Ready Steady Tokyo – Medal Race Day 1

First medal race day with the Nacra 17, 49er, 49erFX and the two RS:X deciding their podium places at Ready Steady Tokyo in Enoshima.

British Sailing Team competitors featured in all five medal races and finished the day with, silver in the men’s 49er, silver and bronze in the mixed Nacra 17 and bronze in the women’s 49erFX event.

The second medal day on Thursday will feature the Laser, Radial, Finn and the two 470 classes.

First up was the women’s 49erFX, and victory went to Martina Grael and Kahena Kunze of Brazil.

Silver to Helena Nass and Marie Ronningen of Norway, and bronze for Britain’s Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey.

The British pair finished sixth in the medal race, which was won by Nass and Ronningen, with Grael and Kunze in third.

In the men’s 49er, gold went to Pete Burling and Blair Tuke of New Zealand, silver to Britain’s Dylan Fletcher and Stu Bithell, and bronze to Pawel Koldzinski and Lukasz Przybytek of Poland.

Fletcher and Bithell finished the medal race in third which lifted them into the silver place ahead of Koldzinski and Przybytek who finished down in ninth.

Yunxiu Lu of China takes gold in the women’s RSX, with silver for Charline Picon of France and bronze to Katy Spychakov of Israel.

Emma Wilson of Britain finished fourth after taking second in the medal race behind Picon.

In the Nacra 17, Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti of Italy took gold, while the two British teams battled for the silver and gold and a potential Tokyo 2020 place.

In a tight points finish John Gimson and Anna Burnet held on to take silver, with Ben Saxton and Nicola Boniface finishing ahead of them to grab the bronze.

Mengfan Gao of China took the men’s RS:X gold. Silver went to Mattia Camboni of Italy and bronze to Piotr Myszka of Poland.

Britain’s Tom Squires finished fiflth overall.

Provisional Podium Places – Wednesday 21 Aug

RS:X Men – Final Leaders after Medal Race
Gold CHN Mengfan Gao 50 pts
Silver ITA Mattia Camboni 61 pts
Bronze POL Piotr Myszka 64 pts
GBR:
5th GBR Tom Squires 75 pts

Nacra 17 Mixed – Final Leaders after Medal Race
Gold ITA Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti 54 pts
Silver GBR John Gimson and Anna Burnet 66 pts
Bronze GBR Ben Saxton and Nicola Boniface 68 pts

RS:X Women – Final Leaders after Medal Race
Gold CHN Yunxiu Lu 42 pts
Silver FRA Charline Picon 46 pts
Bronze ISR Katy Spychakov 53 pts
GBR:
4th GBR Emma Wilson 59 pts

49er Men – Final Leaders after Medal Race
Gold NZL Pete Burling and Blair Tuke 53 pts
Silver GBR Dylan Fletcher and Stu Bithell 64 pts
Bronze POL Pawel Koldzinski and Lukasz Przybytek 68 pts

49erFX Women – Final Leaders after Medal Race
Gold BRA Martina Grael and Kahena Kunze 57 pts
Silver NOR Helena Nass and Marie Ronningen 62 pts
Bronze GBR Charlotte Dobson and Saskia Tidey 62 pts

Story by Gerald New, SAILWEB