 2019 European Championship in Weymouth, while John Gimson and Anna Burnet placed higher than Saxton & Boniface at the Princesa Sofia Trofia in Palma early in the season. With Gimson & Burnet currently ahead on the rankings at the Olympic venue, and with this regatta sailed in the Olympic format with a smaller fleet over a fewer number of races, the British selectors will have a tough decision to make regarding who to send to the Games.
The Australian Sailing Team have things slightly easier than the British. Their top team over the past two Olympic cycles has been Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin, who medalled in Rio 2016. They won three events in a row in 2018-2019 before skipping the 2019 European Championships, putting the pressure on their countries “B-Squad” none other than multiple nacra17 Olympic medallist Nathan Outteridge, sailing with his sister Hayley. In their first international Nacra17 regatta, the sibling duo placed second at the 2018 Aarhus Worlds, ahead of Waterhouse & Darmanin, to really put the pressure on their more experienced Nacra teammates.
The top five placings will all be decided in tomorrow’s medal race with only the top ten boats competing and double points being awarded. For Tita & Banti anything less than a second-place will open the door for Gimson & Burnet, with the following teams needing the Italians to slip to fifth or worse for the third to fifth-placed teams to be in with a shot at winning the regatta.
HOW TO FOLLOW
The medal race will be tracked LIVE via SAP Sailing’s website and is scheduled to start at 3:30pm local time (GMT +9)
Live tracking: Tokyo2019.sapsailing.com
Official results: Nacra17.org/events/2019-test-event
Results – Provisional
1st Ruggero Tita / Caterina Banti 🇮🇹 46pts
2nd John Gimson / Anna Burnet 🇬🇧 48pts
3rd Santiago Lange / Cecilia Carranza Saroli 🇦🇷 53pts
4th Jason Waterhouse / Lisa Darmanin 🇦🇺 55pts
5th Ben Saxton / Nicola Boniface 🇬🇧 56pts
