Sunday can’t come soon enough for athletes competing in the very first Olympic sailing medal race of the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Pão de Açucar on Guanabara Bay will host the men’s and women’s RS:X medal races – although some results are already certain.
Men’s and women’s RS:X
The opening series of the men’s and women’s RS:X concluded as the sun began to set on Guanabara Bay on Friday.
Now it’s time for the medal race.
Two things are forecasted to be conclusive on Sunday: No competitor can score lower than Netherlands’ Dorian Van Rijsselberghe after Sunday’s medal race. The gold medal favorite is indeed locked to receive Olympic gold in the event.
Similarly, Nick Dempsey of Great Britain is, no pun intended, in the same boat. Besides Van Rijsselberghe, no other sailor in the men’s RS:X can score lower to take silver from Dempsey.
The race for bronze will be competitive; France’s Pierre Le Coq and Greece’s Vyron Kokkalanis are within eight points of Poland’s Piotr Myszka.
Team USA’s Pedro Pascual finished in 28th overall and did not secure a top-10 spot to advance to the medal race on Sunday.
On the women’s side, the gold medal is still fair game for the top 10 women heading into the medal race.
Russia’s Stefaniya Elfutina, Italy’s Flavia Tartaglini and Marina Alabau of Spain head into the medal race on Sunday as the top three contenders.
American Marion Lepert finished in 16th position. She will not advance to the medal race.
Mixed Nacra 17
Australian’s Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin are still in the overall lead with 46 net points, but there is a tie for second overall between Ben Saxon and Nicola Groves of Great Britain and Argentina’s Santiago Lange and Cecilia Carranza with 49 net points.
Americans Bora Gulari and Louisa Chafee improved their results and jumped four spots to 12th overall. They head into the final three races of the opening series on Sunday with a top 10 goal to advance to the medal race on Tuesday.
Men’s and women’s 470
Americans have four more races in the opening series to continue to improve in order to bring home a medal on Tuesday.
Team USA’s Stuart McNay and Dave Hughes climbed in the rankings to eighth after finishing their fifth race in fourth on Friday. They are now 22 points behind leaders Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic of Croatia.
Annie Haeger and Briana Provancha of Team USA rose two spots to fourth overall and took the lead from gold medal favorites, New Zealand’s Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie.
Men’s Finn
Great Britain’s Scott Giles continues to impress, winning the seventh race of the Finn regatta. He maintains the top spot after finishing third in the eighth race. Giles will be nearly impossible to catch if he continues his dominance. Heading into the final two opening series races on Sunday before the medal races on Tuesday, Giles has only accrued 22 net points. In second-place overall, Slovenia’s Vasilij Zogbar has 38.
After a costly disqualification in race six, American Caleb Paine put together decent results in races seven and eight with 17th and seventh. He ended the day 15th overall with 79 net points.
Full results: Men’s Finn Day 8 of Olympic sailing
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