Medal Success for WAIS Sailors
WA sailors Matt Wearn and Carrie Smith have returned silver medals from the Sailing World Cup Melbourne event in St Kilda over the weekend.
Wearn took second spot in the men’s laser, amongst a world class fleet that included Rio 2016 gold medallist Tom Burton and the silver medallists from both the London and Rio Games.
Smith, competing with crewmate Jaime Ryan landed second place in the women’s 470 class in their first effort back on deck since making their Olympic debut on the waters of Guanabara Bay in Rio.
The laser battle developed into a fight between two, with Wearn going head to head with Cypriot sailor and 2012 Olympic silver medallist Pavlos Kontides.
The 21 year-old however let an opportunity slip. After leading into the closing medal round race with a three point advantage, Wearn finished fourth with Kontides taking the race win. With the double points carried over to the final net score, Wearn amassed eight points for an overall score of 26, to Kontides’ two, allowing the European to steal victory on 22 points overall.
Fellow WA sailor Luke Elliott finished the laser campaign in 12th place on 73 points.
In the women’s 470, Smith and Ryan produced a disciplined campaign that kept them in contention throughout. In the medal round they were still a chance for gold but it proved a stretch too far, with the Austrian pairing of Lara Vadlau and Jolanta Ogar sailing a near faultless campaign for victory.
In winning the medal round race, the Austrians accumulated 10 points, with the Australians (second in the medal round) claiming silver on 18 points. WA sailor Nia Jerwood skippered her crew Monique de Vries to fourth place on 35 points.
Emerging laser radial sailors Zoe Thomson (10th) and Elyse Ainsworth (12th) were both competitive in Melbourne, with the overall title going to Dutch sailor Marit Bouwmeester (16 points). Thomson is now in New Zealand preparing for the Youth World Championships.
WA sailor David Gilmour and his crew Joel Turner took fourth place in the 49er class, whilst fellow WA athlete Lachy Gilmour, skippering Ryan Donaldson was eighth.
Caitlin Elks in her first regatta skippering in the 49erFX class, recorded a sixth place finish with her crewmate Hayley Clark.
Full results and scorecards can be viewed here.